The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-25
| ~ AUL MORTON A
I'LL SECRETARY OF
NlUTHE NAVY OF
I.NItNA A NE W TYPE
A II E W

shoulders are square and wide, his waist
SLIM and his chest is deep and round. He
weighs nearly 200 pounds, every ounce
bone and muscle, and carries it a. easily
as prize fighter in ring trim.
Incidentally Mr. Morton's physica energy
is constant source Of wonder and delight
to the watchmen and other employees of
the Navy Department. Some of the men
stationed at the entrance door have watched
Secretaries Of the Navy come and 60 daily
for three decades. They have seen middle
aged and elderly gentlemen descend from
their carriages in front Of the main entrance
of the building, proceed leisurey and with
dignity, and sometimes difficulty, up the
, long fight of stone steps to the door, and
! thence up the high, winding stairs to the
office of the Secretary of the Navy, on the
second floor. Mr.. Morton seldom uses his
Government carriage, and up to now no one
has been found who has seen him ascend
either the outside or the inside steps at a
/ slower rate than two at a time.
The first morning that Mr.. Morton en-
tered the Navy Department after being
sworn in. he was in a sure enough hurry.
He went by the watchmen at the main
entrance like one of his own limited trains,
and by the time the astonished guardians
had recovered their breath he was in his pri-
vate office, on the floor above, looking over
his mail, with not even qulckened heart
beat or respiration to testify to his haste
and exertion.
Another expression that Mr.. Mortons
friends use in speaking of him is that he is
n hog for work" Just how true this is
the employees of the Navy Department
didn't know until they found that the new
Secretary, when work pressed, occasionally
reached his desk at 73O A. NJ, and some
times returned to the Department after
dinner in the evening to finish up his work,
in order that he might start in the next
morning with q clean slate.
1t is no unusual thing for Mr.. Morton's
private secretary to work with him until
O'Clock in the evening and not leave until
the Secretary has gone to his home and
work for the day ha been finished, only
to find, when he comes down to the Depart
ment at $50 the next morning, that Mr.
Morton has been there before him and
left pile of memoranda on his desk. Often
that same private secretary has wondered
whether Mr.. Morton doesn't sometimes
sleep at theNavy Department.
There have been number of criticisms
Of the Presidents selection of a Secretary
Of the Navy, owing principally to the fact
that Mr.. Morton was railroad man, from
an inland State, and couldn't be expected
to know much about naval affairs. But
Mr.. Morton isn't worrying great deal
! over such objections, With his character
istic love for detail, he looked the matter
! up and found that since the time Of Gideon
! Weles, who was Secretary Of the Navy
during the civil war, not single man who
has held the portfolio had previous
thorough knowledge Of naval affairs,
Mr.. Morton is certainly no worse of
than certain Secretary Of the Navy Of
former days, who, shortly after his ap-
pointment to office, paid his first visit to a
ship. Of war, and on stepping aboard, ex-