St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-04

mately associated With the interior de-
partment, is still one of its auXiliarieS.
Why. when / call my eight heads of de-
partments about me l have a cabinet of
my own. Then there are the eleemOs-
ynarv institutions in the district-the
insane asylum and others and the cap
itOl grounds. These you may say should
run themselves, but they don't. There
are questions about them arising con-
Stantly, and each one takes up a GER
tain amount of time. Then there is
the direction of this enormous force of
clerks-16.00 employees, of whom 1000
are in Washington most of the time.
And there are appointments to consider,
and promotions and the civil service
commission to meet. The labor con-
nected with the administration of all
these affairs is very great, and you must
keep them going at full speed all day.
like locomotive drawing a freight
train. When congress meets there is one
investigation after another, all of them
more or less invidiOus, and you must
stand up and fight them or you will be
whipped. And there are personal con-
troversieS in the department, and scan-
dals--fortunately this administration has
been very free from them. TO fill this
place man must be a first-class lawyer,
every question that arises with firmneSS
and with confidence in himself. If he
doubts himself he becomes dependent
OIL his assistants, and ne never knows
whether they are leading him in the
right path or not. He is held account
able for everything that occurs in his
department If shot is fired at one of
his bureau chiefs it is more than likely
TO hit him. They are going under one
sail and he has eight. And if the secre-
tary OF the interior makes seven sue
ceSSes in a day and one failure the
failure will be heard of all over the
country, and probably nothing will be
heard OF the successes. You will have
some idea of the labor involved in all
this when tell you that l myself have
written through dictatiOn since | came
into Office $1,000 letters.
''Yes, there is great honor connected
with abe holding of high Office" said
the secretary in conclusion, "and fame
that may last for time-until the rec
ord of some other administration OBJ
scureS it,"
Attorney General TEiller's EVpe RI
ence.
When entered the Office of the attor-
ney general Of the United States | found
the law officer of President Harrison
standing before a bright and warm
CRATE fire. his hands crossed behind him
and meditatively staring at the carpet
at his feet. Attorney General Miller
Sald
mo. it does not pay to be a cabinet
officer. There are but two kinds of
men who can affort to leave their home
and business to take cabinet office.
nI, -,
and without special promise. He can
get prominence and probably ample
financial and other compensation. The
second one is the man of wealth, who
wants the position for social and poIit-
ical distinction. l am willing to
give credit for what this Office has done
for me. | was lawyer of limited ac-
quaintance at indianapolis when | came
TO this office, and it has given me a valu-
able insight to pablo affairs, and made
my name known to the country. The
Office has. however, cost me dearly in a
financial way, and it has imposed upOn
me such labOrS as have made life almost
burden instead of a charm. To begin
with. | have paid out every year for
wholly impersonal purposes an average
of over IL per cent of my official salary
At luncheon today | observed to my
family that when we return to Indiana
polls next March it will be with at least
$4,000 less money than the office of at
tOrney general of the United States has
paid me for four years of the hardest
work [ have ever performed. | never
intend to ask for or accept another Of
flee, either aDpolntive or elective. Pub
lie office is deceptive in both its pleas
ures and its benefi tS."