The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-13
HIGH TRIBUTE IO Day
Who is to Resign the Secre-
taryship of State.
HE HAD IT ALL TO LEARN
But Has a Record as a Man
Who Does Things.

Washington, Aug. 13.-The belief that
Judge Day will ere long resign the secre-
taryship of state has caused more general
regret in Washington among the persons
who have TO do with the state department
than anything that has come to the public
notice Of late. Secretary Day came here
an unknown man, to all except a group of
Ohioans in public life. Although he had
an excellent record at the bar at home,
and in politics had made almost no enc
mies-a thing possible in Ohio only by the
exercise of a modesty out of keeping
with the states common repute-no one
gave him credit for much of that admin
| istrative ability required in a cabinet
| officer.
When he was first mentioned as a pos
! sible member Of the presidents official
! family, it was understood that he would
| be Attorney-General. This seemed in
keeping with mis- tastes and habits, and
it appeared to offer an opening for a
career such as the president would be
very glad to offer to his old and valued
friend. His acceptance of the assistant
! secretaryship Of state was therefore a
surprise. 1t was regarded as a sacrafce
for friendships sake. and this was prob
ably correct view. The president was
under some obligations to Mr.. McKenna.
and had marked him for the next vacant
place on the supreme bench, and the at
tOrney-generalship seemed to be the
proper stepping stone to judicial honors.
Mr.. Day had no special taste for foreign
affairs, and only such knowledge of them
as an intelligent reader of current his
tory can acquire. But with his studiouS
habit he bent himself to the task of mas
tering the dutiese of his post and the ques
tons likely TO arise in its administration.
everything Observation-Disclosures C
Unframed in diplomacy, he went at
everything with the method of the lawyer
studying first the groundwork of fact
then the precedents applicable thereto.
and leaving the method of application
largely to take care of itself. This in
duced certain directneSs of action, which
struck dumb not a few professional ex-
perts in foreign affairs with whom meth
cd counted much more than substance.
The handling of the De LONE letter Incl
dent offers an illustration in point. A
skilled diplomatist would have felt all
reach the ctaimlustharodniaaosh
reach the same results, but by a devious
rather than a straight course. Judge Day
simply acted as he would have acted had
a client sought his assistance in a libel
case. He put the discriminating letter into
his pocket, called in person upon the
suspected minister, asked him frankly
whether he wrote it, and received-what
was nine days wonder in the diplomatic
circle-an equally frank and unequivocal
admission. While this course may have
violate all ordinary rules of diplomatic
intercourse, it's fruits was just what was
sought, and there is the best of reason
for saying that secretary and minister
parted with a much more genuine respect
respect for each other than either felt it
necessary to advertise. The remarkably
quick closing of the incident was itself a
tribute to the good sense of the direct
method of doing business.
In a less formal but perhaps quite as
important feature of a cabinet officers
duties-his contact with the press-Secre-
tary Day has shown a discrimination
rarely observed among public men. He
has done absolutely nothing to pander to
the taste of the sensationalists or to cater
particularly to the friendliness of any
element. His office has been the most
democratic in its atmosphere of any in
the cabinet circle, without thereby sac
rifcing its dignity in the least. A news
paper representative with a bonafde err
rand has always been able to see him
when he was not actually engaged in
the transaction of confidential public bus
mess. Those members of the press who
have expected an ELUSIVE welcome have
been disappointed. Equally so have those
who looked for frigid repulse of their
advances. There has been no warmpth
of manner, of the hail fellow sort, on
ecretary Days part. but always a perfect
courtesy, and as much further considera-
ton as the occasion demanded. In the
street or in any other public place, ne has
always been approachable. perfectly ready
70 answer any proper questions, or, If
the question were such that he had no
right 10 ansker it, a statement to that
effect was candidly forthcoming. This
combination of traits in a public officer
IS too rare to pass without notice. The
tendency is commonly TO go to the ex-
IRENE of sociability and garrulousness-
usually for the sake of being deemed a
good fellow and extensively praised during
the next campaign-or to the opposite ex-
treme of seif-sufficiency. with d needless
offensiveness Of expression
Secretary Day is a man Of very few
words, and this sparing habit mas the
effect Of giving weight of whatever he
has 20 say He has little use for the man
that comes 70 him with a simple demand
for the news of the day; what ne needs
is the incentive Of a direct question or
a subject Of immediate interest 10 the pub
lie From this II must not be assumed
that ne has simply a yea" or may" ans
ve- 10 make. II by experience he has dis
covered that his interroEator is a man
to be trusted as 10 both discrea;ion and
intelligence, it Is not uncommon for him.
after having answered the query as pro-
pounded. 70 pause a moment. and then,
win the simple reminder that he IS not 70
be quoted. TO add, a brief. pithy, well-ex-
pressed explanation OF MS position on the
subject in question. Very seldom IL ever.
has his confidence been betrayed; and his