Los Angeles herald., 1905-01-23
BITS OF WASHINGTON NEWS
Minor Scenes and Incidents .sketched
at the CAPITAL

WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. IA
The new issue of the congressional
directory contains condensed autobi-
ographies of various cabinet officers.
The sketch prepared by Paul Morton,
secretary Of the navy, has greater
brevity and modesty than any of the
others. 1t covers less than a dozen
lines, as follows: Paul Morton of
Chicago, ILL.,, secretary of the navy.
was born in Detroit, Mich, May O. 1857.
Attended common school until he was
16 years old; then entered railroad Of
fee, continued in the railroading bus
mess with the exception of six years
(from 1890 to 1896, when he was engaged
in the coal and iron business) until ap-
pointed secretary of the navy; assumed
the duties of that office July 1, 1904"
Postmaster General Robert ]. Wynne
states that he is So years old. At an
early age he learned telegraphy in
Philadelphia and eventually became
chief operator of the Pacific and Allan
tic telegraph company. Many years
ago he removed to Washington and en-
came correspondent of the Cincinnati
Gazette. In 1891 Mr.. Wynne was ap-
pointed private secretary to Secretary
of the Treasury Charles Foster of Ohio.
Secretary Hitchcock was explaining
some phases of the Oregon land frauds
to the president and the cabinet and he
became quite eloquent in describing
I,o
conspicuously identified with the in
vestigation.
'It seems to me- said Secretary Nor
ton, "that so honest a man ought to be
elected to the highest office within the
gift of the people of Oregon"
Hes too honest to be elected to Of
fice." retorted Secretary Hitchcock.
whereupon the members of the cabi-
net laughed uproariously.
The secretary of the interior did not
appreciate the manner in which the
statement was received or acknowledge
the hilarity of his associates until
he glanced in the direction of the presi-
dent, who was regarding him with
fixed look full of meaning.
Congressman Cannon was not always
so powerful in Washington as he has
been of late years. He tells with glee
of visit he once paid to the postoffice
department when blunt Frank Hatton
was postmaster general. He took with
him a constituent who wanted to be
postmaster of his village. Cannon was
bitterly opposed to him, but did not
want to turn him down openly. When
he reached the department Cannon left
the would-be postmaster outside the
screen door and went in to see Hatton.
He told Hatton he intended to bring
the man in and ask for the place for
him, but begged Hatton to refuse it.
where's the man?" asked Hatton.
Just outside the door" Cannon re-
piled. I'm that case" replied Hatton,
raising his voice so he could he heard
a city block, II want you to know l
have lying enough to do here without
lying for you. Bring him in" Cannon
brought him in and Hatton blandly
appointed him.
Secretary Hay is anxious to secure
from congress money to pay for copying
and preserving certain old manuscripts
in the state department that have an
important bearing on the early history
OF the government. In the last two
years an overhauling OF the archives
has been under way, under the direc-
tion of the Carnegie institution, the
idea being to supply a practical guide
for the use of students of history and
government This search brought out
the fact that a vast amount of valuable
manuscript correspondence is in the
files of the state department and is
now unavailable because of it's poor
condition.
Secretary Hay states that an exam
iEation of the papers involved shows
that from 1889 to 1s4O there are about
25 900, 900 twenty -five volumes of
the size Of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
a very large portion OF the imprinted
papers are Of great interest. Hardly
anything of consequence appears to
have been published from 1889 TO 1884
There is considerable material relating
TO subjects OF such Importance as the
treaty of 1895 with Spain. the Louisiana
purchase, the diplomatic antecedents
OF the war OF 1912, the treaty OF Ghept,
the Monroe doctrine. the recognition
OF the South American republics. and
the relationship with Texas prior to