The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-13
THE ART OF "FANNING."
rsFp ny CABINET MEMBERS WITH
OFFICE SEEKERS.
,..re,ary Longs Boidness in Thinning Out tho
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. GaEe's smooth-
ness, secretary shermhn's Tactturnity,
90, secretary wilson's CordInIlty.

GaEe'a snooth-
ness, secretary sherman's Taciturnity,
ora secretary wilson's Cordially.
ARLINGTON. June 1.-THE art Of :" tanning
,,,itors has always been more or less a part OF
,he business equipment Of Washington public
mep Members OF tho Cabinet, In particular,
r.rceiye soon after they assume their portfolios
how absolutely necessary II Is for them to ac-
suire and develop a speedy and effective man.
rrr OF disposing Of callers, especially callers OF
On. office seeking variety, II they purpose de-
,o,;pp any of their time during office hours
~ Governmental affairs. Were a member of
the Cabinet TO receive in person one-tcnth tho
number of visitors who constantly bcsieRe his
oe,cc in search of favors, he would find Il impos.
able 10 do any Of the work he is paid to perform
without putting in considerable overtime.
The members of President McKinley's Cab
met arc not only expert crowd siftors them.
,elyes, but they arc all lucky in having private
,ccretaries who thoroughly understand the fan.
ming game. II is a matter of no little difficulty,
,ven for a citizen Of considerable standing and
influence, to run tho gauntlet devised by these
Young men for The protection Of their chiefs,
and wordy brawls have been Of frequent occur
renee In tho private secretaries' reception rooms
since the beginning of tho present Administra-
ton. But the man who gets angry when his
path to a Secrctary's Office is blocked by tho Sec
Rotary hUlNhk ihoub youik hhoh " ~ hpioNO
his chances for n hearing, for in such instances
thus far the young mon have been invariably up
held by their chiefs.
Secretary OF the Navy Long has shown himself
to be. perhaps. the finest master of the crowd
thinning nrt in tho present Cabinet. He boards
them in a body in the reception room adjoining
his office, and he has already acquired a knack
of waiting them out of his Office door without
giving offence that is delightful to witness. He
-. z.t- ,,.p,har nf M Af,Eiplovto rah;nat
who has thus far exhibited sufficient nerve to
tackle his hordcs of visitors in open session, and
he finds that the scheme works exceedingly we'll.
Nv the time he arrives at his Office at 10 o'clock
In the morning his reception room is invariably
throngcd with callers. Mr.. Long takes the time
only to hang his hat on the peg and to glance into
the glass at his cravat and s~carfpin before he
pushes on to the reception room. He never
knows when he steps into the reception room
who Is waiting there to see him., for he pays no
attention to the stack of cards on his desk. He
walks into the reception room with his hands
behind his back. and he keeps them there, for
he is not a hand.shaker. All OF the callers
spring TO their feet when he enters the room,
and each of them takes a couple of steps for
ward with the quite apparent design to be the
first to gain the Secretary's ear. Mr.. Long pays
no attention whatever to these moves, however.
He begins with the man nearest the door through
WHICH ut lax ChlCiSu, uhu ho shiiu u kOOu
three feet away from him, for he has a morbid
fear of the button-holer. He permits his visitor
to do most Of the talking, contributing only an
occasional affirmative duck or negative nod Of
the head. The average audience he gives each
man is two minutes. Then doing q little talking
to remove the sin of it, he glides quickly toward
the door leading into the corridor. The visitor.
straining his ears to listen, follows in Mr.. Long
footsteps, and before he quite understands how
l. ~. L.. L-.. ~ H. q
under the Intel of the exit door. making his
adieus to the accompaniment of the Secrctary's
graceful parting gesture, executed with the
right arm. This is what one of Mr.. Longs
colored messengers calls "runnin' EN- out"
As soon as he has thus disposed Of his first
man. the Secretary of the Navy, waving aside
the callers who attempt to block his path. glides
to the man who holds the place next to that OF
the visitor on whom he began. and disposes of
him in the sam manner. Thus he ambles
around the four sides of the room. ignoring
precedence, and himself inaugurating the trot
toward the departing door with each man. The
system enables him to clean out his reception
room in an Incredibly short space of time. When
he has waited the last man out he returns to his
Office and begins to dig away at the work on his
desk. His private secretary gives him the word
when the reception room has filed up again,
and Nj. Long repeats his tour half a dozen
lInnto u uds. ~ VI CouEsCu dS hIo Jul v XIV
ing individual audience to the men he wants to
see. but this is the way he handles the ruck OF
his visitors; and it Is ruck, too. that often in.
cludes men of considerable prominen ce in their
own communities.
Secretary of the Treasury Gage gives indi
vidual audience in his office to such of his visit
os as have been weeded out for the distinction
by his private secretary, who operates singly
and alone, and often with extreme difficulty, in
the reception room. Mr.. Gage likes to study
men. When he first took tho Treasury reins he
fancicd he would be enabled to indulge this pro
pensity by receiving all of his visitors himself
lttook him Just three days to find out his mis-
take. On the fourth day his private secretary
took up his station in the anteroom for tho pur
pose OF convincing callers who wanted to see Mr.
Gage personally that they really didn't want to dc
nysucn thing. and to point out automatically tc
them how grievously they might injurc theii
causes IL they persisted in the determination
those OF Mr.. Cages visitors who get past the
private secretary find In the present Secretary
tacplarly successful as a listener. Mr.. Gage |:
ReerrhaPs the most n~on-committal man IN public
eyes. leaning back in his revolving char and in
rfSsahtiy removing and replacing his gold
al N ,hs Eyeglasses; He permits the caller to dc
word even when there is an embarrassing ll
u H., hrf soT Of the callers narration Of his merits
same tactics he used to employ in handling
N.hicago newspaper reporters. Whenever any
i thhths acknowledgement IN any part Of the world
w chicago city editors would immedi
Steiy despatch their best men to tnt
oSt what Bank President Gage thought
ABOUT y, just as some New York news
papers depend upon Mr.. Dcpew for the fna
sorqnpon all mundane matters. Mr.. Gage would
reeve the chicago newspaper men with all man
ner OF courtesy; and then, skilfully parryinl
melt nwM Questions, he would proceed to attempt u
pump them rs to the details OF their work, how
ihong they labored o. nights, how they liked 1t
s s night police work compared with the gath
sils OF national political news, and so on. TIL,
reporters out in Chicago saw through Mr.
nages playful little scheme after a while. anc
\ told him some lurid and ingenious yarn
noouI newspaper work that amazed him might
ny; INT they rarely got an absolute opinion oil
my subject from Mr.. Gage. Neither do tn
people who call upon him now that he is Secre
Hry OF the Treasury. II they arc office seekers
s Ibanont nine:tenths OF them are, he let's each o
c%em hnish his little story, and then. with Judi
H. uelberation, and ms IL he had never mad
Va uenark before, he works of this formula:
ny dispOsnl thnso nf nnIunha - w. % ~ nnd