Omaha daily bee., 1877-04-02
that they would probably be glad to
get a pair OF the Presidents old
haOfs
ANXIOUS OFFICE SEEKERS.

Luckless, as q rule, are these ex'
peStants. Few of them succeed In
basking in the light OF the Presi.
dents countenance. The tall mai
with the sandy beard 10 little better
than a snare for the unwary. Few
Of the cards which he SO politely
asks the hopeful callers to write
ever reach the eyes Of his Excellen.
cy. The truth is, this patient and
considerable master of the ante.
chamber is D breakwater to keep
the crowd away from his chief,
while they think he IL put there to
help them to the wished-fO inter-
views. Across the hall, guarding a
door, stands a dappef little fellow OF
unmixed Ethiopian descent. In
| his keeping are entrusted such cards
as come from persons who appear
10 have any business which the
President might reasonably be
called Upon TO give ear 10. He
takes them in and delivers them to
MIR. Rogers, the private secretary.
Mr.. Rogers is the second break
water. He told me that his
orders were to keep all Office
seekers away from the President,
aid that II any slipped past him 1t
was by strategy. "General Hayes
aud l were schoOl-boys together"
said he, chatting with me during a
short lull in the pressure OF callers,
"and we were law partners In Gin
cinnati. He wanted me to come on
aud help him in carrying out his
ideas of civil service reform, and I
felt that i ought to make a satrlhce
to do 30. l had no idea that my
duties would be SD arduOus. The
President hopes that In the course
OF four years he can educate The
country SO that We shall 40 lenger
be a nation of office seekers. He IS
determined to make no removals,
except for good cause, and to appoint
the best men he can find, whether
the politicians like them Or not"
THE PRESIDENTS OFFICE.
Occupying a desk at Mr.. Rogers
elbow is usually TO he seen Webb
Hayes, the Presidents Oldest son. q
smooth-faced young man, with a
large nose, who wears glasses and
looks like a divinity student. He
Is Intelligent and polite, like all the
family. Between him and the Pres.
ident there appears to exist a mu-
tual confidence and affection too
rarely found between father and
son. A third desk in the room is
used by a hard WORKING clerk, who
attends to the correspondence under
the Private Secretary's direction.
On one side of this room, which, by
the way, ID handsomely furnished
and has q lovely outlook on the
lawn and the Potomac, is q smaller
apartment, where other clerks are
on duty. On the other side three
or four steps lead from an open door
down to the Presidents reception
room, q large, square room, with
heavy, green rep curtains, hung over
lace, at the two windows, q bright
carpet, two desks, numerous
bookcases and an abundance of
velvet cushioned chairs. At a large
desk in the middle Of the room the
President receives his visitors, All
who are members of Congress- or
cabinet ministers come directly in
from the hall after giving their
names to a messenger at the door,
and do not, therefore, have to run
the gauntlet OF the private secretary.
Every morning between 10 and is
the Senators and Representatives
come in a steady stream. mr..
Hayes has a chair placed facing his,
to which he motions each caller by
turn, rising to shake hands With
him as he advances and then re-
suming bis own seat. Sometimes
when the conversation is designed
to be especially private he gets up
and takes his visitor into q window
alcove, and sometimes, but very
rarely, he goes out with him into
his retiring ROOM, adjoining.
THE CIVIL SERVICE REFoRMER.
The President appears perfectly at
home in his new position, and could
not act more at ease IL he had been
to the manor born. There is q frank
and hearty courtesy in his manner
which is just the opposite of Grants
chilling reserve and clam like i'm.
mobility. He talks with a freedom
and ease which remind one of Abra.
ham Lincoln, but he don't tell fun
ny stories, as Lincoln did, and has
more dignity of bearing than the
great emancipator had. In thor
ough honesty and sincerity of char
acter, the resemblance between
Hayes and Lincoln will, l believe,
be remarked more and more as the
country comes to know the man
who, through much tribulation of
Returning Boards and Electoral
Commission, has come to our re,
publican throne. 1t issingular how
people generally misunderstood
Hayes during his candidacy. He
was popularity supposed to be q milk
and water mana sort of a goOdy-
gOody person, without the stuff
in him to make q first-class sinner.
Even Republicans outside of Ohio
predicted that he would be run by
Morton, Chandler and the old
Grant clique. It all came from the
quiet way he has aid from his aver. !
l o to noisy selfassertion. In re-
ality, he is one of the most positive,
unyielding men il public life, and
under a velvet glove conceals a hand |
of iron. He is the most dangerous
of all opponents, because he has
himself under perfect control, and
is therefore never off his guard. His |
public and private life appears to be
governed by q set OF fixed princi.
Piles, from which he never swerves.
His pet political hobby is civil
service reform. He seems to believe
that he has q mission to inaugurate
system that shall make the offices
no longer rewards for partisan SER
vice, and his Ohio friends, like Gar
field, Foster and Cox, who know
him thoroughly, say he can't be
moved ali inch from the course he
has laid out to accomplish this re.
form. 1t Ia no new notion with
him I remember as long ago
as 1866, when he was in the
House from one of the Cincinnati
districts, that he gave a warm sup
port to Jenckes' bill, which was the
first tangible embodiment of the
civil service theories. He studied
the question carefully at that time,
made up his mind, and, with char
scteristic persistency, has ever since
stuck to the ideas which he then
imbibed.
he hnalness ~rocoptiopn Of Tho