The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1893-03-18

the bond division ais" uudc- tur l"Jth 1a
si-tnut lt~iuluou,o .t,lt throuubuut the
country Sixty four Thousand pu-lW'-te,,
are appointed hy IT, chief aud iu addt.ou
he recommends &" the pr, .idcut. Through
the postmaster ,cucral the appointment oi
more than 5000 presidential pos, u1.lcr-
That or whic' hc Is Lend is m numbers at
least, the principal app"rutrvc Office uu"'i
the government
The man who has held this office ior rv"
or three years H. one of the interesting char
actcrs of Washington public life llIrum-c
is f. G. Rathbouc, aud lac halls from oh,"
He was formerly iu the secret e'ryic,, and
when Guitcau shot President Garfield n
was Rathbouc who went To- the Jail where
the assassin was confined and obtained GuI
tcau' s statement lie received from the "a
sassin piece oi paper giving directions Tor
the delivery of certain articles left at the
newsstand of the Baltimore and Potomac
depot, and also information - to who lur
nished the money with which the pistol was
purchased At the same time hc was able
TO disprove the allegation made that Gul
tcau was merely the tool of others, and q.
the cabinet meeting in the White House r"
ported to Secretary Blaiu" that the assassin
stood alone in his terrible crime
Colonel Henry II Rnthbouc was present
in he box at Ford's thcatcr with Lincoln
on that never to be- forgotten night IN April.
1868 IT, Is a strange coincidence that auoth
cT mem9cr Of the i4Vll should hav"Playcd
30 prominent q laii IN HE events following
The attack upon Garfield
The Office ~ the fourth assistant j. now
crowded from morning till night by seek
crs after postoiIices. They come IN squads
and battnliuns many Of them strangers m
the city, ha,hiul and timid and very. yLIy
patient while awaiting a hearing Othcr-
are bold almost to the point Of iusolcnCr.
It. is always su when there has been u
| change of the party in power II WIS s.,
/ eight years ago when Che Democrats turned
/ the Republicans out, IT, was Jhc same iuul
/ years later when the tables were turned, II
/ is so now that the Democrats again hay,
/ their innings Many politicians appear e
/ be laboriug under the impression that al
! they have TO do ia order to g't a poetuthC,
/ is to come down To Washington and put IL
a vocifcrous demand therefor The senator
or member of congress D. n more artistic
and successful purveyor of fourth clas'
| postoiiices lie knows his business. II,
| glidcs in. winks at the messenger in charg'
Of the door, sidles up to the chief and in
couple Of minutes has put "A half dozen o
so Of his favoritcs on the path that leads q
"A postofIlce.
| What the senator or congressman Sny
usually counts, the division Of plums beinl
generally made m this manner. In n stat
where there is hut one senator IN sympath
masters in the congressional districts REP
resented by Republicans leaving to tn
| Democratic congressman the postoflices il
their own districts II there are two Demo
cratic senators, they divide between them
selves ON some basis mutually aRreeabl
the appointments in the Republican di'
tricts IL does not always follow that TIA
iudOrsemeut Of ~ congressman secures "a
appointment To n postOfIice, but the exceI
tions TO the rule are so rare that IL wante
a pOstoflice aud couldn't get the signstur
of the congressman from my district 10 m
papers would abandon the quest and loo
for IA job at saving wood or splitting fenc
rails
You may remember reading in the paper
n few months ago Of n postmaster out j
northern Illinois who actually sold his %
flee for so much in cash and moved out an
gave possession to the purchaser. Man
postmasters appear to think they own tn
office over which they preside, and for se'
eral months the fourth assistant has bee
very alert in endesvOring to prevent tn
contamination Of bargains and sales of sma
postoffices That sort Of thing j. a naturs
precursor Of "A change Of administration
This is about the way il is done: \ weak
kneed Republican fourth class pOstmAsteI
afraid To hold the fort and stand 10y his gun
to the last, agrees to resign and recon
mends some lukewarm Democrat ~ hi
successor ON condition that the latter bu
his outfit, probably giving hirn in additio
a substantial bonus In other words, h
agrees to sell his postofiice. The Democrat
usually one who would not be likely to gs
the office under the incoming administrr
tration, is willing to bid high, counting o
his alleged Democracy to retain him unde
the new regime \ great many curiou
letters relating to such proposed sales hav
lately been received at the depart Hent, an
few days ago a Louisiana postmaster ii,
livered himself Of the following:
Fourth Assistant Postmaster General
DEAR Sm-Ilas "a postmaster the right to r.
sign in favor Of another person. with the cond
tion that his successor give him one-half 81 III
revenue Of the Office. and should the succeedin
| postmaster be appointed and refuse to diyid
the revenue of his Office with the resigned pos
master can the resigned postmaster have hiT
| rcmovedS
To which the fourth assistant postmasts
general replied that the gentleman Of cours
had the right TO resign. but that the d'
partment would not become -art- to an