The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-06-06
M'cULLocH WAS THE LAST.
"Reminiscences of the Members of Lin
coln's Cabinet.

hemlniscences OF the Members of Lin
coln's Cabinet.
From the Sc. Louis Globe Democrat.
With the death of Hugh McCullocf
! the last surviving member of Lincoln.
| cabinet passes away. one Of the mer
who at one time or another sat around
| the presidential council table between
March 4. 1861. and April Is. 1865. Calet
| Il. Smith died shortly before Lincoln
| and Seward. Chase, Fessenden. Stan.
| ton and Bates departed a few years
later. followed not long afterward by
Welles. Dennison and Montgomery
Blair. while the demise OF Speed &C.
CURED about eight years ago and that
of Cameron and Usher at a more re-
cent date. McCulloch was a later ap-
pointee than any OF these, qualifying
on March Z, 1865, a month and eight
days before the death of Lincoln. Nc
Culloch was not the greatest Of all the
| country's finance ministers. He lacked
| the constructive ability Of Hamilton
and Chase. and he was equally desti-
tute Of the knowledge of finance i'm its
broader aspects and applications pos
sessed by Gallatin. Walker and Sher-
man, but he had greater technical skill
than any of these. and was n consci-
entious. industrious and useful official.
In the general average of the ability
and prominence of its members. Lin
coins cabinet compares favorably with
the greatest of the presidential coun-
ellis. Half OF Wsshington's cabinet
jefferson and Hamilton-were men Of
the highest. order i'm statcsmanship and
influence, but the other two original
members-Knox and Edmund RAN
dolph-were OF a much lower rank in
tellectually, and their names are not
known to the general reader Of to-day.
Only two of Jefferson's cabinet-Madi-
son and Gallatin-are remembered.
The next of the great assemblages Of
executive advisors, that of Monroe.
contains. among other men. John
Quincy Adams. William H. Crawford
John c. Calhoun and William Writ
The Grst Harrison had Webster. fw-
ing. BELL and Crittenden in his council:
Polk had Buchanan. Robert j. Walker
Marcy and George Bancroft: Pierce
had Marcy, jefferson Davis and Ca
leb Gushing, and Buchanan, at one
time aud another. had Cass Dix. Jer-
emiah :. Black and Stanton. hut Of
all these did not serve together. These
are the greatest names on the rolls of
the strongest cabinets which appeared
down To the war days.
Lincolns official family will rank
rearly as high as any Of those i'm the
intellectual and social distinction of it's
members. 1t was admirably chosen
both TO meet the duties which would
confront ii and to represent the differ
ent clements of the party which was In
power. Lincoln went little further
than almost any of his predecessors in
placing i'm his council the men who had
been his rivals for the presidency. Sew
ard, Chase. Cameron and Bates figured
prominently as aspiIants I'm the nomi
mating convention. Washington Is UNI
derstood to have represented both
schools Of political opinion I'm his selec-
ton of Hamilton and Knox on the one
side. and JeffersCSl and Randolph on
the other The truth is, however. party
lines had not been drawn when these
appointments were made. John Quincy
Adams went, or intended to go, a lit
tie farther still i'm the way of having
all shades of settlement Represented
in his cabinet, for OF the three other
men who received electoral votes in
1924, when he was elected. he appointed
Clay secretary Of state. he offered the
treasury portfolio to Crawford and he
at last thought of naming Jackson for
secretary of war. At Washington's en-
trance into the presidency, however.
political organizations. as we have
mentioned, had not been born. while at
John Quincy Adams accession to office
partisan lines had been obliterated by
the death. a few years earlier, of one
of the great parties, and the other
seemed to be on the point of disin-
tegrating for want of a foe to COM
bat