The record-union., 1893-10-24

10 those persons who only hear OF Cab
met officers when they are on parade,
and who can think of them only as indi-
YIduaIs chosen for time TO bask in the
sunlight of publicity, it seldom occurs
that the Cabinet officer is a man of work,
and it would probably surprise them to
know that most Cabinet officers devote
more hours of each day to hard labor
than of the subordinates in their depart
ments, says the Washington correspond
ent Of the New Y ork Times.
Yet that is the fact, and to the labor that
they perform IS to be added, in some in
Stances vast weight of responsibility,
when the course to be pursued by a de-
partment may have much to do with the
disturbance or continued even tenor Of
business. That there is much of anxiety
10 be borne in the Cabinet offices is known
to all who recall the pathetic fate of Sec
retaries Folger, Manning and Window,
each OF whom, no doubt, hastened his
death by too close application to the busi-
ness OF the Treasury during periods Of
the history of that department when the
public attention was fixed upon it, and
public expectation was regarding the
Secretary as an officer endowed with the
general prosperity by the adoption OF
policy.
Cabinet officers in different Admins
trations are generally very much alike in
cheir ways of working, and in each Of the
departments the new conner finds that
experience has led to the establishment
of methods that cannot be abandoned be-
cause they mean good order, thorough
ness, responsibility, dispatch and securi-
ty. But from one Administration to an
other there appear individual differences.
The man of independent mind and strong
character institutes reforms, to be, per-
haps, abandoned by his successor as
Wornout whins subject TO abuse. Some
times there will be perceptible in de-
partment a condition OF affairs so marked
rs to enable the observer and thinker to
determine whether the head of the de-
partment is man of clear views and de-
cision OF character or halting and vacil-
lating blunderer, totally unit for eXecu-
EiVe Office When such a man uDtortu-
nately gets into Cabinet Office, the de-
partment of which he is the head will
show it long before the public learns of
the fact. And so 1t is that character is
impaired to the departments as surely as
II is communicated to men by asSocla-
ton. There is not clerk III any of the
departments that cannot tell, six months
after there has been a change in a Cabi-
net Office, whether his chief is chief
In name only or man capable Of COM
mand.
Three of the Secretaries in President
Cleveland's Cabinet have their work
shops in the big building west OF the
White House. The Secretary of State
Walter @. Gresham, occupies rooms in
the south end of the building, second
story, overlooking the White Lot and the
meadows out of which the Washington
Monument rises. He lives just across
Lafayette Square, in the Arlington Ho-
tel and between s and 9 o'clock he may be
seen on his way TO his office, sometimes
on foot. always with cigar in his mouth,
and seldom without his Secretary by his
side. He is not dresSy man. In all
seasons he sticks to a trOck coat, and
he studies no effects in the decoration Of
his person. The silk hat he wears is not
assumed TO support the dignity OF the
State Department, for he has worn it
many years-not this particular hat but
the style. lie is good observer. and he
sees many people whom he knows, fre
quently stopping to talk with them in bis
own peculiarly quiet and genial manner.
inviting fun by his cheerful tendency to
allude TO mirthful topics.
No Secretary has more impressive
apartments than the Secretary of State
The ceilings and walls are elaborately
decorated. the furniture is solid and large,
the pictures are those of former Secreta-
ries of State, the business is more or less
mysterious, and the attendants are DOr-
tentous with the sense of propriety that
they have to carry, so that the clerk of
smallest pay may be distinguished any
where among other clerks as of the State
Department. Secretary Gresham has
less of the distinctive State Department
official air than the messenger at his
door, and it would surprise none of the
clerks If the messenger should make
NO SQpTnt9F.V
about IL. Once in his Office he receives
visitors, except on the Cabinet days,
until o'clock, when he shuts off all who
do not come by appointment or on de-
partment business that is IN the usual
run. On Thursdays he is supposed to be
accessible to diplomatic officers, and they
are received in the diplomatic parlor Just
beyond his private office. This is q long,
narrow room, quite magnificent TO look
ct, and impressive to the casual visitor
who walks about the big building and is
allowed TO peep into 1t.
During the day, up to the time that the
clerks leave, the Secretary may be called
upon by each of the heads of bureaus. by
the Assistant Secretaries. by newspaper
men, who often ask for information that
cannot be given, even il it is in possession
OF the department. and by Office seekers.
The day is crowded, and yet il is almost
impOSsi bic TO do any work that requires
continuous application Tor an hour at
time. A short interruption for luncheon
or perhaps to walk or ride To the W hite
House to consult the President NAV be
the only breaks in the day. AT o'clock
the Secretary j. left in possession of his
end of the building. Then he buckles
down to work with his Private Secretary,
kenesaw NJ. lands, a youthful-looking,
pale dark-eyed Illinoisan, good law
YER the Secretary says, and a charming
companion, says everybody who knows
him. Until ABOUT 6 O'Clock, and sOme-
times later, these two delve. And when
the Young man who represents the de-
partment in society is beginning to shed
his efiulgence upon the club, the Seere-
kary and his Private Secretary go to din
uer. carrying under their arms bundles
OF papers TO be worked over at night, TO
the Secrefary's rooms.
1t IS full days work that he does, and
il has many incidents in it that might ir-
ritate other men. But there is with Sec
retary Gresham none of the mystery that
Mr. Blaine added to his office, no evasive
messages to callers, no frettiug, no seek
ing for sensations, no jingoiSm. ana no
lack of honest patriotism
At about the same distance east of he
White House that the State Department
is west of ii, is the Treasury Building aud
in a room on the second door, having a
southern outlook, one may find Secretary
of lhe Treasury Carlisle. His room is
Hooded with sunlight at one end, on
bright days, and is rather gloomy AT all
times next the hall. The Secretary has
MS desk backed to the end windows, so
that when visitors approach him they see
ms face in shadow and he sees theirs in the
fnl light. The room is comfortable, but
not ,flagnificent. There is a row OF seats
Gown one side of the room toward the
desk of the Secretary, and upon these the
yisitors who are looking for office or what
not move in turn toward the chief OF all