The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-17

hand Or. if another President wished to
 summon to his council a dozen or fifty
 heads of bureaus and commissions, he
 would have the right to do so When the
 head of a department is out of the capi-
 tall his assistant designated to act In ms
 place temporarily, is sometimes invited to
 sit in the White House council, and some-
 times he Is not
 It is a mistake to assume, however, that
 the post of cabinet officer is without
 great dignity and possibility of usefulness.
 The interests committed to the care or the heads of these departments are vast and important. Many opportunities are presented for acquiring reputation of high order and for winning public approval.
 At the same time it Is true that service
 in the American cabinet Is becoming less and less desirable in the eyes or pubic
 men of the first rate.
 An Old Tradition.
 In the early history of the republic 1t was almost an unwritten law that secre- taries of state were to be the successors of their chiefs in the White House. Jeffer-
 son, Madison, Monroe and J. Q. Adams
 had all served as secretaries of state to preceding Presidents. Later. Van Buren and Buchanan became President after
 service in the state department. But for fifty years and more no President of the United tSates has ever had previous ex-
 perience in the management of a govern
 ment department. So the tradition of
 promoting secretaries of state to the chief
 magistracy long ago ran out. For half
 century or more after the establishment of the present party system in the United States 1t was the custom for successful candidates for the presidency to choose their defeated rivals within their own party for cabinet posts. on the theory that
 harmony within the organization was thus to be conserved, and all factions be kept fin line." This, too is falling into disuse Today the most successful and ambi- tious men in American politics aspire, not to places in the cabinet, but in the Senate
 seat in the Senate is the great prize of American public life, next to the presiden- cy itself Senators, especially those of high place, affect to look down upon mem bers of the Presidents cabinet as mere
 clerks subject to orders Only few years ago 1t was a common occurrence Tor new
 Presidents to take their heads of depart ments from the Senate and such transfer
 was considered promotion. Now 1t is right
 the other way. Climbing men are willing to use the cabinet as a stepping stone to the Senate, but not the Senate as a step ping stone to the cabinet. There are. to my knowledge, half dozen senators who
 have refused places In the cabinets Of
 recenH Presidents, and two of them have
 had to give their refusal to two Presi- dents, and one to three Presidents.
 Cabinet Losing Prestige.
 The result of these changes Of condition | Is that for the most part members of the | American cabinet are now chosen from private life-successful lawyers, business men. diplomats or journalsts-or from the membership of the House of Representa- | te gtiII r,rnn1nfiop to step from the commons, where only 1 one man in twenty has a national reputa- | tion and the other nineteen are unknown
 outside the states or districts which they represent to seat at the President s | council table It follows little that the
 cabinet Is losing a little of its old time
 prestige, in that 1t is not composed of | seasoned public men and party leaders, as | formerly But 1t is gaining in freshness
 and efficiency, and is becoming more and more typical of the American spirit of | .'business'' and 'pushful proficiency" | Naturally. the measure of opportunity | which comes to an American cabinet offi-
 cer to win renown is governed by cir
 cumstances the genius of the man him
 self, and the limiting nature of his chief.
 A Mckinley not very self-reliant, but clever in building up men about him, may produce ministers of first rate fame,
 like Hay and Root. Under more stren-
 uous, self-wlled, overshadowing Roose-
 welt personal distinction is not so easily
 attained McKinley's ministers met twice
 weekly for a real council, in which every mans opinions were brought out and sifted down in the formation of policies l and making of decisions. The more mas | terful Roosevelt summons his ministers | to listen to him and to get their orders. | To be a big man in the cabinet of such a | President one must needs be really big in | his own character. In the last ten years | only four Americans have won genuine fame as ministers of the President-Hay Root, Taft and Olney. Two or these served with Mckinley, one with Cleveland and one was Roosevelts choice.
 One of the best signs of the times in recent years in American public ire was afforded when Elihu Root, really great man, fit to be President of the greatest
 republic, consented to give up his place
 as leader of the New York bar ana ms
 income of s250.00O a year-to become John