The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-07
SOME MISTAKES ARE MADE
GEN. GRANTS IGNORANCE OF POLL
TICS LED HIM INTO A GRAVE
ERROR.
M'KINLEY
EQUIPPED.
Things He Will Have to Consider
Some Likely Candidates for
appointment.
Special Correspondence Of the Globe.

eAlCi lie SiSCliOu, whether he WOulO
be secretary Of the treasury in Presi-
dent McKinleys cabinet, he answered
that Mr.. Mckinley, not he, would
choose the cabinet.
Some people believe Mr. Hams will
have a good deal to do with making
the next cabinet in spite of his dis
claimer, for, while it is true that the
appointment Of the cabinet members
is in the presidents hands, it is true
also that cabinet making is so delicate
a job that not even so experienced a
politician as Maj Mckinley would an
dertake it alone
The president-elect must put in the
cabinet men he can trust. He must
appoint to each place a man who is
fitted especially for the duties of that
place He must recognize all parts of
the country in his selection. He must
be careful not to offend unnecessarily
one or two factions in a state where
the party is divided. He must take
into account the services done to his
party by the men available for appoint
ment, and especially their services in
the campaign in which he was elected.
When he has sifted out the ambi-
tious and the available by this process,
he sometimes finds himself at loss
for material where at first he was en-
barrassed by too much of it.
HIS FRIENDS WILL ASSIST HIM.
In the sitting process he has the as
sistance Of his friends, because it is not
to be supposed that the president elect
will know the qualifications Of all the
men in the United States who are avail
able for cabinet places. Mai Mckinley
has the advantage of a much wider
acquaintance with public men than al
most any president elect entering on
his first term of office, but even he must
make some inquiries and consult with
his friends, Mark Hanna among them.
Benjamin Harrison had wide ac-
Quaintance with public men, but he
consulted his friends and advisers
about his cabinet selections. More
than that he talked with the leaders of
his party from the different states
about this man and that man and
cautiously weighed the merits of each.
For example, though he had known
Gen. Noble in the army he made very
careful inquiries about him before he
decided to make him secretary Of the
interior. He was concerned chiefly to
know whether Gen. Noble was inter
ested in corporations as a stakeholder
or an attorney. He said the selection
of secretary of the interior was the
most difficult task he had to perform.
The best example in history of the in
ability of the president elect to follow
his own desire and even his own judg-
ment in choosing a cabinet was the
appointment of Mr.. Blaine to be secre-
tary of state in the Harrison cabinet.
Mr. Harrison did wv MT To int
him. Mr.. Harrisons closest friend,
John c. New of the INDIANAPOLIS
Journal, was bitterly opposed to the
appointment. Yet Mr.. Blaine was ap-
pointed.
What can I do?'' said Gen. Harrison
when Mr. New stormed and protested
| Look at these" He pointed to an
armful of letters and kilograms from
every part Of the country urging the ap-
| pointment of Blaine
you'll live ito regret it, said Mr..
New, and he was right.
Maj. Mckinley and Gen. Harrison
both know public men in every part OF
! the country. Maj. McKinley's &C
| qualntance is perhaps more extended
than Gen. Harrison's was, because Gen
| Harrison had been out of public life
some time before his nomination
| Grover Cleveland when he was elected
| knew hardly any of the national poll
ticians outside New York. The late
Justice Lamar, whom he put at the
head of the interior department, he had
never seen until Mr.. Lamar went to AL
bany to urge the appointment of H. D.
| Money as postmaster general. Mr.
Manning, whom he appointed secretary
| of the treasury, was his closest politi-
| cal friend, but he knew Mr.. Villas, his
postmaster general, only through his
work in the campaign. Mr.. Whitney
his secretary of the navy, was well
known to him, of course as an active
New York Democrat, but he knew Mr..
! Bayard, his secretary of state, only as
a leading member of the senate. And
this was true of Mr.. Garland his at
| torney general. His secretary of war
Mr. Endicott, was stranger to him
and, for that matter, to most of his
| party.
What was the result of this haphaZ-
| ard choosing of cabinet by man who
was too headstrong to accept advice
even where he knew he was ignorant
Mr. Bayard was conspicuous disap-
| pcintment. Mr.. Lamar was so little
qualified for his position that the presi-
dent put him on the supreme bench al
the first opportunity. Mr.. Garland
brought the Pan-Eiectric scandal on the
| administration and has been a lost
! quantity even in state politics ever
since. Mr.. Endicott was a neutral Sec
/ Rotary OIL WAL lie HTS IIldQc lOI lIS
administration were scored by Mr.. Man
ming and Mr.. Whitney, the president s
| friends men whom he selected because
| he personally knew them to be quail
4 fed for the service.
CLEyELAND'S SECOND CABINET.
At the beginning of his second adj
ministration Mr. Cleveland had wide
acquaintance with public men, and il
l. Il hi hi
lections they were due to bad judgment
and not to ignorance.
Garfield and Hayes were both in ac-
| tive public life when they were elected
! to the presidency, and both were well
! qualified to choose the members of a
cabinet, but Gen. Grant was notorious
/ ly unacuuainted with public men, eX-
cepting those who had been in the
| army, and his blunders brought scan
! dial and trouble on his administration
No one held Grant responsible for the
sales Of post traderships or the work
of the whisky ring, but if Grant had
| been a better politician and had shown
| these scandals would not have cast a
blight on his administration.
Making a cabinet is a puzzling occu-
patton. In the first place. as I have
said certain sections must be repre-
| scented in it, That is a party necessity
|
a convention which was run by a lot
of amateur politicians in Elmira When
they brought him the ticket, he said
ut will be beaten All your nominees
| are from the same ward" And it was
beaten. The president cannot choose
i all his cabinet nominees from one state
or from one section of the country il
he wants to keep in touch with his
| party all over the Union. Usually he
gives one place to New England, one OF
two places to New York, one to the
| south, one to the middle states. one tc