The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-11-07
SIGHTS AT THE CAPITAL.
The Executive Departments.
Henry Mact;uidnd in Io,ward.

inerc are clght executive depart
mcnts of the National Government.
Each has representative in the Cabl-
net. The Cabinet is not provided
for, either in the Constitution or the
laws. 1t lives, as body meeting
twice week in the Cabinet room at
the White House to confer with the
President, simply at the will Of the
President, who invites the heads Of
the executive departments to assem-
bic in these meetings as Cabinet.
Any president could abolish the
Cabinet, as such, by simply suspend
ing indefinitely the Cabinet meetings.
But the custom Of this bringing to-
gcthcr his natural advisers, all ap-
pointed by himself to share with him
the responsibilities Of government, as
established by President Washington,
has such obvious advantages that it
has never been interrupted except by
President Jackson when he quarrclcd
With the members Of his Cabinet.
Besides, the president who should
dispense with Cabinet meetings would
be accused Of Imperialism, and this,
of itself, will prevent the change from
being made.
The titles of the executive depart
mcnts, usually incorrectly published,
are given officially as follows, in the
order of their creation: The Depart
mcnt Of the State, The Treasury De-
partment, The War Department, The
Department of Justice, The Post Office
Department, The Navy Department,
The Department Of the Interior, The
Department of Agriculture. The
heads Of these departments who take
rank at the Cabinet table, and on all
other official occasions in the order of
their departments, have the title of
The Secretary Of State, The Secretary
q the Treasury, The Secretary of
Var, The Attorney General, The
Postmaster General, The Secretary of
the Navy, The Secretary of tho In.
terror, The Secretary of Agriculture.
The executive departments occupy
Offices in buildings scattered through
the central portion of the city of
Washington, mostly built by the
Government FOR the purpose. Al
though number Of buildings have
been rented to provide for the over
flow, as the departments have grown
with the increase of government bust
ness, and without adequate provision
of government buildings. At present
the Department of Justice is living
entirely in rented buildings, it's old
home on Pennsylvania Avenue, oppo-
site the Treasury Department, having
been condemned as unsafe and torn
down to make room for new one on
the same site. 1t is hoped by the
supervising architect and others that
Congress may buy the whole of that
square, which is ON the right of La
fayette Park, and also the whole Of
the square on tho left of Lafayette
Park, as one faces it from the White
House, so as to make Pennsylvania
Avenue from Fifteenth to Seventeenth
Street an executive avenue in fact,
for it has already had that name. In
stead of the present inartistic collec-
tion Of private buildings, good, bad,
and Indifferent, in these squares we
should then have two noble public
buildings, one for the Department of
Justice and ono for somo other de-
partment, or for o much h-nceded fire.
proof hall Of rccords and archives; q
building which would accord with the
park, on the other side of the avenue,
inclosing the Executive Mansion, the
Treasury Department, and the State,
War, and Navy Building.
All the departments, except the
State Department-and it is crowded
have outgrown tho buildings pro-
vided for them and have had to build,
buy, or rent. additional quarters.
The executive Offices of the Post
Office Department a.e being NOV
ed out of the old Post Office
Department building into the new
and large building of the Wash
ington city post Office on Pennsyi-
vania Avenue, midway between the
Capitol and the White House. The
Treasury Department, which is larger
than any other, and, indeed, probably
larger than all the others put together,
still has its principal Offices in its HIS
toric old building at Fifteenth Street
and Pennsylvania Avenue, which is,
next to the Capitol, the largest and
finest OF the public buildings Of the
old order.
Students Of government could spend