Washington City, December 3, 1864.
My Dear Sir:—As I left home the Friday after the
Presidential election, have just received your letter remailed here.
I think you err in
desiring to come here as a clerk, for the pay, $1,200, will, at the high rates
of living here, barely support you and your family, and promotion is very
difficult and won only by merit; for I have so many favors to ask for
constituents constantly that all the clerks from my district know I can not ask
their promotion as a political favor.
But I recognize how
faithfully you have labored for the cause, and I intend to get a clerkship
for you, in preference to a dozen other applicants from my district
pressing for appointment. So be ready to come.
Yours very hurriedly but truly,
Schuyler Colfax.
SOURCE: Corydon Eustathius Fuller, Reminiscences of
James A. Garfield: With Notes Preliminary and Collateral, p. 368
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