Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-30

n NCLE SANS government is getting to
4:
$sSSS on the increase. and the aggregation
of human mechanisms that annually
required TO turn the wheels Of government
form a very accurate representation Of the size
and development of the nation. These minor
machines are, Of course, the direct factors in
the running of the great system, but they have
to be guided. and watched, and advised, and
approved. in order that the work may go
on with some degree Of order and response
bility. At the head of all is the secretary
Of the department. the supreme ruler of
their destinies, the mogul from whose curtained
thrones issue edicts and laws that are Just as
strict and binding in their local application as
il they were made by the President himself
But the secretary is not enough OF himself to
run the engine. He must have an assistant 10
take his place at the post of duty occasionally.
TO look after minor matters, to give personal
attention to the details Of the daily or weekly
or monthly grist OF business that Is ground,
and to take from his shoulders the load OF re-
sponsibility emanating from the importance of
the system under his charge.
And so it has come about that now every eX-
ecutive department has at least one assistant
secretary, and there are seventeen of these
officials at present drawing pay from the gov
eminent for the help which they give to the
eigh: cabinet officers who at the head of all.
Their help Is absolutely needful. and in some
cases there is not enough of them. These men
probably come into closer contact with the
actual workings Of the departments than do
their chiefs themselves. for their duties are
subdivided that they are daily in communca-
ton with the business methods of the machine.
Many OF them are judges. after a fashion, Of
the various questions that arise In the daily
transaction OF the routine. and in this way they
leave decided imprint upon the records of
the government. which is to be noticed even
hfter they have stepped aside to make room
for others.
The STAR has made collection Of the por-
traits OF these jealous public servants and of
the facts necessary to introduce them properly
to the public. and today 1t shows the faces of
the assistants to the Secretary of the Treasury,
the Postmaster General and the Secretary OF
the Interior.
There are now three assistant secretaries in
the Treasury Department. one having been
added by the appropriation bill which recently
became law. so that this department il now
on plane with any OF the others as regards the
number of helpers for its head. There can be
no more effective epitome of the prog
ress of the country and its commercial in
terests than glance at the legislation
providing for these three offices. The first one
was created by the act OF March 3. 1s49. the
secretary aiOne having Deen able 10 do all the
work prior to that time. During the latter
part CT the war the business OF tine department
became so heavy, the issue of bonds and money
increasing TO such degree tina. a second as
sistant provided for by the act of March
Ii. 1864. With these two helpers successive
Secretaries have managed to get along until
nov. when the business done by the Treasury
Department Is fully ten times as great as it was
when the first assistant was made. In June
last provision was made Tor anoth at the re-
quest OF Secretary Window, and ROW there will
be three until some further increase takes
place in the system, when another may be
added.
There is no rank among these Offices In
some OF the departments the law stipulates
that they shall be designated by number and
shall draw different grades of pay. the officers
acting as secretary during the absence OF the
head in the order n which they enumerated.
But in the Treasury this is not so.
The three gentlemen who now hold the
places IN the Treasury Department are Judge
Geo. $. Batchelier, Gen. o. l.. Spaulding and
Gen. A. T. Nettieton The first-named is the
only one OF the three who has held the Office
since the beginning of the administration. the
Others having come into Office less than a
couple of months ago, one upon the resigna-
ton of Col Tichenor and the other under the
provisions OF the new law.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY BATcHELLEa.
Judge George 5. Batcheller is a New Yorker
who claims Saratoga as his home He is law
yer by profession, by choice and by instinct