Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-10
LAST OF A LINCOLN GARNET.
Rccollcctions of Crucial Days called
tp by the Death of James Harlan.

Philadelphia Times.
The death Of James Harlan OF Iowa sewers
the last link that connected the administra-
tion Of Abraham Lincolp with the living OF
today. Mr.. Harlan was the last survivor
of the Lincoln cabinet and he has just Joined
his fellow constitutional advisers OF the
president in the City of the silent, after hav-
ing rounded out his four-scorc years.
The original Lincoln cabinet consisted of
William II. Seward as secretary OF state,
Salmon p Chase as secretary Of the treas
ury, Simon Cameron as secretary OF war,
Caleb b. Smith as secretary of the interior,
Gideon Welles as secretary of the navy,
Montgomery Blair as postmaster general and
Edward Bates as attorney general. or these
Seward and Woles only remained in the
cabinet until the death of Lincoln. Seward,
Chase, Cameron and Bates were prominent
candidates against MIR. Lincoln for the re-
publican nomination for president in 1860.
Lincoln had three secretaries of the treas
ury-Salmon p. Chase, William +. Fessen-
den and Hugh MCCullCch: two secretaries Of
war-SimOn Cameron and Edwin NJ STAN
tom three secretaries of the interior-Caleb
b. Smith, John p. Usher and James Harlan;
two postmasters general Montgomery Blair
and William Dennison, and two attorney
generals-Edward Bates and James Speed,
with Titan j. Coffey acting briefly ad in-
terim.
The Lincoln cabinet never was notable for
It's harmony. Each of the several presi-
dental candidates who were in the original
cabinet hoped to succeed Lincoln in 1864,
and Chase was most aggressive in seeking to
supplant Lincoln during the entire period of
his stay In the treasury. Strained relations
between him and the president made him
tender his resignation on several occasions,
but Lincoln, who was broad-gauge and big
hearted man. refused his consent to Chase S
retirement until early in 1864, when both
agreed that ChaSe's usefulness in the cabinet
was ended. Cameron, Blair and Smith all
had serious difficulties in their cabinet serv-
ices, and Cameron and Smith dropped out.
but Blair remained until the Baltimore con-
veniton that renominated Lincoln demanded
his retirement.
OF all the presidents we have had since
jackson, Lincoln depended the least upon
his cabinets to aid him in shaping the policy
or his administration. They were never
harmonious during the war, and equally dis
cordant as to methods of reconstruction, but
Lincoln allowed each to go his way and al
ways waited until time for action came,
when he was reasonably certain to know Just
dpOuI tue rlSnI tnlnS TO be done.
Harlan's service in the cabinet was brief,
as he did not enter it until near the close of
Lincoln's career. He was one of the few
public men in whose judgment and fidelity
Lincoln had great confidence Harlan served
long period in the senate and had been
one of the pioneers of republicanism in the
west He was man of education, unblem-
ished character and sturdy in his convic-
tions and actions He was just the man
to win the confidence of Lincoln. Both were
straightforward, honest and earnest patriots;
both hated sham and honored merit wher-
ever found, and it was this confidence and
sympathy between Lincoln and Harlan that
doubtless led to the marriage of their chill
dren. as Harlan's daughter has long been
the wife of Robert T. Lincoln.
Extreme age, with the infirmities it
usually brings, has made Mr. Harlan unfelt
and comparatively unknown in the political
struggles of the last decade or more but
the west has produced no statesman whose
memory will be more gratefully cherished
by western people than that of James
Harlan.