Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-15


Secretary Of the Interior. He is the biggest
strongest and healthiest personality who has
been at the head Of this department for years.
Noble was fat and fabby, Villas was lean,
nervous and irascible, Lamar was absent
minded and dyspeptic, and both Teller and
Schurz would not together weigh much
more than Hoke Smith. l spent an hour
with him at the Interior Department re-
Gently. 1t was my first meeting with him,
and found him a far different man than the
papers have painted. Hoke Smith is not fat,
though he does weigh over 200 pounds. His big
frame Is padded symmetrically with muscular
flesh and his body looks as to be as firm as that
of Corbett, the prize fighter He sits up
straight in bis chair and stands firmly on his
feet
HOW HOKE SMITH WORKS
Secretary Smith is one of the hardest workers
we have had in the ca bnet for years. I have
made q number of inquiries about him at the
department and I am told that he spends twice
as many hours there as any of his clerks. He
gets to the Interior Department about o'clock
In the morning and works away steadily until
or in the evening. After dinner he comes
back and his light is often burning in his office
until after midnight. During my talk with him
noted no signs Of overwork on his features,
and asked him how he managed to keep in
such good condition and put in SO many hours.
any man, and that he had learned to work with
out worry. Said he: ~ do my best thinking
about matter when it is before me. try to
look upon all sides of it, and when have passed
upon 1t 1t is settled for good as far as am con-
cerned. / think that worry is largely matter
of habit and that concentration of mind can
be acquired by training. 1 never let anything
outside OF the matter at issue bother me. II
anything else comes up put it aside instead Of
making note OF it. have fixed time every
day for thinking over the little things that
ought to do, and at this time l jot them down.
have trained myself 30 that can go to sleep
as soon as Igo to bed. I never talk or read
in bed and don't think except when 1 am sit
ting or standing up. II my mind seems to run
on any one subject / dismiss 1t, and the re-
suit is 1 am never troubled with insomnia.
have worked right along on legal cases until
O'Clock in the morning and then turned in and
slept like a baby.
HoKE SMITH AS LAWYER.
The conversation here turned to law and Mr..
Smith spoke very modestly Of himself as law
yer, saying that he liked the practice and that
he would go back to it as soon as the present
administration was over. He is, you know, one
Of the ablest lawyers of the United States, and
an intimate friend of his told me the other day
that his fees from the law during the past year
had footed up just about $40, 900. He is
thoroughly grounded in the law and he has one
OF the finest private law libraries in the United
States. His study has been Of the law, not of
cases. and he keeps adding to his legal knowl-
edge by constant application. Not long ago he
took fancy to the decisions Of Judge Cooley
OF Michigan and bought all the Michigan state
reports in order that he might read these de-
cisions. He anotates his books while reading,
and not long ago famous equity case camo up
in the Georgia courts and he was called upon