The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-06-11
President.
Secretary
of State.
Attorney
General.
P. NJ. Gen'l.

Very little formality attends the
meetings. Under Mr.. Cleveland's Adj
ministration, at least. the members are
very promptly on time. Mr.. Garland
is usually the first TO arrive. He is al
ways few minutes ahead of time, and
if the President is not engaged he fire.
quently goes into the library to see
him. Sometimes Mr.. Bayard is first
and sometime Mr.. Lamar. The men,
bers generally come singly, rarely in
pairs. Each always carries under his
arm a portfolio such as lawyers use for
papers, only the Cabinet portfolios are
more Anticipated than those affected by
lawyers--as old probably as Senator
Evart's hat. The Cabinet portfolio is a
thing of calfskin, about twenty-four by
twenty inches. 1t has a single
pocket covered by flap. 1t has no
lock, but is fastened by two straps and
buckles. Some of these portfolios are
probably hundred years old, and
greater number have seen from a
quarter to half century. The newest
is exactly like the oldest in pattern.
and each is lettered with stencil to in
dictate to what department it belongs.
Each member of the Cabinet shakes
hands with all the others when he ar
rives. The President usually comes in
after nearly all his counsellors have ar
rived. He shakes hands with them all
around and chats with them for mo-
ment, and then takes his seat at the
head of the table, his advisers taking
their places in the order indicated in the
diagram. The session begins at twelve
o'clock exactly, whether the members
have all arrived or not. The President
does not rap the meeting to order, and
it is wholly informal throughout. No
vote is taken on any question. If the
President wants the individual opinion
of his advisers on any subject, he asks
for it, but he decides the question in his
own way, without regard to whether a
majority of his advisers is for or against
his views.
Imagine what eight bank directors or
an equal number Of asylum trustees on
pretty good terms with one another
would do if shut up in a back room
away from public gaze, and some
notion probably can be formed Of
what Cabinet meeting is like.
All the pictures that are made
| of Cabinet groups are absurdities.
| The Secretaries do not stand in tragic
attitudes, with hands thrust in the
breasts of close-buttoned coats, nor do
they stand with an elbow resting on the
mantel, nor sit with folded arms and
knitted brows. They just sit carelessly
and easily at table like other folks,
toying with penholders, tearing scraps
of paper, or drumming on their port
| folios.
There is no set form in which the
councils begin or continue. The sub
lects discussed suggest themselves. To-
day the Oklahoma question may be
uppermost, and the Secretary of the In
terror and the Secretary of War natu-
rally are the chief takers around the
table. Tomorrow the Central Ameri-
can news is interesting, and Secretary
Bayard and Secretary Whitney Of
course are the most deeply concerned.
| Opinions are passed all around the
board, however, and nearly every mem
Der has something to add to the COM
mon fund of information. The Presi-
dent has always two or three vexatious
questions on hand to submit to his
counsellors. The encroachments upon
the public lands, and the enforcement
| OF the laws providing for vacating
them, have been discussed at length al
two recent consultations of the Cabinet.
and the Central American muddle and
the question as to the political disabili-
ties of General Lawton and others have
furnished topics for other meetings.
Washington Cor. N. 7. San,