The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-11-22

ordinary way; but If you aspire to see
him otherwise than in the usual way-to
have him alone to yourself for half an hour
or so-it is another matter Persons who
had been over the ground were, / thought
inclined TO fancy that disappointment might
be in store for me. Mr.. Harrison. they
said. was strongly aveise from talking
to outsiders, especially about himself. He
was overloaded with business, as q matter
of course. and each acded straw might be
the one to break the cameis back. |
gave due weight to these and other
objections; but on the other hand
there were several points In my favor.
had no private ak to grind / was an ap-
pllcant for no Office; was not even DESTROYS
of Offering the President my advice. More
over, the information l wanted was mainly
In the abstract; what was his general atti-
tude toward his work, and how did 1t affect
him?
Nevertheless provided myself with what
credentials / could command. Mr.. George
w Childs of Philadelphia was active I'M my
behalf and Mr.. John Wanamaker and his
private secretary, Mr. Gushing, were more
than courteous in their support.
The porter at the door of the White III ouse
said that the President was in, but that he
could receive no one before 10 o'clock. On
nv replying that | had an appointment at
half-past Q, however, he admitted me and
directed me to the upper floor.
Arrived at the head OF the stairs and
picking my way amidst the paraphernalia
of some wOrkmen, l was confronted by a
grave parsonage 10 whom | delivered NV
card. He passed me on to Mr.. Itbkett.
with whom | had few moments CONVEX
satiOn In the secretary's room; and then
was ushered through door on the opposite
side Of the spacious hall.
When | entered he was jotting down some
memoranda on n small writing pad; but as
approached he looked up, g"t to his fe ct,
said FLOW do you do, Mr.. Hswthorne?'
and gave me his hand. His manner was
neither cordial nor cold; 1t was that of one
wlthdra wing himself with something of an
effort, from pressing affairs and adjusting
himself to an Interruption. And as | looked
in his face. and met his eyes, | was struck
by the WEAKNESS OF his expression.
Mr.. Harrison, in response to some remark
of mine, began TO talk almost Immediately.
He talks in rather q low voice. sliding his
words and sentences into groups or masses.
and looking down or aside while speaking;
but. when approaching the upshot of what
he has to say, he always opens his eyes and
fixes them upon his interlucutor. Probably
his mind and habit of thought are Sympa-
thelic rather than analytic; he sees and con-
ceiyes things in the large, and in their more
general relations, and has a distaste for de-
tail-Of which, nevertheless, an intolerahle
amount must fall TO his share.
1.-The Presidents business goes on all the
time" he said; land the more the rOpula-
ton OF the country, the more will he have
to do" i suggested that the enlargement
of the nation would be practically indefi-
mite, whereas the capacity of man was neces-
sarily limited, and must come to an end
sooner or later. Mr.. Harrison looked down
and intimated that the situation was never
theless as he had put it; there seemed to be
no provision 10 enable the Chief Magistrate
to delegate or othewise escape from his du-
ties He must do it all him self. Il can't
sign papers submitted to me quite blindly;
/ must look into them enough to get some
idea Of their quality. Ii the Attorney
General wants me to afiX my signature |
must look through the brief
III the hours for different branches of
work could be fxed.' he went on, "tho
| dispatch of business would be promoted.
II l knew that. for certain length of
time, / could pursue one line of thought or
! labor without interruption-but no such
thing Is possible. II | set myself to pur-
sue certain line Of thought, there comes a
| knock at the door and l must break off and
give my attention for ten minutes or half
| an hour to an entirely foreign matter; when
| that is dispatched and | get to work again
| and am making some progress perhaps
| another interruption. And so 1t goes on
| day after day. ! can never be free from
| approach Of those who require to gee me.
| There is no door that | can shut. | can't
| hide anywl.ere-I can't hide anywhere"
asked him whether there was any par
| trular kind of work, appertaining to his
| duties. which he found especial satisfaction
| in performing. He replied that, generally
| speaking he best liked to be occupied with
matters OF large national or international
| importance; but, said he, am continually
| called upon to bestOw attention upon in-
! significant or absurd subjects. l made
| list, by the way, of number of matters
| upon which | was requested TO give decis-
lav lately 1'l1
| He turned over some paper, and selected
| bit of paper, from which he proceeded to
| read series of sufficiently extraordinary
| propositions. Somebody asked him to ad-
| judicate upon an obscure land claim in the
| Northwest. Another requested him to award
| judgment upon n matter utterly trfling In
| itself, and concerning which there were no
| grounds to form an opinion. A third wanted
| this, and fourth wanted that, each in sue
| cession seeming, II possible. more farcical
| than the other. And last, and most re-
| markabs of ALL" continued Mr.. Harrison,
! turning over the paper, ''is this man, vino
| asked me to take measures to introduce the
| Monroe doctrine into Africa! l said to him
that the essence Of the Monr0e doctrine
| would preclude me from interfering with
| Africa; but he thought If | were to es-
tablish the doctrine in Africa, and give my
name to it, it would be great thing for the
Administration. That win show YOU"
added the President, the sort Of thing
| mans time may be FILTERED away until
| there seems to be none left for affairs of
| real moment. l remember there was an oak
| tree growing on my place which | valued
| highly, handsome tree, with wide. spread
| ing branches. One day as l was walking
| that way found mana stranger cut
| ting off one Of the branches with jack
| knife. / told him that the tree was mine
| and that l valued it, and that l wished he
| wouldn't mutilate it in that way. He said
II uaC nu1 u fol n oil via a,f -
| q memeDto-nOthing that would be missed,
| l told him that there were probably many
| hundred persons who might come by there,
| and II each of them were to do as he was
doing the tree would be stripped of twig
| and branch and trunk. and even the roots
might be dug up ana cut to pieces And
that's the way it is in my Office" said Mr..
| Harrison, pointing the moral of his apo
logue. 1.-The request or the application that
| each man has to prefer seems Important to
| him, and he asks only few minutes for it,
| But when each OF several hundred persons
| wants . few minutes. thers Is not much left
1 H..