The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-04-22
How President Mckinley
Handles Callers.
Applicants for Place are
Shown Into a Big Room.
Pretty Speeches Made but the Re.
suits Are Not Encouraging.

! HaNe you ever witnessed the run around
at tho White Houseg" / was asked today
by congressman. / told him did not
know what he was talking about. "Well, F"
said he, ''if you have not seen the run
around, would advise you 20 go up and
have u look at IL. The room in which
President Mckinley does his work is
large apartment, about 20 feet square. IL
will hold 100 persons at once without
any crowding. Here IS where the run
aroAd occurs. Let me illustrate by citing
oneVf my recent experiences, which was
as near like other experiences as one pea is
like its mate in the same pod.
81 had in town two friends from my
district. Both were willing 10 be persuad-
ed To accept Office under the government
| In fact, they had come down here with
! that temptation tn view. They had
brought with them various letters Of in
dorscmont, ard shosSed a surprising famil-
| iarlty with { = duties I CmOluments of
couple CT Ci.lcCs OF which they constantly
talked 10 me without at irst saying boldly
they Were candidates. OF course l under
stood 10 from tho first but | am "a diplo-
mat. urged these men 10 accept those
very places. L told them they were SO en-
inontly qualified it would be IA shame, q
loss TO the party and the country, not to
| give the president "a chance 10 appoint
them When one Of them opened his mouth
| as II 10 demur, though, as a matter of fact,
could see he was having hard work sup
pressing the delight which he felt in his
soul, interrupted him with:
oh, you simply must accept, Mr..
Smith. 1t is your duty 10 your country.
1t is your duty to me- sir, for if there is
anything that makes Il congressman proud
IL is to be able to place in posts of great
honor and responsibility such gentlemen
as yourselves. l will not take no for an
answer. And, of course, didn't have TO.
I'm the Big Room.
:" So we went over 10 the White House,
my two constituents and |. We were usher
ed into that big room of the president.
We were not alone. There were at least
dozen other congressman there, and per-
maps half dozen senator's each accompa-
MED by one, two or three of his constitu-
ents. They were all on the same errand.
Presently the president came out of the
cabinet room, whore he had been in con-
sultation with Senator Platt. President
Mckinley has very neat way of handling
his visitors, you must know. They are
all shown into the big room.
well, before the president came in we
were all sitting about in pairs and twos
and threos talking. When he appeared,
every man of us rose. We tacitly, perhaps
unconsciously. formed sort Of ring around
the edges of the room, with the president
in the center Itremindcd me very much
of the game Of ring around tho rosy which
tho children play, except that we stood
still. 1t was the president who did the
running around Occasionally an effort
was made by some ambitious gentleman
to lead the chief magistrate away from the
earshot of the other members of the party,
but / noticed that Mr.. Mckinley did not
permit himself 10 be taken far, just step
or two, and still so near that others could,
if they listened IA bit, Oycrhear all that was
said. l suppose the president has found
safety in this method He knows from
experience man will not bore him very
long about an Office with other people
standing in line awaiting their turn and
hearing everything that is said.
Fine Manners.
Beautiful manners the president has.
He charms all Of them. OF course the SEN
ators and members get accustomed TO it.
To them it Is an old story But the stran
gers within the gates are simply delighted.
They think they never saw such nice
man Every one Of them is so handsomely
a.
encouragingly, even affCctionatcly, that
scarce one gets away without becoming
convinced he is going TO get an office
What took place as the president approach
ed each littleg group was, | suppose, very
similar to that which occurred as he came
up To my party.
"'Mr, President exclaimed, permit
me To Introduce 70 you Mr. Smith. He Is
one of the wheel horses Of the party in my
district. He was early friend of yours,
Mr.. President. He did more than any 9TH
er man To get the right sort of delegates.
/ don't see how we can spare him, but
among the people of my district there is
but ono opinion-Mr. Smith ought to go
as consul TO Kamchatka If you can in.
duco him 20 accept You will get fine
consul, "a credit To the administration and
the country
"Then the president said something to
the effect that no, had known all along of
Mr.. smiths services 10 the party He
was Just the sort Of man the country need
ed Was Mr.. smith willing TO accoptS Ho
was. Then the president would take his
casc under consideration. OF course there
were many candidates, but the matter
would be looked into with great care.
A Delightful Jolly"
Mr. President, said | again, this is
Nr. Jones lie Is so valuable man in
our district that we can spare him To 90
out of the country. He is tho choice of all
our people for collector. II he will give up
his prosperous business 10 take the post,
no will make q most valuable public serv-
ant, etc
Another r-ctty little speech from the
president, which my friends take I'm with
admiration, and then we hear the prcsi
dent say as ho reaches out behind us to
grasp the hand of another congressman:
+" am glad 20 SEQ you Oh. yes. have
heard OF Mr.. Brown. The hind OF man
We need. Take IL into considerations etc.
"Ihen the next and Che next and so on
90 the end This IL what | call the run
around. It Is u jolly all along the line
from US hecause Of our political interest,
frc1 tho president because he wants to be
gracious n hc can't do anything more