Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-17

Fifty years ago washington was nIIeU
with applicants for Office. incident to
0ficeseekers the the 's Senate. which h
in Collision. t tne Iem aftsr long long
period of Republican maiorities. The
Star of March 10, 1879, has the follow
ing whimsical account of this conges-
ton and conflict:
THE reports afloat of a loss of life
in the collision upon the Avenue today
were exaggerations, though no doubt
many we're seriously If not fatally, in
jured. It seems that large party Of
Kentucky officeholders, by the Metro
politan road, hurrying down Louisiana
avenue, collided in front of the market
with several thousand officeseekers
from Virginia coming up Seventh street.
At the same time a heavy delegation
from Baltimore, by the Potomac road,
and another Maryland squad, by the
Baltimore & Ohio road. converged upon
the same point and attempted to force
their way through the conglomerated
Virginians and Kentuckians. The con-
several squads of excited applicants
seeking the lodgings of various Sena-
tors and who tried to make their way
through the crowd at any hazard. The
open space in front of the market and
upon all the intersecting streets was
now filled with the struggling mass of
many thousand officeseekers and the
Scrimmage for a time was furious. The
number of wounded taken to the neigh
boring drug stores probably gave rise
to the reports of loss of life, but when
the police finally succeeding in break
ing up the blockade, though the streets
were strewn thickly with locks of hair,
wigs, bourbon bottles, false teeth,
clutches, ends of thumbs, gouged-out
eyes, etc, and were rather slippery with
gore, no corpses were to be found. So
II any were killed the clans must have
carried off their dead.
Later there was a report that the
oficeseekerS had succeeded in overpow-
ering the police on guard at Senator
Gordons lodgings and had forced their
way into his sick chamber. Another re-
port was to the effect that Kentucky
Senator had been compelled to make his
escape from his house IN disguise. and
that several other Senators were flying
for their lives.
THE officeseekers are infuriated by
the reported discovery that under the
rules of the Senate none of the SUBJ
ordinate officers of that body can be
removed except by the consent of Vice
President Wheeler. This they consider
to be f1imsy pretext, put forth by the
Senators to avoid opportunities for Of
flee. Altogether this has been a day of
alarm in Washington. and it is feared
that the worst has not been reached, as
every train brings fresh arrivals of
oflceSeekers with the desperation of
famine stamped upon their brows."
In its issue of the following day,
March IA, 1879, The Star has this fur
ther to say editorially re-
SENATE garding the rush for Sem
Of,cas ate offices:
Some of the rural gen.
tlemen who are here looking for places
pronounce Office 'orifice,' and they are
not much out of the way in the die
tionary definition of the word as an
aperture, or opening. to be filled. The
reported discovery that the Senate Of
fees cannot be converted into 'oriflces'
to be filled except upon the written ap-
prevail of Vice President Wheeler car
ried CONSERVATION at first to the fam
ished horde of applicants, but they now
take courage with the assurance that
the Senate will probably rescind this
rule giving the Vice President these
troublesome restrictive powers. But will
this be done? The Senate is a conserva-
tive body. with a liking to have things
comfortable, orderly and dignified.
THE awful mess into which the last
House put itself by turning out the old
experienced employees to give place to a
greedy crowd of officeseekers is a warn
ing that quite likely will not be lost
upon the Senate. Moreover, that body
is not in the habit of making sweeping
changes in its official corps Mr.. Bas-
sett. the white-headed old doorkeeper.
has been in the place since the days
of Daniel Webster and has had the
friendship of all the long line of states
men who have filled the senatorial arm
chairs down to the present time. The
Senator who would turn him out TO
make an opening for some office-hunt-
ing galoot would strike his own grand
father. Then there Is Doorkeeper
Christy who, like Figaro here, Figaro
there has been an indispensable off,
Ger Of the Senate A green hand would
have sorry time Of 1t undertaking to