The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-30
VICE PRESIDENT GARRETT A. HOBART.

incumbent. and no one could under
stand how it could be made anything
else.
Since then all Washington has
learned that the vice president is a
force to be reckoner; with in many
ways All Washington likes the
change. and it is hardly probable that
the vice presidency, after Hobart, Will
ever drop back TO its old level of rela-
tive insignificance. 1t is only right to
say that the present Importance of the
vice presidency is, in some degree, due
to the agreement Of the president with
Mr.. Hobart's ideas.
Hobart and the President.
The relations between Mr.. Mckinley
and Mr. Hobart are more as such re-
Iations were planned by the founders
of the republic than they have been
since Iincoln's first term. There was
little sympathy between Mr.. Cleveland
and Mr.. Stevenson; Mr. Harrison and
Mr. Morton rarely saw each other;
decided frost spranS up during ME-
Garfeld's brief actual service whenever
he and General Arthur approached,
and friEid relations between the presl-
dent and vice president have been the
rule FOR more than thirty years.
But MI. Mckinley and MIR. Hobart
are more than merely on good terms;
they are close friends in every sense.
Thus il is not at all unusual for MI.
Mckinley to drop in at the famous
Cameron mansion on Lafayette place,
which the Hobarts have chosen for
their home. once or twice a week. be-
tween whites. so to speak, for a smoke
and a half hour of neighborly talk and
relaxation. Neither is it exceptional
for the tall figure of the vice president
TO be seen entering the door of the
White House. and the conferences be-
tween the nations chief executive and
his next man are by no means devoted
solely to soc1abrllty-
As many readers no doubt remember,
Great Britain's representative has
heretofore taken precedence over every
one save the president at all social
and stat functions in Washington.
Sir Julian Pauncefote, now British
ambassador, supposed that there would
he no change when the present admin
;stration came in, but in this he was
mistaken. In behalf of his office and
himself Mr. Hobart assumed prece-
dence of all save his chief. and the
president supported the vice presi-
dents position. Sir Julian is a gentle
man. and eventually he accepted the
situation, though not without some
detailed consultation with the home
Office which he deemed might be more
vitality interested III the question of
social precedence at the republican
cfllrt OF the west than any individual
could be. His theory was, undoubtedly,
in effect. that being the personal rep
resentatiVe in Washington of Queen
Victoria. he was entitled to all the
Difference that would be accorded TO
her in person, and the matter was not
settled for good and all until after the
ambassadors return from visit to the
other side of the ocean. in the course
of which, it is understood, he inquired
infinitely into the practice at Paris. the
only other great republican capital.
Feeling as he did before he went
abroad. Sir Julian had refrained from
attending various functions at which
ne might meet the vice president, but
immediately after reaching Washing
ton again he FASTENED IL pay his re-
spects 10 that official in a formal call.
which was duly and properly returned
within the conventional three days
limit 1t was automatically conveyed
to Sir Julian soon afterwards that Mr..
Mckinley thought no one of any sta
ton whatever ought to come between
him and the vice president and since
that time the precedence question has
crystalized itself quite satisfactorily.
Hobart as Presiding Officer.
There is no doubt that the trainers
of the United States government be-
lieved they were providing duties of the
most important SORT for the vice presi-
dent when they assigned 10 him the
task of presiding over the senate. The
speaker of the house of representatives