Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-04-27

CONGRESSMAN BROOKsHIRE's CORRESPOND
 ENCE.
 ing the sitting of their house and devote themselves exclusively to legislative labor. It is otherwise with the average member.
 One such with whom I happen to be best acquainted starts in at o'clock every morning with q table piled high with let ters and papers from his district contain ing marked passages, by which the editors desire to call his attention to special fea- lures in the situation. He tolls from two to four hours writing such letters ns are strictly confidential and then hastens to his typewriter at the capitol to do such writing as it is safe for other eyes to sec, and every third day, at tho least, he puts in every hour he can spare from the house sittings at looking through the ocpart- mcnts and attending to the personal in tercsts of constituents.
 Pointed Instructions.
 And here is tho first point to be noted on which there is surprising amount of ignorance among people who have not visited Washington. Three fourths of the letters plainly show that the writers con ceive of the public offices as all in one building like the county offices in a court house or at any rate grouped around some public square. They do not know that one visiting the various departments in their order hy the shortest routes must travel about five miles. It is a very common thing to sec in the letters such expressions as next time you are at liberty for a few minutes please step into the pension of flee, !" etc., When you go to the capitol tomorrow, please stop at the treasury, " etc.
 And sometimes the writer lays down with great emphasis what his member
 
 saying that just at present these instruc- tions arc particularly pointed, and from every section of the west and south come re- quests to tell Cleveland that the people are awfully dissatisfied. ''Tell the president that the people just exactly won't stand a tax on sugar" And sometimes, ''Tcll Gro yer that if he doesn't do something for the people saltpcter won't save us in this coun- ty and district" The idea that any one of 356 members should feel at liberty to talk in that style to the president is sufficient ly ludicrous without establishment, but it is to be remembered that the average constituent believes his own congressman one of the great men of the country, and it is to be hoped that they write such things rather as spur to congressmen than with any idea that the message will reach the president. It will probably surprise many well informed persons to learn that scores of congressman never even sec the prcsi- dent for months and scores of others never talk with him during tho entire term.
 Difficulties In the Way.
 There is another point on which there is almost universal ignorance, even among people who are supposed to be well posted, and that is the great reduction in the number of offices to be had by appointment and the great increase ill the number en- titled to claim them. The Democratic con- gressmen at present are laboring under ex- traordinary difficulties in procuring places for their constituents. In the first place, the civil service rules are now thoroughly enforced in all the departments, in the h. dian service and the railway mail service, and that takes 46, 900 offices out of tho ap- pointed classes. In the second place, sev- eral territories have recently been admitted to statehood, and in others, as the Demo- cratic platform declares, the offices arc to be filled by residents thereof. So all the territorial appointments are practically be- yond the reach of congressmen.
 The spirit of tho civil service reform is also supposed to be working in all direc- tions, and taking all these things together I think it moderate estimate that there are today less than half as many offices available for congressional patronage as there were in the administrations of Grant and Hayes. Add to this that there are 214 Democrats in the house and fl in the sen ate, and it will be apparent that the pat ronage of any ono member is less than third of what it formerly was. Nearly all the working members say the new system will be great relief to them when it is fully established and understood by the people, but while it is being put in force and not yet comprehended by their constit uents the results arc embarrassing.
 The President and Civil Service Reform.
 It is taken for granted that the senators control the entire foreign service, most of the internal revenue service and the GUS toms appointments in all the larger cities as we'll as all postoffices of the presidential rank. In fact, there is little or nothing left the average member except the country postoffices, and even as to them this is spoken of as a Mugwump administration. And hero comes in one of the curious fea- lures of the present very curious regime. MT. Cleveland is, to say the least, peculiar. It is evident that for awhile he holds to civil service reform principles with great tenacity; then the pressure on him grows too strong to be resisted. He gives way, and having once broken over the fence gallops recklessly through the old fields of Democratic and Jacksonian freedom in ap- pointments. He then gets disgusted ap- parently and goes back to civil service strictness for time.
 In at least five great states the Demo- cratic machine is against him, and his supporters are in a somewhat persecuted minority. Of course he must stand by them, as human nature, to say nothing of honor, would lead him to do, and this in- wolves him in a rather undignified contest with senators. Another peculiarity of the man, if one may accept the testimony of leading Democratic members is in his sud- den and strong likes and dislikes. Very often he is seized with an admiration for Q man at first sight and will give him any i office he wants regardless of congressional protests, and just as often he conceivcs an l aversion which cannot bc overcome by any | pressure. All these things give Q curiously | fiuctuating and inconsistent appearance to | his policy in making appointments
 A Plan to Fix Responsibility.
 Now the great question among congress l men is, What is to bc tiones Everybody | agrees that the old system is not to bc re- | stored, for the country is too big, and the | civil service reform principle Is too well | and tho people wouldn' t stand | the change anyhow. At the same timo the | present system is q great trial to members, l as the people expect of them so much moro | than they arc able to do. In view of all the | difficulties, several congressmcn havo con l fcrrcd and thought out plan by which, | as they think, the principles of civil serv ice reform could be better sustained and | tho congressman made tho responsible ap- l powers |
 What they