The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-17
OTHER PEOPLES NOTIONS
The New Commissioners of Pensio,

The New COmmis siOner of Pensions.
To the Editor of The Journal:
Under the heading, Roosevelt All Over, a
the Sunday morning Tribune refers to the ac-
ton of the president in appointing Hon. Eu-s
gene F. Ware to succeed H.stGlay Evans as
commissioner of pensions, as an exhibition
of Indifference to the influences that usually
dictate the selection of men for important
public positions by the federal executive.
The new commissioner is disposed Of with
the information that he is a corporation laws
yer and poor poet; and the opinion is given
that If he is good enough lawyer, he is ass
suredly bad enough poet to give reasonstos
hope that he will make a good pension COM
missioner. ss &.
Permit me to say in reply to this that, havss
ing enjoyed an acquaintance with Mr.. Ware
for more than twenty-five years., and being
somewhat familiar with the conditions which
prompted his selection in preference to either
OF the very excellent and capable gentlemen
who were urgd for the position by the Kan
sas congressman cannot inderse the high
compliment which the Tribune writer has
unwittingly paid the president, and fear that
| President Roosevelt is really losing the charm
| of innocent independence with which he Is
| credited and is developing a talent for po-
| litical strategy which should delight the judg-
ment ofshis party managers. The retirement
| of Commissioner Evans was delayed by the
CeaLn OIL FTeSlQenC Mchluley, anu TIE ueW
| president was called upon to make choice be-
| tween Hon. S. r. Peters, candidate whom
President Mckinley favored, or Hon. R. w,
| Blue, candidate who had the strongest in
dorsement from members of the Grand Army
] of the Republic. Both of these. gentlemen
/ are from Kansas, both good lawyers, good
citizens and ex-congressmen.
Matters developed which suggested the un-
1 wisdom of appointing either of these appli-
cants, and, with kindly consideration for Kan
/ sas, President Roosevelt selected a gentle
! man living at Topeka, who is a good lawyer
| and good citizen, and, in the estimation of
some critics. poor poet.
Not being competent to pass upon the mer-
4 it's of the Rhymes of Ironquill : as a collec-
ton, hazard the prediction 5thaIsif Commits
1 sioner Ware shall be sable tie scarry into his
| office something of the, heart of sympathy
, which is exhibited in his "WasherWoman's
| Song his comrades will forgive any other
| defects of rhyme or meter. IA 1913 ~
Eugene F. Ware was born at Hartford,
| Conn., May 49, 1S41, and comes of a long line
! of Puritan ancestry. His parents moved to
! Burlington, Iowa, when he was small lad,
! and he is thus, in the education of his sur
] roundings, western product. He enlisted as
l a soldier under President Lincoln's first call
l in April 1861, in the First Iowa infantry,
i re-enlisted in the Fourth Iowa cavalry, and,
1 on the reorganization of this regiment he
! Joined the Seventh Iowa cavalry and was
mustered out in June, 1866, with the rank OF
captain, after having seen more than five
4 years of active service, including campaign
against the Sioux Indians in Dakota. He
served as -aide-de-camp to Generals Robert B.
i Mitchell, c. J! Stolbrand, Washington r. Ell
lott and Greenville NJ. Dodge.
81 After leaving the army Mr.. Ware was for
] a time an editorial writer on the Burlington
/ Hawkeye, and, moving to Kansas in 1867, he
became connected with the Fort Scott Moni-
tor and was well known and appreciated as
journalist wherever that paper circulated.
He was admitted to the bar in 1871, and IN
:; 1874 was married to Miss Jeanette Hunting
) ton of Rochester, New, York. He was elected
to the Kansas state senate and served five
years in that body with credit to himself and
profit to the state. He represented the re-
publican party of Kansas in two Or three
national republican conventions and has been
a steadfast supporter of republican principles
and AN active promoter of their ascendancy
in Kansas for more than thirty years.
The president appointed him member Of
the board of visitors for the West Point mill
3 tary academy, which is the only official posi-
tion which he has held for many years..
Mr.. Ware is a gentleman of independent
;, means and his elegant home in Topeka il
ever open, for the liberal hospitality which
= charms those whom he entertains and who
esteem him for his genial manners, his de-
lightful wit and his Astounding common sense
The Topeka paper from which the principa
facts here recited were taken, states that, ii
reply to an inquiry Mr.. Ware said: 'I have
never talked to a soul, with the exception o
t the president, about the appointment. hav,
never written letter asking for an indorse
: ment The appointment comes to me with
! out solicitation, and after had assured tn,
president that l did not want the place.
i Those who know Mr.. Ware best are conf
dent that he will make .paiIistaking, Judi
cious administrator Of the pension depart
ment; and If this shall prove true, and thu
president shall have succeeded in stlling
s tempest which threatened party harmony il
: Kansas a state in which none other ofsequa
4 population can claim so large a proportion o
g veterans of the civil war, who shall say tina
!, he has not acted wisely. ~
8 20. E. Faulkner.