The Republican journal., 1886-01-14
Calling on the Cabinet.


the Louisville Courier-Journal as follows
There is one circumstance which will arrest
the attention of the obseryant stranger in the
national capital that would be amusing if it
was not serious. This is the difficulty in OBJ
tanning access to the departments. The newly
made great men who have come into being,
have shut themselves within such a halo of JEFF
fersonian simplicity that often there is no pene-
trating it. The case is hardly the one of the
beggar on horseback. 1t seems to spring from
lack of experience and Judgment. An old
hand at the bellows of administration knows
that one of the first elements of popularity is
accessibility, for he can blow hot or cold with
that instrument, and need not fear the ntru-
sion OF the undesired. 1t is easy to be civil,
and courtesy is the cheapest commodity which
power can dispense to pacate the envious and
appease the disappointed. The last atlministra-
ton had this down to the finest of fine points,
and could say mo" and bow you out of the
door making you feel As though you had receiy-
cd IA blessing instead of refusal. Not so lust
yet with the present dynasty. There exists in
many of the departments an apprehension that
If stranger finds his way to the head of the
bureau he may cut it off, and if, by chance, he
should profane the presence of the Secretary
he can never be got out again. Thus the cit-
zen unused to official ways, and unbacked BY
influence, has no show whatever and meets
wherever he goes either the stony gaze of in
science or the equally irritating gaze of suspi-
cion. | was invited several times by an old
friend in Office to come and see him. and as Of
ten reproached by my failure to do so. One
day L called and asked young man with
melancholy east of countenance. who sat with
his feet upon an adjacent desk, if / could see
my great friend. He answered with a wound
ed look, that the great man was busy and could
not be disturbed. ''Well,' said I. "you take
him this card. anyhow, and say to him that if
he doesn't want to see me any more than |
want to see him. don't want to see him at ALL"
For moment | thought the Young man would
sink into the floor, aud had to toss a glass of
water III his face before he came to himself
very funny thing happened to friend of
mine the other afternoon. He was passing
through one of the corridors of the War De-
f tiii ~ W ltli WV MuOlil Hc pro-
posed should go with him to see the Secretary.
TO this one of them dissented. Il am" said
the di>>enter. "the Washington CORRESPONDENT
OF great democratic newspaper, and | have
Yet to see or be able to reach the Secretary of
War. He il a rutiled-Shirted Boston aristocrat
and il mugWump. and | don't want to know
him" My friend replied with warmth: You
are donkey. The Secretary of War is as good
a democrat as you or |. He is the best manner
ed man in the Cabinet. Bayard i, too sublime;
Manning too official; Lamar too dreamy Whit
ney too patronzin@; Villas too stiff; and old
Garland don't make manners specially. En-
dlcott hit> it oil cXactly-so come along and
have your foolish prciudices removed" To
make a long story short, they arrived at the
Secrctary'> waiting room. where they were met
by Il square cut. ba>tion rugged sentinel, with a
red nose and very white hair, and the following
cOloquy ensued:
Visitor very polite and little awed by the
veteran on guard 81 wish to see the Secre-
tary Of War"
Veteran with dignity) You can't see the
Secretary, SIR
Visitor could YOU not take him my card:''
Veteran: NO. sir: it is after hours; the See
rotary i busy and doesn't want To see any
body"
Visitor persistent but poitel; Could You
not TAXI my card in and let him be the judge Of
that"
Veteran: do you know the Secretary"
Visitor: why, yes. little. and | have an
impression that he Will be glad to see me-"
Veteran Slightly molIitcd); ''Haye you any
business with him.
Visitor: "None in the world, except to pay
my respects and present these gentlemen.''
Veteran Ton the ramrod AGAIN.: sob, you
want to take these men in with you, do you:'
Visitor Growing little inpatient "Why,
yes, thought | should like to do so.''
Veteran: We'll sir, its against the rules,
md this is no time to be coming into the de
partment, but. as you say you know the Secre-
ary-you sure you know him, sir? | will
take your card
He took the pasteboard and waddled off
with it. There was a pause. The correspond
emf Of the great democratic newspaper did not
NA-''f
third of the party stood at an angle simply
silent and crushed. Iii minute or two there
was sound a> of a dummy engine driving up
grade. The door was flung open. and the
veteran with the snowy topknot and the red
protuberance fairly shouted: ''The Secretary
doesn't know you-never heard of you-and
doesn't want to see you! How dare YOU come
in here pretending you know the Secretary?
1ou know the Secretary! It's very amusing
to YOU, suppose-very amusing, indeed.'
My friend was a little nettled. though it was,
to say the truth, amusing, for there are some
outbursts of incivility so wanton and unpro-
voked that they pass all bounds and miss their
mark, and this was one of them. But he held
his temper, and, still keeping the chair, he
said: 'Will you have the goodness to tell
me your name:''
WHAT" Numbered the veteran
Your name?' insisted the visitor.
Lee, sir. Lee" screamed the now infuriat-
to get out of that chair" which the visitor.
wishing to escape bodily violence, proceeded
to do instantly.
This is a literal and unexaggerated account
of an actual occurrence. That the Secretary of
War, who is all my friend describes him to be,
a most accomplished man and an equally I'M
doubted Democrat, would permit a discourtesv
to be put by one of his servants upon the
humbest of his callers is not to be conceived
for a moment. Yet, with such regulations and
such a retinue of lackeys as guard most of the
to the various offices, such scenes
in less fragrant degree, of course-are not
merely possible. but are not uncommon The
incident | am relating came to the knowledge
of Judge Endicott who was prompt to make a
needless di>avowa, for no one who knows
him, could suspect him of any kind of con
scious in ciylity. But the President and his
Cabinet sho uld take serious look into this
whole matter. They will find it all that it is
pictured here, and they owe it to themselves to
put no Scntinels on guard who do not unite
to good manners good judgment. At their
best, officials are prone to an ultraism, of ex-
clu>ivencsS, born in mistaken sense of dignity
and handled by dignity's foster-mother. the
atlertation of oycrwork.