The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-07-31

A La ok &c the Cabinet as it Really Appears
when in Session,

of the Cabinet days from Friday to
Thursday, and now meets his constitu-
tional advisers on Tuesday and Thurs
day OF each week. This is the only
change that has been made. The forms
that have been observed for half a GEN.
fury and more on Cabinet days are still
undisturbed. The hour Of meeting is
IL o'clock noon, and the room is the
same that has been used for the meet
ings since Lincoln's time.
1t is a plain room with no striking
feature about it. Its two large win
dows. extending from ceiling to floor,
command a lovely view of the sweep
ing lawns, the monument, and the shin
ing Potomac beyond. The interior is
simplicity itself. The walls are painted
in a drab tint, the ceiling is frescoed
with flowers and cherubs, and a mantel
of cinnamon-colored marble surrounds
q ~capacious fireplace, where hickory
logs are usually blazing cheerily. A
lowered Brussels carpet with a black
and red background covers the floor,
and gray silk rep curtains hang at the
windows.
The table around which the cabinet
is seated is an octagonal affair of black
and French walnut in the fashion of
twenty years ago. It has a profusely
carved central leg and legs at the cor
ners. It is covered with billiard cloth.
The eight armchairs that surround it
are all alike, OF walnut with rep uphol-
STEERING.
Very little formality attends the meet
ings. Under MIR. Gieyeiand's Admins
t~ration, at least, the members are very
promptly on time. Mr.. Garland is
usually the first to arrive. He is al
ways q few minutes ahead of time, anu
if the president is not engaged he fire.
quently goes irto the library to see him.
Sometimes Mr.. Bayard is first and some
times Mr.. Lamar. The members gen
orally 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 law
yers-ss old probably as Senator Evart's
hat. The Cabinet portfolio is a thing
of calfskip, about 24x20 inches. It has
a single pocket covered by a flap. 1t
has no lock, but is fastened by two
straps and buckles. Some of these
portfolios are probably a hundred years
old, and the greater number have seen
from a quarter to half o century. The
newest is exactly like the oldest IN pat
tern, and each is lettered with a stencil
TO indicate to what department it be-
longs.
Each member of the cabinet shakes
hands with all the others when he ar
rives. The president usually comes in
after nearly all his councillors have ar
rived. He shakes hands with them
all around and chats with them for a
moment, 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 II
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 1t, but he decides the question in his
own way, without regard to whether a
majority of his advisers is for or against
his views. No minutes are kept of cab
met meetings, and as no reporters are
present, the proceedings are never CIV
en- In detail. An ex-cabinet official
says the public loses little by the OBJ
servance of secrecy for the talk is dis
cussive and fragmentary and would not
be read if published.
Nevertheless all necessary precau-
tions are taken to prevent the proceed
logs of Cabinet meetings from being
overheard, and a full report of one has
not been published since the days when
Webster was Secretary Of State. An
enterprising correspondent of that day
in some way contrived to get into an adj
joining room, where he could oyerhear
every word. Mr.. Webster himself dis
covered the leak after several meetings
had been reported, and ever since the
rooms have been carefully watched.
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 no
tion probably can be formed of what a
Cabinet meeting is like. AL the pic
lures that are made of Cabinet groups
are ~absurdities.. The Secretaries do mot
stand In tragic attitudes with hands
thrust in the breasts Of close buttoned
coats. nor do they stand with an elbow
resting on the mantle, MOI sit with fold
ed arms and knitted brows. They just
sit carelessly and easily at a table like
other folks, toying with penholders,
tearing scraps Of paper, o. drumming
on their portfolios.
Abraham Lincoln, it is said, walled
into the Cabinet meeting that was tt
consider the emancipation proclamation
with 4 cnnH Of Artamns Ward,s hnnk In