Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-05-10
WASHINGTON Letter.


not strain either his physical or men /
tai powers in the service of his coun-
try. He is rather prone to being alb
sent, sick as often as he dares, and to
day dreaming when he is present
OF course there is a respectable mi
nority who work hard; but as like as
not you will find on further observa-
ton that there are often men whose
education and ability are not suf-
fcient to enable them to do even al
decent amount Of work without great
effort. These statements are true of
both sexes, and of all offices where ex-
tensive technical knowledge is not de
handed. But there is one employee
in each department who has to work
early and late, to take his work and
worry home with him, and be way
laid by all sorts of people at all sorts
of times, on matters Of shop. This
employee is known to the other alleged
public servants as ''the old man. ana
to the public itself as the Honorable
Secretary. The Honorable Secretary
has a hard time Of it, and the more
inexperienced he is in public life the
more he suffers, always of course con
sidering the relative Importance of
the various departments. Thus by
the Importance of his department ana
his unfamiliarity with routine de-
partmental work, Secretary Noble IS
probably the most overworked me-
in Washington, and even his m8gnIti
cent physique is beginning to show
the strain. He is very. accessible aad
listens to visitors On unimportant bus
mess with the same cordial attention
that he accords to really weighby mat
ters. In a few months he will have
either broken under the strain or or
dered minor affairs attended to by
minor officials. I believe that sub
stantially all his waking hours are
given to the affairs of his Office, which
you will remember includes the great
est number of widely different bzl-
reaus of any of the executive depart
ments, Think of a secretary having
charge Of patents, pensions, labor, ed
ucation, parks, Indians and lands and
a dozen other things, all in a tumble,
Secretary Blaine performs his labor
with more ease than any other mem
Der of the Cabinet. His faculty for
doing vast amounts of work without
! the appearance of strain is due no
less to his magnificent ability than to
his long training Mr.. Blaine's mind
is an instantaneous camera and a
single flash fixes the details of any
affair upon his mind So far as quick
ness is concerned he is the model sec
rotary, Whether It be an obscure
cousulship or an important treaty his
mind acts with lightning rapidity.
Mr.. Blaine does not usually arrive at
his office before IL o'clock, but he al
ways brings with him a budget of pa
pers that has received his attention
the night before at his apartments in
the NOrmandie.
The burly figure of Secretary Win
dom enters the treasury department
at 8 o'clock in the morning and the
grind begins. He remains all day,
until 5 o'clock in the afternoon, IN his
Office, listening to the endless process
sion of visitors with their bewilderlng
variety Of requests and complaints.
And in these days Mr.. Window finds
need for all the arts he learned while
In the Senate and while formerly
/ Secretary of the Treasury. His smile
/ never deserts him. Even the Secre-
tary's private Office is continually
crowded, and he has to take import
ant visitors to one side, and in the
little nook where the windows over
look the river and the far Virginia
hills, a great many annoying prob
lens have been solved.
/ Attorney General Miller is at his
! desk from s o'clock In the morning to
/ 6 o'clock In the afternoon, and he
! goes back to the department at 7:3O
/ to remain until 10 O'Clock, attending
to the business that has been virtual
! y settled during the day. He has
not contracted the habit Of taking
work home with him.
/ Secretary Proctor is rather out OF
the ofice-seekers' beat, and his de
! partment is less closely associated