The age-herald., 1899-07-23
The Man of Great Ambition and His
 Downfall. THE GOOD HE HAS WROUGH l And How He Has Been the Target
 Tor Both Parties. HE IS COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED He Goes Out of the Cabinet After Hav- ing Safely Withstood Two Official Investigations-So Society Will
 Miss Mrs. Alger.
HE IS COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED

Miss Mrs. Alger.
 Washington, July 22.-(Special.)- )-In re- membering Secretary Alger one should keep in mind the lines "The evils that men do lives after them; the good is of ten inferred with their bones." If this is true of the dead it is apt to be doubly true of the living, who has passed out of power and been discredited by his friends. Weak, possibly incapable, Secretary Alger might have been, but it is we'll to bear in mind
 that after two investigations he has not been found to be corrupted, and that per- sonally he comes out of the office with as
 good a reputation, at least, as when he
 went in. It is also well to bear in mind
 what he has accomplished, or what was
 accomplished, during his term of service
 Called upon suddenly to raise an army to
 fight a war with power with an army
 and navy at least larger than our own,
 he mobilized 275,OOO men, equipped them
 with a staff as raw as the recruits of the
 line were, and in years time returned
 that army to the United States victorious
 body of men.
 The republicans give credit of this to
 President Mckinley, and everything that
 was wrong they lay at the door of his sec-
 retary of war. Algerism became shibb-
 oleth in the hands of the democrats, who
 concentrated their attacks upon Alger as
 the most vulnerable point in the admin:s- tration'S armor.
 The men who stormed San Juan hill were
 never under fercer fire than has been
 the secretary of war for the past six
 months. The soldiers in the field at least hal of while Secretary Alger has had to face a storm of criticism and abuse, being mind ful at the same time that he had enemies In the rear who were only waiting op- portunity to stab him in the back, and
 that there were bitter rivalries among
 those who were marching with him in the
 active service of the chief, President Me- Kinley.
 Win Suffer Remorse
 If remorse acts with the precision of law there are members of the cabinet today
 who must feel it prick their consciences
 and tug persistently at their coat tails.
 Even before the war with Spain Secretary
 Gage opened warfare on Ager. For long
 time they have not been speaking. Ugly
 stories are being whispered about that other members of the cabinet were also
 implicated in the secret attacks upon AL ger. He hadJ the continued assurances,
 however, from the president that his course was fully endorsed by him, and, feeling safe fin this trust, he withstood every attack and met them almost without a protest. For some time it has been known here by that the president was bending under the weight of public opinion, and was anxious to be rid of his war minister. For the past month the tide of officials has been pass ing the secretarys office-a sure sign al- ways of secretary's downfall. Looking back there seems to have been but one man who has stood by his friend, that man being the vice president. He has always been open in the defense of Alger, and it was he, at last, who told the secretary what to do, and gave him the nerve to do 1t. It was Alger's friends who were invited to Long Branch to meet him. When the facts all become known it will be found that the vice president acted the part of a gentleman throughout the entire proceed ing, and he will lose nothing by it, unless it be a renomination for the vice presi- dency, and the tip has already been given out that he lost this some time ago. In bringing about the removal of Secretary Alger the president has taken the advice of his enemies, dangerous thing to do at all times.
 Alger Is Overwhelmed
 The personal side of the case is pathetic. The secretary Is completely overwhelmed. He looks older and bowed The sympathy he is receiving may offset this desponden- cy, and 1t would not be surprising if it did not result in his election to the senate His friends say that no man ever accepted a portfolio with more ambition to become a great war minister than Secretary Alger. How far he would have succeeded had it not been for Abner Mckinley and Mark | Hanna can not now be accurately estima- ted. Every questionable contract in which l these men figured has been set down against Alger, while he has been given credit for every appointment in the army which the presidents kindly nature'' prompted him to make.
 So far the secretary has said nothing to show the depth of his resentment How much longer he will show this fortitude is doubtful, but sooner or later he will take his friends and the public into his conf- dence.
 Oniy Three Remain
 Of the original cabinet only three remain; Secretary of the Treasury Gage, Secretary of the Navy Long, and Secretary of Agri-
 culture Wilson. Attorney General McKen.
 na, the diminutive figurehead of the cab met went on the supreme bench Secretary Bliss of the interior department, threw
 up politics as a bad job and sought the
 more wholesome atmosphere of trade. The
 first postmaster general was politely bowed
 out of the cabinet, largely on account oi
 his antipathy to giving negroes office ir
 the south, to a certain extent OH account
 of his opposition to the war; Secretary ot
 State Sherman, becoming so forgetful as
 to mistake Sir Julian Pauncefote for Seno,
 Depuy De Lome, was asked to withdraw W
 and now the secretary of war has beer
 pushed aside.
 People away from Washington must bs
 at a loss for something to account for the
 sudden changes which take place in ths
 administration circles. The news of tht
 afternoon is often contradicted by the nex
 morning. The people in the capital ars