Arizona republican., 1892-01-26
Correspondence of TmE REPUBLICAN.

Correspondence of THE REPUBLICAN.
WASHINGTON, Jan. Is Here at tn,
national capital we are Just now IN a
state OF expectancy. We are looking
forward to great things In the near fu.
ture-the speakership contest, the organ.
lzation OF u new supreme court for every
inch of soil in the United States, the
meeting of new and rather picturesque
house Of representatives, the appearance
Of the farmer in the halls of national
legislation, the formation os the lines for
the great presidential struggle of next
year, possible changes in the cabinet and
enough other matters of prime impor.
lance and interest to keep us who are &C
unfortunate as to be scribes constantly
on the alert and to give our pens an
abundance of material to work upon.
1t is refreshing once in awhile 10
meet man strong enough to decline a
seat in the cabinet. met one of this
sort the other day, who had had tall,
with the president in which General
Harrison suggested TO him-that if he
wanted to be secretary of war to sue
coed Mr.. Proctor possibly. the matter
could be arranged. What my friend
said TO TIE president l do not know,
but he told me that he was not am
bilious TO become cabinet minister
in department in which his sole duty
was TO sit behind desk and sign the
letters presented to him by army officers
and civilian subordinates. This pretty
accurately describes the functions of a
secretary of war, and woe to the man
who goes into that Office expecting and
endeavoring TO have things run in his
own way. The first essential in q sue
cessful secretary of war is absolute self
abnegation. The secretary who is salts
fed to sign the letters presented to him
without asking too many questions and
who does not interfere with the meas
ured dignity Of the routine of affairs
by the impertinence of suggestions OF
his own, will get along first rate. !
was talking with an army officer who
told me that the present secretary of
war was somewhat unpopular in the
army. And why, pray;" | asked "Oh,
he has had the audacity to presume
that he had the right to give some di-
rections in army affairs" This reply
was made in all seriousness, and for
some time the officer was unable to see
what was laughing at.
This signing Of public letters is one OF
the nuisances Of Office holding in Wash
ington. Originally the law required
nearly all the letters sent out from the
great departments TO be signed by the
heads thereof, but as the government
has grown in magnitude and diversity
changes have been found imperative,
and hundreds of thousands Of letters
formerly signed by department heads
are now signed by the heads of bureaus
and chiefs of divisions. But enough re-
main to make the daily task formid-
able one for every member of the cab
met. Secretary Foster usually begins
to work on his mail about o'clock in
the afternoon. Huge bundles of letters
are brought in by the clerks, and mes
senger stands by his side and removes
the sheets one by one as the signature Is
affixed. OF course the secretary does
not stop to read the letters. He has
about as much knowledge of their con-
tents as the charvoman who is sitting in
the lower corridor waiting to begin her
daily work Of cleaning ont the Office.
He supposes the letters to be official
business, but if a waggish clerk wanted
TO ring in on the secretary document
declaring that the Republican party is a
failure or check for 100000 Mr.. Fos-
ter wouldn't know the difference, and
would sign it along with the others. As
a matter of fact the secretary usually
signs his mail and talks to his newspa-
per callers at the same time. 1t is diff
cult TO tell which are more numerous,
the letters or the correspondents, and
between the two the secretary is lucky If
he gets through and away to dinner at 6.
In some respects Mr.. Foster is an ideal
cabinet officer. He has the training of
business man, and successful bust
ness mans faculty for making quick
decisions He knows how to say yes or
no, particularly no, without hemming
and having about it, and that is great
thing. One of his rules is to clean up
all the business that comes to his desk
every day, never leaving anything over
for the morrow, and since he has been
in the treasury he has not once failed to
live up to his principle. People who are
not familiar with the workings Of the
government departments would be sur
prised to see the amount of drudgery Of
a clerical nature which cabinet ministers
have to go through every day. My
friend who didn't want to sit down and
preside over a desk while the other fell
lows managed his department of war,
has very acute mind. All through the
departments this signing Of letters Is
going on every day from to A, and
often to 8 or o'clock. 1t Is estimated
that 90, 900 letters day go out Of the
treasury department, and nearly as many
out of the interior department. OF
course Secretaries Foster and Noble do
not sign all of these. Even in the state
department there are many letters to
sign, and Chief Clerk Brown told me
that the first day Secretary Blaine was
in his Office after his long summer vaca-
ton he signed 900 letters, "and every
signature" the chief clerk added, twas
as bold and firm as one could care to see
It."
Mr.. Blaine is marvellous man in
more ways than one. He is an enigma
mentally and physically. was talking
ahout tbia 10 oDa ~ bia friends who has