The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-23
THE CABINET.

1t was charged against Mr.. Cleveland
when he made up his last cabinet that
he had selected it on personal grounds,
inviting into it few men of large ex-
perience or the heaviest caliber That
criticism has since been admitted to be
unjust. While he made a blunder in
naming the incompetent Hoke Smith,
who was all through the butt of both
public and administration, yet the av-
erage of his cabinets ability was high;
and it has furnished, in the persons
of Secretary Carlisle and Secretary
Olney, two men Of the very first order
of ability. If the cabinet of Mr. Nc
Kinley shall come out equally well
from the test of trial, it will be more
than there is reason to expect from
scanning the now completed list
No president has ever select
ed so many apparent nonentities
to act as his constitutional
advisers as Mr.. Mckinley. Whether
looked at personally, OF. in the
light of their public service, or as
representing the country geographic
cally, the new cabinet is principally
collection of mediocrities. The con-
spicuous success in it is, of course, Mr..
Gage, the new secretary Of the treas
ury. He is an American, rather than
a partisan Republican, and if his ac-
cOmplishment shall equal the wisdom
and strength of his expressed opinions,
he will be worthy of the place. The
only man in the list, besides him, who
could for a moment claim cabinet hon
ors on his own record is Senator Sher-
man. That record is one of long DO
litical prominence, rather than of DO
litical ability or any sincere desire to
serve the country. Mr. Sherman is pos
sessed Of high ability of a certain or
der, but it is always subject to the
command of eXpediency; and a man
less to be trusted in any position re-
quiring determination of character and
patriotic firmness to resist popular
clamor could hardly be suggested.
Passing these two men, the only
other two who are known to any con-
siderable number of people are Mr..
Long and Gen. Alger, who are slated
for the naval and war departments re-
spectively. Mr.. Long is a man respect
able in all ways, but with nothing
about him to suggest his selection for
extraordinary preferment. Of Gen. AL
ger it is not necessary to say much,
and perhaps the less said the better.
We desire to do him the justice to note
that the charge against him of being
absent from duty without leave
during the war has been ap-
parently refuted satisfactorily in
documents that have only recently
been given to the public. We do not
care to enter into the details of this
discussion, and are willing to give Gen.
Alger the benefit Of the doubt. En-
tirely apart from the war record, how
ever, he has been made conspicuously
unfit for cabinet honcrs by his I'm
worthy participation in political con-
tests in the past, to which no one has
referred more feelingly Or aptly than
the brother Of the coming secretary of
state. cabinet with Alger in it finds
a pretty low level
The remaining four Of the presidents
secretaries are timber Of such modest
growth that their foliage has never
been visible beyond the boundaries of
their own states. Mr.. Wilson, of Iowa,
has been heard of occasionally, solely
because there were two Wilson's from
that state in public life and this one
was called "Tama'' Jim to distinguish
him from the other. On such a slen-
der thread hang everlasting things.
and appointments to the department of
agriculture. It is doing no Injustice
to Mr.. McKenna and Gen. McCook and
Mr.. Gary to say that they are utterly
unknown to the people of the country
at large. Why Mr.. Mckinley should
have found it necessary to pick one
half Of his cabinet from the small DO
tato politicians of the states that he
had decided to honor must be a puz-
zle even to the partisan mind.
In its geographical distribution the
new cabinet restores the distinction of
sectionalism and violates every prin-
ciple of unity. Once more the
South is excluded from the coun-
ellis of the nation. We say this de-