The San Francisco call., 1904-06-25
Secretaries Wilson and
Hitchcock Are Chums in
Every Sense of the Word
ADMIRE EACH OTHER
President Roosevelt, in a
Spirit of Fun, Refers to
Them as "Oficial Twins"

1SSA cIoAy VI lue interior, ana James
| Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. They
are comrades in every sense of the
word. For years they have walked
away from the Cabinet meetings to-
gether, except on bad days. when their
carriages were waiting for them. They
manage to finish their work In the
Cabinet room about the same time and
leave the residents offices together,
Mr.. Hitchcock lighting a cigar as he
walks away from the Cabinet room.
They stroll along together, talking
without animation and in the quiet,
conservative way so characteristic of
them. Generally Mr.. Wilson has his
hands down in his overcoat pockets,
/ While Mr.. Hitchcock has a bundle of
papers under one arm or in one hand
and his favorite cigar in the other
! The friendship between the two men
dates back three or four years They
are men of much the same tempera-
ment and naturally got together. They
began to like each other and the COM
radeship followed. They are jocularly
twitted by the President as the official
twins" Of his Cabinet and the other
Cabinet members say funny things to
them and about them. They go on,
however, as they have gone for years,
believing in and admiring each other.
Tama Jim" Wilson, as he is famil-
iarly known in Iowa, and especially in
Tama County, his home, has been in
the Cabinet seven years, having enter
cd fe
Mckinley seven years ago March 4
last. He has served longer consecu-
lively than any man in the Cabinet.
In fact he is the only man now in
President Roosevelt's Cabinet who en-
tered the Cabinet of President McKin-
ley at the beginning of the latter's ad-
ministration. He has survived all the
Cabinet changes of those years, and
! is one of the few Cabinet officers whose
resignation or disconnection with Off
cial life has not at some time or other
been talked of in the papers His faith
full work has impressed both Presidents
and he will certainly remain with Pres
ident Roosevelt as long as he desires.
THE FARMER.
Mr.. Wilson is a Scotchman, having
guest 16. 1885. He came to the
United States with his parents in
1852, settling in Connecticut. Three
years later he was in his beloved
county of Tama, where he soon be-
gan farming. He gravitated toward
politics, first serving in the Legisla-
ture, being Speaker of the Iowa
House at one time. He was elected to
Congress in 1872. serving three terms.
Before becoming Secretary of Agri-
culture he was director of the agri-
cultural experiment station and pro-
fessor of agriculture at the Iowa Ag-
ricultural College at Ames.
He is a farmer by inclination, and
nothing pleases him more than to
get among farmers. At the same
time he is a hard-headed and far
seeing politician, a close -mouthed
Cabinet officer and a valuable man to
Presidents. He has executive ability
of a high order, as shown In his
management of his department and
the handling of important questions
arising there. He doesn't bother the
President much about the details of
the department, as he realizes that
the President is not a farmer and
doesn't understand much about seed |
soil and scientific matters bearing
upon both. Occasionally he arises in !
a Cabinet session and tells what his +
department is doing in the way of ex-
perimenting for the Improvement of /
agricultural conditions.
1t may be a Japanese rice that is |
being raised in Louisiana, or 1t may I
be something about the cotton boil /
weevil in Texas but = whenever he |
talks everybody listens because he
says something, says it briefly. and in
we'll chosen language. He never talks
unnecessarily, and is wonderfully
conservative.
THE BUSINESS MAN
Ethan Allen Hitchcock is a business
man, pure and simple; an exceeding
ly shrewd one, minus much Of the fear
of politicians that many men have
Many attempts have been made to get |
him out of the Cabinet. Western men |
who do not like his management of |
land and other questions have organ |
lied campaigns against him, but he |
remains in the Cabinet. He probably |
likes the work and the President likes |
his honesty. Mr.. Hitchcock's unvar-
nished honesty is what holds him in |
his position, together with the fact !
that he knows a business proposition |
big department like his own with abil- |
ity. For ability to keep his mouth |
shut under all conditions Mr.. Hitch