The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-29

Hayti gets here one minute before Sir
Julian Pagncefote Sir Julian must wait
until the gentleman from Hayti has his
say"
And you are in constant communication
with all of them?n
They don't necessarily come to me
about any matter of ordinary business that
can as well be attended to by subordinate
officers; but on matters of any importance
they communicate directly with me, and, as
L said, Thursdays are specially given to
them.n
.'Do you see much of the Presidents"
Yes; the Secretary of State is very
near TO the President owing to the nature
of their duties. They must confer together
on great number of questions. l am, in
fact,
THE SECRETARY OF TIE PRESIDENT.
Not that ever do any work in the White
House, of course but it is through the me-
dunn of this Office that he carries on
communication with foreign governments"
at seems to me- said 1, that this de
partment must be the most interesting to
administer OF any in the government"
We'll" returned Mr. Blaine with
smile, Il don't wish TO be understood as
Understanding the charms or certainly
not the Importance Of any of the other de-
partmentS, but for my part, / do find the
duties OF the Office very pleasant 1t deals,
necessarily, mainly with questions of ma
tional policy, and has, perhaps, q more dt-
rect hand than most OF the others in aiding
to shape the course of contemporary his
tory. A number of events of large import
ance are conducted, or take their rise, here.
The relations of q great country like this
with other countries are naturally more
striking and picturesque than the ordinary
routine of domestic affairs. But the treas
ury is vast department; so is the inte-
lp,i1 SC Ni,n fof3 Ill how
Infinite detail which would be more irlz-
some to me. The navy has become of great
Importance under Mr.. Tracy, and the de-
partment Of justice under Mr. Miller, is
large and to layman very complicated.
MIR. Proctor, who has been a very efficient
secretary of war, has resigned to accept a
life off1ce-United States Senator from
Vermont The secretary of agriculture,
Uncle jerry" is the most popular man in
the cabinet
"You have had some OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES"
L remarked, looking at portrait of Marcy
hanging on the wall opposite
MARCY was great man, replied Mr.
Blaine, land there, at the further end of
the room, are two fine portraits ] want you
to look at.n He gotup from his chair. and
we walked down the length of the apart
ment The secretary is a tall man, little
less than six feet in height, and, buttoned
up in his black frock coat and holding him
self erect, he looked his height. THAT is
Lord Ashburton,'' he said, Indicating the
portrait of rosy-faced, homely. clever
EngnSnman, sitting at table with his
lean, long fingered hand upon the famous
treaty. "And that" he continued, indcat-
Ing the other-but there was no need to
name the owner of that marvellous head,
and those smouldering unfaUhomabe eyes.
1t was portrait of Daniel Webster, and
one of the best, if not the best, that have
ever seen.
81 have heard him speak," said Mr..
Blaine; land here is his contemporary,
Henry Clay. 1t is a fine WORK of art, and
was bought by the government at a large
price, l believe"
IT WAS A REMARKABLE HEAD,
differing from any likeness Of Clay with
which l am acquainted, but bearing inter-
nal evidences of>being a faithful likeness
Il have listened to him when he made one
of his most cogent speeches. said Mr..
Blaine.
How do the contemporary orators of
Congress compare with the men Of those
days, In eloquence!n | asked.
Mr., Blaine Stroked his chin, and seemed !
to be taxing his memory. II don't know"
he said at last, in hesitating tone, that
we have any great orators in Congress just
now, but number of great debaters"
Another portrait which he pointed out to
me was that of Seward, with all the acute
ness and segacity of the man in it; land if
you'll come in here" said MIR. Blaine, ''pll
show you another of him."
He opened the door of the further room
as be spoke; 1t was quite a small room, and
at table sat man, with his back towards
US, writing. There were one or two clerks
in the room with whom the secretary eX-
| changed kindly greetings. Meanwhile the
man at the desk had not looked round or
| appeared TO notice our entrance.
He is deaf" observed Mr. Blaine to
me, "but l want to introduce you to Mr.
Adee, " and he tapped him on the shoulder.
Very little communication with Mr.. Adee
sufhced to show me that his chiefs charac-
rerization OF him as very
able man was deserved. Ability
glows and sparkles from his face; |
to outward sounds but opens his inner ear
more acutely to the discourse of bright and
penetrating thought. 1t is good to have
such an ally at ones back, and Mr. Blaine's
friendly feeling for his assistant was obvi-
GUS
AS we came out, I glanced at the clock,
and discovered that l had been monopoliz-
ing the secretary's attention for nearly an
hour.
Don't be in hurry to CO." said he.
There seems to be nothing waiting for me
just now. If there is any question that l
can answer. L will do sou
''There is one thing that has always been
an engaging mystery to me, and, imagine,
to most outside people," | said 81 would |
like to know what happens at cabinet
meetings.
well! In regard to cabinet meetings,
one hardly wishes to speak of them,
for they are regarded as private
but there is no harm that / |
can see in saying that they are
simply conference twice week, Tuesdays
and Fridays, between the President and his |
several secretaries. Everything presented
there is regarded as confidential. When as
sembled the President naturally communi-
Gates what he wishes before any one else
speaks. He is an extraordinary man of
business, prompt, decided, clear headed.
He wastes no time have rarely heard a
man more ably or more tersely discuss
public questions. When he is through. the
several secretaries, in their order, bring up
anything from their departments that pre-
sents general question, a question which
all departments are asked TO take part in
deciding. Business is settled promptly,
and it affords almost the only time when
the secretaries meet, and in cabinet meet
ings they become very well acquainted.
More l would not wish to say in regard to
them.n
Zone thing more, Mr.. Blaine. Have
any improvements suggested them.
selves to you that might be introduced into
the methods of the department of statel"
II scarcely know of anything. The
present system has grown up by degrees,
and grown of necessity. 1t is no mans
work. 1t has been added to from time to
time as occasion called for, and will
doubtless be enlarged hereafter. At
present the system works we'll expedi-
tiously and rapidly. l do not know of any
thing particularly that would improve it"
AT this iuncture, the attendant came in,