The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-15
SOME VIEWS AT WASHINGTON
tBY G. A. EpwARDs.)

rs dinusinB 10 tue ieW pis ueihVSiats VIM
now happen to BIO In this city. Some of
those fellows over there actually think
there is some show to nominate Van
wyck for president on the democratic
ticket. Well, there isn't any more show
for him than there would be for one
legged man at kicking match.
The East really thinks It amounts to
something as factor in the democratic
party. 1t has got to be kicked once more
before it will get into the republican
party for keeps. II we elected the pres
dent of the United States by the popular
vote Of the people, then we would be
counting the East for all there is in 1t. but
we don't, and there's the rub They can
meet and have as many conferences as
they please, but the people OF the West
and the South will dominate that con-
vention when the time comes. Not a man
east of the Allegheny mountains will
when 1t is named.
Those people over at Saratoga don't care
anything for Van Wyck. They are sim
ply out for any old thing to beat Bryan.
If they put up Ex-Governor Pattison of
Pennsylvania then 1t will be another case
of who struck Billy Pattison?" The |
thing that amuses ME most about that |
meeting is the Grass ignorance of the
men who write pieces" for the New York
papers concerning the people who will
form the personnel of the conference. In
tcday's journal. the correspondent who
is doing" the conference for that paper,
and who was sent on that assignment
presumably because he was better equip
ped for the work In hand, makes so many
mistakes about the public men who Will |
attend that meeting that ] am really sorry
for him. / fully realize that / am not
totlng around such a load of information
under my own hat as to sprain my kid
neys or give me a case of Fat feet. but II
were to write such sad transformation
to The Houston Post as / read in the
Journal, l would confidently expect to be
fired by wire.
One instance is enough The correspond
ent announces that among the men who
will attend the meeting and attempt to do
things to Mr.. Bryan is a gentleman from
Kentucky wearing the suspicious name of
Judge Tavern" And he dwels on the
potency of Judge "Tavern's" political pull
down in Kentucky, and what an immense
boom in the Blue Grass State The facts
are that he meant Judge Tarvin. who l.
a red hot Bryan democrat and an ayowed
candidate for the vice presidential nom
inailon on the ticket with Bryan. In
stead of going to New York to participate
in any sort OF proceedings against Bryan
he Is going there to address IA meeting o
Chicago platform democrats. The pro-
vinclalism and ignorance of the East con
corning anything outside of itself is pro-
verbal and it seems to be getting worse.
Last winter young man came over t.
report the proceedings of congress for L
New York paper and he did not know whit
was the speaker of the house. When ne
heard the name of n public man he did
not know whether he was a senator or u
representative, and he was eternally both
ering men in the press galleries with his
simple and foolish questions. They are ,
so brilliant that all they need is to hav. !
a little copper wire wrapped around them
to pose for an electric light. They, how
ever, are no worse hefogged as to the
political situation than the alleged big
men who are going to Save" the demo d
cratic party at Saratoga.
The red tape and plcayunishness of the
government on the one hand and the
prodigal extravaganza on the other in
many instances, make a revelation to peo
pie who have never studied the methods {
by which the various departments are
conducted here. The government is run
on rather eXtravagant lines in respect to c
the outlay of money for various classes OF
4.
comes to the auditing of the accounts for
such service. AS an instance. an officer
who was travelling in the West some time
ago on public business wanted to run over
to Pipestone. Mimi, from Flandreau, S.
D.. and back again. BY rail this meant
rather long detour. and involved consid
cradle expense for car fares, hotel accom-
modatons etc; but the distance straight
across the prairie was only fifteen miles,
and his errand in Pipestone could be ac-
in an hour. He inquired at {
local livery stable and found that bug {
gy, horse and driver could be got for s.. P
Just then an Indian farmer came along
too. and that he had pair of horses but
no light wagon. The officer found that he
could hire buggy alone for so cents; the
Indian agreed to furnish the horses and
do the driving for nothing, taking his
in his own free trip over
and back A bargain was accordingly II
struck the journey was made and when II
he officer turned in his vouchers AT Wash
ngton one of them was for "one buggy =
one day, 80 cents" Although his entire
account ran well up into the hundreds of G
dollars. this was the single item held C
Up" by the auditing experts
WHO ever heard of hiring buggy and a
horses for fifty cents day." they sagely
inquired. "And to hire a buggy without 6
horses would BIO folly, for the man could a
lot have dragged 1t himself. There is St
wrong here" So. at consider
lble inconvenience and cost OF time the A
frugal functionary of the government had 81
10 visit the office and make an elaborate d
explanation, first orally and then in writ 81
ng. and the written statement had TO be II
iuly field in the archives before the ac-
count was passed and his money paid to
lin. This failure Of an effort to save 1,
$3.50 for the government was not without I
It's lesson, From that day forward the Of
icer concerned never haggled over ques-
.iong Of economy He hired n whole outn, | n