Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-08-11
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Government Of United States in
Charge of Clerks During
the Summer.
President and Cabinet all Away
From Washington and Con-
gress Adjourned.
Would Not be Possible Ii Poll
ticians We're There to
Bother.


demonstrated this summer that govern
mental machinery will run itself. The
president is out of town. So is Mr.. HAY
Y secretary of state, and Mr. Root, the
secretary of war Mr.. Shaw, the secre-
taly of the treasury, is in and out OF
Washington, but out most of the time
spends the time at the seashore or the
Il Waldorf-Astoria in New York, when his
/ presence is not demanded in Wisconsin
! hy the political exigencies of Il badly
mixed campaign there Mr.. Knox, the
attorney general. has fled the capital fol
the summer. Mr.. Hitchcock, the secre-
tary of the interior, is somewhere, anc
| il is limited that he may or may not re-
! turn by the middle of September. Mr.
Moody, the secretary of the navy, has
been at his home in Massachusetts since
the president went to oyster Bay. Mr.
| Wilson, the secretary of agriculture, has
been busy in various sections of the
| United States since the hot season set
in, but not in Washington. 1t can not
even be said that men next in authority
in the various executive departments
are at their posts. Heads of depart
ments have left Washington for va
riety of purposes, but the routine work
goes on without friction, and the public
business is being disposed of as rapidly
us at other seasons of the year.
All of this proves, if it proves any
thing, that governmental machinery Is
in perfect working order aud that con-
gress and not the people make the trou-
lie. Ii congress We're in session, with
senators and representatives pleading
where their demands would not avail
the ordinary clerk would be thoroughly
disconnected, and some one in supreme
authority in charge of departments
would be necessary to guide the ship of
state. Secretary Shaw, determined to
master the intricacies of the treasury
portfolio, clings closer to Washington
than there would be necessity other
wise, and closer than any of his cabinet
associates. Somebody asked the secre
tary of the treasury the other day what
the political effect of one of the treas
ury policies might be.
Il am free to say that I don't Know"
said Mr.. Shaw. Il have been trying my
best to divorce the management of the
treasury department from politics.
find that thu treasury department in its
varied qualifications touches every ac-
tivity of government, and / may say
that it is almost the government itself"
This avowal by Secretary Shaw ex-
plains why the governmental machinery
runs more smoothly when congress is
not here and the heads OF departments
are out of town. There are no politi-
clans to bother. Everything done at the
departments is as much a matter of
business as it is in any one of the big
commercial houses in the country. In
the absence of Secretary Hay and AS
sistant Secretary Hill the administers
ton of the state department falls upon
the practiced shoulders of Second AS
slstant Secretary Adee. Mr.. Adee usu-
ally spends his summer vacation in Eu-
rope, but this year the third assistant
secretary, Mr.. Pierce, got his applica-
ton in for vacation in Europe ahead
of Veteran Adee, and so it happens that
the latter is left behind to hold the bag
in Washington thru the dog days In
w,
sistant Secretary Allies presides at the
treasury department, and, tho he is one
of the youngest men ever intrusted with
that important duty. BE goes at the task
with the confidence of an expert
Secretary Root is in Europe and will
not be back for several weeks. Assistant
Secretary Sanger has been compelled to
absent himself from his desk by illness
III his family n good deal since his chief I
crossed the Atlantic, and this has de-
Nolved the duties of the war department |
upon Chief Clerk Schotield in the civil
ton. Adjutant General Cor
bin has been on an extensive tour of +
western posts, and while he is away the
administration of the army has
,een in the hands of Brigadier General
Carter, who, tho line officer, has had
ong experience in the adjutant gener-
as office. Ordinarily the duties of the
of war, in the absence of both
The secretary and assistant secretary,
would fall to the ranking general of the
army, but since friction has developed
5etWeen Lieutenant General Miles and
his superors way has been found to f
Keep him out of chief place in the war Il
All of the principal Off
lals of the department of Justice are
'ut of the city, and a few days ago the
highest officer on duty there was the
assistant chief clerk The postoffice de-
for several weeks has been
un by First Assistant Postmaster Cen
raj Wynne. who until a few months
go was a newspaper correspondent.
Ir. Wynne finds that the work of adj
this great department. of
apartments does not draw as heavily
n his energy and time as did the work
+ q correspondent.
Assistant Secretary Darling has re-
urned to his desk in the navy depart
nent from short vacation. but did not
ct back until Secretary Moody had left
'hus for a time the navy department
sas in the charge of experienced clerks
hose names rarely ever figure in the
eWSpaperS