The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-05-17
Actions of the Secretaries.

VI IOuTlStS.
Actions of the Secretaries.
Before going down to have his hand
shaken the president sent out the appoint
ment of Capt. Charles G. Carpenter of the
navy to be commodore, and also seven or
eight applications for pardon which he had
examined during the morning and passed
upon.
Any man who saw the crowd around
Secretary Hoke Smiths office could not
wonder that the secretary had been driven
to horseback riding to escape his pursuers.
On the contrary it would seem wonder
that has not chosen balloon or calledup-
on Professor Langley for his fying machine.
Secretary Smith is probably in posi-
ton now to feel with the man who sighed
for lodge in some vast wilderness He
used to make jocular remarks when he
came up to the White House earlier in
the season about the crowds that bcset the
president and laugh Mt his predicament.
But he knows what it is himself now.
In the Interior Department.
Tie pressure for Office is always heavy
on the secretary of the interior because he
controls SO many desirable appointments
In the Indian service, the general land of
flee, the geological survey and the pension
bureau. There is n great scramble for
these places and each Office has many mp
plicants. 1t would be hard to find, how
ever, man who Is more good naturcd or
more accessible to the crowd of ofIiceseek-
ers than Secretary Smith, and he bears his
burden with patience.
Yet there is limit of endurance and
Secretary Smith has reached it. He has
found that the public service is liable to
suffer by reason of the demands made up
on his time by of1iceseekers, and he has
decided upon new plan of procedure
which he has been promulgated and will
go into effect Immediately.
Hereafter applicants for appointment to
places above the classified service will be
referred first to the head of the bureau I'M
der which the office is located, as the secre-
tary will not make the appointment with
out consulting the commissioner of that
| particular bureau Applicants for posi-
tions below the classified service will con
! suit the chief of the appointment division.
Important Changes.
| Secretary Herberts policy in regard to
recalling officers on detached service and
those engaged in business enterprises and
commercial pursuits will not apply to
those detailed for duty at the different
schools in the country where the art of
war, discipline and tactics are made q part
of the curriculum. Many of these schools
| added these branches to the course of i'll
| struction with the understanding that
army and navy officers would he assigned
| as instructors, and the secretary appreci-
ates the injury they would suffer by de-
taching the naval officers now at the yari-
Gus schools.
Secretary Gresham has made another
important change in the state department
force. He has called for the resignation of
Mr. William e. Curtis, chief of the bureau
of american republics, and that gentleman
is now on his way to Washington from
Chicago to see about it. Mr. Curtis is we'll
and favorably known in official circles, and
considerable surprise is expressed at his
displacement. His position is an impor-
tant one. 1t has salary attachment of
| $1,000 per annum. 1t is not stated who
will succeed to his place, and it Is even
rumored that it will not be filled at all.
Preparing for Presbyterians.
| The workmen have taken possession of
the New York avenue church, and begun
to prepare the building for the great meet.
ing of ministers and laymen which will
begin there on Thursday. The general
assembly of the Presbyterian church is to
be In session there for ten or twelve days,
and rs it is to be a business session which
| will he participated in by some 600 men it
| is necessary that proper facilities should
be provided.
There will be provided telegraph and
telephone offices, the postoffice, informa-
| ton, bureau and everything of that charac-
| ter. frame structure has been built on
the south side of the church where toilet
rooms are located. In the auditorium the
two front rows of pews are to be taken out