The Irish standard., 1905-04-01
A Young Man From Illineis Files an Appli-
cation for Pest in Spain in Order
to Learn Spanish.
A Swede From Minnesota Wants to Go to
= His Native Country So as to Be Near
When Rich Uncle Dies.

There's an old story dating back to
the administration of President John.
son that the White House employees
are retelling frequently these days
when information seeking visitors
veer the talk around to the subject of
the horde OF men who have been here
since the inauguration seeking ap-
pointments in the consular service,
says the New York Sun.
An uncouth but amiable son OF the
Tennessee soil who had been on even
terms of friendship with Johnson
many years before when the latter
was a humble tailor came speeding
to Washington as soon as Johnson
assumed the Presidential office.
His idea was one of the big Consul
something lust as good" He could
not figure how Andy, remembering
how they had been close cronies years
before, could fail to bestow one OF
these fine prizes upon him.
Johnson, Of course, had to resort to
flaming" tactics. His friend of the
former years was hopelessly illiterate
and crude. There was absolutely no
Office under the Government that he
was capable of holding. Johnson tried
as gently as he could to tell him so,
but the pap-hungry Tennessean was
too obtuse to catch the Presidents
drift. .....
Eventually, after hanging around
| Washington for a long time, he ex-
pressed a willingness to take anything
that Andy" would give him in the
way OF a Government billet. His am
bition descended by steps from one OF
the swell Consul-Generalships to one
OF the better Consulships, at Dresden
or Munich, say, and from that to any
OF the fair Consular posts in South or
Central America.
! When Johnson finally succeeded In
making him understand that there
was going to be nothing doing in the
Consular line for him, the Tennessee
an said that something in Washington
would do, then-bureau chief, or divi-
sion chief in one Of the Depart
ments or something Of that sort.
Johnson had firmly made up his
mind that he wouldn't be able to give
his former crony any sort Of Govern
ment job and even when the man got
down to a plain messengership in one
of the Departments the President
couldn't see it.
After half a years hopeless waiting
the Tennessee man presented a pretty
seedy exterior. His clothes were worn,
limp and shiny, and his shoes were
in the final stages OF dilapidation. He
looked as ii he was getting his sleep
on park benches.
On the day that Johnson candidly
told him that he wouldn't be able to
appoint him to q messengership and
advised him to go back to Tennessee
and pick up the thread of life there
where he had broken it the disappoint-
ed Tennesseean rubbed his chin re-
flectively and gazed at the President
beseechingly.
well, Andy" he said, "seein' thet
you can't gimme no kind O. job, hev
yo' all got airy OIL pair O. pants that
you could loan me t. go back home
in:
He got the pants, ticket home
and a stake besides.
This story is not SO applicable to
the types of office seekers who beseige
the White House upon changes OF ad-
ministration these days as it used to
be, though there is still a plentiful
sprinkling among them Of adjustable
chaps who, falling far short of the
thing they aim for, are willing to
compromise upon something just as
good"
During the last decade or so there
has developed a new and singularly
independent class of office seekers
Office acceptors they think they really
should be called, for their pose is that