The Arizona champion., 1889-05-04
NEWSY LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent al
 the National Capitol
WASHINGTON, Apr. 20.

WASHINGTON, Apr. 2o. i The average Government clerk
 does not strain either his physical
 or mental powers in the service of
 his country. He is rather prone
 to being absent, sick as often
 as he dares, and to day
 dreaming when he Is present. O.: course there IS respectable minor ity who work hard, but as like as as not you will ind on further observation that there are often
 men whose education and ability are not sufficient to enable them to do even a decynt amount of work without great eifo~t. These statements are true of both sexes, and of ali offices where extensive technical knowledge IS not dc
 manded.
 But there is one employe in each department who has 10 work early and late, to take his work and worry home with him, and be waylaid by all sorts of people at all sorts of times, on matters of shop. This employe is known to the other alleged public servants a. "the old man" and to the public itself, as the Honorable Secretary,
 The Honorable Secretary has hard time of lt, and the more in experienced he Is in public life the more he suffers, always of course considering the relative importance of the various departments. Thns by the importance of his depart ment and his unfamliarIty with routine departmental work. Secretary Noble is probably the most overworked man Tn Washing ton, and even his magnificent phy slque IS beginning to show the strain. He IS very accessible and listens to visitors on unImportdnt business with the same courteous attention that he accords 10 really weighty matters. In few months he will either have broken under the strain or ordered minor affnrs attended to by minor officials. l believe that substantially all of hls waking hours are given 10 the af fairs of hIs office, which you wrlI remember includes the greatest number of widely different bureaus of any of the Executive Depart 'nents Think of d Secretary hay ing charge of patents, pensions. parks, labor, ed Ication, Indians and lands, and dozen other. things, al! Tn tumble.
 Secretary Blaine performs his laror with more ease than any other member ol the Cabinet. His faculty for d ing vast amounts ot work without the appearance of strain is due no less l. his mignii cent ability than 10 his long train ing. Mir Blarne's miud Is an in s'antaneous camera and single flash fixes the details of any aff iir upon hts mind. So far as qHck ness is concerned, he IS the model l Secretary. Whether 1t Is an ob | Scure consulShlp or an important treaty, his mind acts with light l ming rapidity. MT Blaine do-s not usually arrive at his offi.e be fore II o'clock, but he always | brings with hin budget of papers that has received his attention the | night before at his apartments in | the Normindie.
 The hurley figure of Secretary | Wlndom enters the Treasury De | partment at Q o'clock in the morn | ing and the grind begins. He re. mains all day, until 5 o'clock in the afternoon, in his office, llsten- to the endless procession ot visitors with their bewilderIng variety of requests and complains. And in these days MT. Windom finds need | for all the arts he learned while in the Senate and while formerly Sec retary ot the Treasury. His smile never deserts him. Even the Sec- retary's private office IS continually crowded, and he has to take nm portaat visitors to one side, and in the little nook where the windows overlook the river and the far Virginia hills, great many annoy. ing problems have been solved.
 Attorney General Miller is at his desk from 8 o'clock in ;he morning to 6 o'clock In the after noon, and he goes back to the department at 7:3o to remain until To o'clock, attending to business that has been virtually settled in the interviews of the day. He has not contracted the habit of taking work home with him.
 Secretary Proctor is rather out of the ofhce-seekels beat, and his is less closely associ ated with the business interests oi the country. Therefore his life IS not an unpleasant one and the silence of many of his hours is only broken by the click of the type writer and the sound of his own voice dictating to the stenographer He is very nervous man and die tates badly from natural incllna tion to do his writing himself. In fact it may be said of the majority
 Il |