Loafing Clergymen at Washington.
The Washington correspondent of the Cincinnati Times, in speaking of the scramble for the chaplaincy, says: “The most disgusting sight of all, even to worldly men and hardened sinners, is the struggles of a lot of preachers for the chaplaincy. No less than ten ministers of different denominations are here, intriguing, electioneering and laboring for the post of chaplain to the Senate and house. This scramble after “filthy lucre,” by these godly men, is a horrid parody of their meekness, truth and religion pretenses. It is time that this system of chaplaincy at eight dollars a day was abolished. The whole thing is a mockery of solemn subjects, as it is now carried on. Let the ministers of Washington and vicinity be invited to officiate in turn. I have no doubt they would do it cheerfully, fervently. “Applicants for the chaplaincy even go so far as to recount the services they have rendered the ‘party,’ and promise future labors. They also go into bar-rooms, saloons, boarding houses or wherever a member is to be cornered, and there bore him for his vote and influence. This is shameful, degrading, basely hypocritical, yet perfectly true. With such pious examples no wonder Congress is corrupt!”