The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-14

very moment that a veteran or his child
or his parents or his widow catches the
pension fever he writes to his representa-
tive urging that his case be made special,
and stating that So-and-So and So-and-So
have told him that the congressman, 'if
he wants to''-there is covert threat here
can fix it up in no time at all. Some
pensioners are so enterprising as to write
10 their senators also; but this comes to
the same thing, for the knowing senator
invariably writes back that the aid of the
congressman should be sought Lucky in
deed, is the congressman if after three
or four written requests, he can obtain
from the claimant The number of his claim
and the title of the regiment in which he
served, for John Smith is sure TO assume
that they know all about him at the pen
sion bureau. This at length acquired, and
report secured that in the due course of
two or three months the claim may reach
final settlement, ii would seem that there
might be an epistolatory respite; but no.
in week or so comes a more urgent
request for another report, with less
covert threat as to what the congressman
might do eff he wanted to" Even if the
cain is allowed, within the first quarter
thereafter there viii be an appeal for an
increase, coupled with caustic comments
on what such and such anothSS congress-
man did for such and such another pen
sioner, whose military record, il appears.
was deserving of no consideration what
ever If the claim is rejected there will
come forthwith a pathetic, indignant or
Vituperative demand for a rehearng, with
an incidental arraignment of the admins
traGon and all its works. No one is so
| certain of the facts without having any
proof; no one is so cocksure of the law
without having any knowledge; no one Is
| so replete with suggestions of unfair adj
vantage without having any cunning. as
the old pensioner. If congressman have
been lax regarding pension legislation they
| have been well haunted by the monster
OF their creation, at least their secretaries
have
Postoffice ana other appointments are
| Voracious consumers of stamps via Wash
| ington The smaller the town the hotter
the contest will be over who shall be mas
! ter of the mails and the faster the ink
| will flow. The amiable delusion known as
feeling the public pulse" which con-
| strains congressman to give out the i'm
| preston that they would like popular ex-
preston Of choice, produces a heterogen-
| eous and ineXtricabe mass of opinion.
many correspondents indorsing in success
sion each candidate who pops up his head
| in the hope that the bail of political favor
may strike it. Local committees are Just
IS wavering; they will resolve gravely to-
! day for this one, in total forgetfulness
| that they resolved just as gravely yester-
day for that one. The public pulse as
marked out by congressman's mail, tray
els in a curve whose eccentricity would
! be fortune to a wallpaper manufacturer
| and drive an expert mathematician into
/ an ectasy of high potentialties.
I As to appointments in general the civil
| service rules have minimized results far
] y H..
, for office. There is no likelihood that
Congress will never modify to any great
extent the powers of the civil service com
j mission. The many speeches which are
/ made each session against reform as at
/ present constituted are merely fireworks
| for political diversion, Maladroit as has
| been the administration of the commits
| sion, veXatious and tenacious alike in
! teehnicalites and trivialities, it has to a
certain extent checked the rush for public
| Office. Break down that dam" said a
! senator lately, land we should all be
swept away" \ more felicitous metaphor
would be that of constant whirlwind of
| letters, showing under the whole legisla-
| tive OUTFIT with the poor congressional
! secretaries at the very bottom Of the big
I sest drifts. Thus self-preservation works
for the star-eyed goddess; there is usually
! something selfish in her train
There is no homogeneity. no bond OF
| union among the congressional secretaries.
! once or twice during the last session a
Smoker" was attempted; il was a dismal
! failure For one thing. they are too busy;
! for another, they are too dissimilar for
any social differentiation. All sorts and
| conditions are found in their ranks: the
| pert young woman the broken-down
| hack the congre ssmans son, the con-
! gressman's fgther-in-law. the ward hceler.
] the brisk reporter, the discredited lawyer.
! the ambitious student. the man with a his
/ tory, the man who is going TO make his
! tory aud whose keen eyes sees IN every
! incident a letter for a future page. The
life a. IRREGULAR, laborous. dependent In
its joys ana sorr0ws rs incentives and
morlifcations, on the characteristics OF
| tae member served. Yet it has is excite