New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-11-25
MULLETT.

partment will miss him. The furniture es-
adjustment which he superintendent so grace
fully will miss him. Unfinished public
buildings all over the country will miss him.
| SO also will contractors. And the white arms
Of thousand dcrricks looming up stark and
tall against the November sky will toss and
beckon and wait for the Mullett that comes
back never. All, the plans that man has
planned, the buildings he has built, the money
he has spent, and the amount of ab.e-bodled
iron-clad profanity he has mixed in his daily
discourse--how well We remember them now,
and how we shall miss them oil. Congress
men will miss him. They have been very
fond of him. And well they might
be. For say what you please about
Mullett there was, in the phrase of the
worldly, "nothing mean about him." No
member of Congress ever asked Mullett for
public building in vain. He turned no mem
Der of Congress empty away. Whenever
member Of COngress-Of the dominant party,
of course-sad TO Mullett on the eve OF an
election, "NOw Mullett, you must do some
thing for us; | must have public building
Gin my deestrct," Alullett never hesitatcd.
"What shall it beY" says Mullett-" Custom
upon being informed, he just sat down and
wrote message to Congress recommending
it, while clerk was making the plans. And
then all the Congressman who wanted pubic
buildings united and carried the appropriations
Yes, Mullett was gifted, not precisely as an
architect. We would not say that. We do
not think architecture was his forte, though
being man of a nervous temperament and
great spryness, we should judge he might be
quite happy in the use of the hammer, and
possibly develop talent as a shlngler. His
special gift was in distributing the public
money He did it by the millions, and so long
as every member of Congress got something
" for his deestiictn there were no questions
asked.
And he IS gone. Or rather is going soon
as some competent person can be found who
will take the place Of Supervising Architect
and not feel called upon to run the whole
Government, and damn everybody who cries
Hold: cnOugh!r From all accounts the
scene in the Treasury Department when
Mullett announced his purpose to tear himself
away from the service and pay Of the Gov
eminent must have been thrilling in the ex
IRENE. There sat the Secretary of the
of the blow the country was about to receive,
and there sat Mullett, about the size Of a
fre-cracker and brim full of the remarkable
qualities of that cxasperatiDg explosive. The
conversation ran upon cablnet-mGklnS, upon
desks and wardrObcs, and other such high
themes, suggested by the discovery that
Mullett was running cabinet shop at Gov
eminent expense and an annual cost of
500 900. The Secretary remarked to Null
lett, probably in casual way, that
the proceeding was contrary to law.
Imagine Muletts surprise. Not at the dis
coyery that he was violating the law, but
that the Secretary should suppose the law
made any difference, or was of any cOnse-
quence whatever. But imagine Mullett's
amazement and Indignation when the Secre-
tary actually insisted upon enforcing the law.
Right before his face and eyes, he sitting
there in front Was ever such an indlgDity
offered Supervising Architect How that
pcppery little benefactOr of the Congressional
"deestricts" must have swelled up and sput-
tered and snapped and cracked at such treat
ment. And if the recording angel does charge
I'D profanity, what job of shorthand, double
entry bookkeeping he must have had to
follow Mullctt as he shlpDeu drOunu the
Secretary and let his chin swing loose.
And then the blow came. The Secretary
could not have anticipated it, Ii he had he
never would have said anything about the
law. Mullett resigned. Yes. standing there
in the department for which he had done so
much he flung h;s resignation Si;s ::::Gii i: TIC FACE CT
an astonished country, and with few care
fullv selected "cuss words went out. He
took but one oath on going into office; no.
body knows how many he took on going out,
Il was an awful moment, no doubt. The
Washington Monument stopped in its upward
nropress. A thousand derricks creaked.
Widely scattered "deestrcts' trembled for
their unexpended appropriations, and uniin-
ished public buildings in all parts of the
country began to gather mildew and rust.
At that moment it looked as though the
National Debt was in danger, and all the in
terests of humanity, including the eagles that
are to be set up on the New York Post Office,
were imperiled. But Mullett went and saw
the President, and consented to wait until
his successor should be appointed, and the
country breathed again. He is going, though.
Mullett is going He has resigned. And
there are appropriations unexpended, and
some money left in the Treasury. He will
not consent to stay and spend It, 1t is too
bad. The President will have to use it in dig
oing canals and other great internal improve
mentS.