Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-24
PRES|DENT'S CABINET
Nine Men Who viii Rejoice at
Congress Adjournment.
HAVE HAD STRENUOUS TIME
During the Session Of the National
Legislature.
A SLAVE DRIVER For WORK
Some Are Thoroughbreds and Work
Until They Drop-Some of the
Things Accomplished.
A SLAVE DRIVER FOR WORK

| When Congress finally adtourns nine
prominent men in Washington will be hap
pier than all the rest of the country put
together. railroad presidents and meat pack
CTS iiot excepted. TO see the members of the
national legislature depart from the Capt.
toll in peace The men referred to are the
members of President RooseveIts cabinet
| That President Roosevelt is a slut.on for
work himself his greatest enemy will not
| deny. but. at the same time no member of
the cabinet, however fond he is of his chief.
Will venture to claim that the chief execu-
tive of this great and glorious nation is any
thing but slave driver to those who work
under him and with him
This has been strenuous session OF Con-
gress-just the sort OF session a man OF the
Roosevelt temperament naturally halls with
g!ee-and Mr.. Roosevelt has been in his ele-
ment from start to finish. Several of the
caplnet. however. are not SO keen on this
continuous performance sort of work and
when the members of the Senate and House
depart Tor the summer most of the heads
OF the departments will draw deep breaths
OF sheer relief at being of the cowcatcher
Tor awhile. Several of them have their
work cut out for them even during the con-
gressional recess. but that will not prevent
their taking short breathing spell when
the congressman are gone and when the
President Is getting settled at Oyster Raw
somewhere Rudyard Kiplng has line
winch reads: We shall rest and faith we
shall need it: lie down for an aeon or two
This Is the motto of the cabinet members
just now. They know they will not have
an aeon OF repose. but they feel that they
/ need It.
Those Who Are Thoroughbreds.
Since he is such slave driver the Presi-
dent Is lucky in having two or three men
in his cabinet who, like SO many thorough
pred horses. Will go until they drop Others
there are in the Roosevelt official household
VINO do the best they can, but who do not
reahy possess championship qualifications
ana who are. therefore. unable to stand the
pace consistently Then there. are others
sun IN whom the mcrobe of laziness gets
a hold now and then. They are not called
on very OFTEN for a squirt by the President.
Inc men who come to the scratch every
time the presidential bell rings and take the
gan under pressure day in and day out are
| Elhu Root. William H Taft. George n
| Cortelyou and Ethan Allen Hitchcork .
Those who do the best they can are James
wilson, Victor H. Metcaif and Leslie NJ.
Shaw. William H. Moody and Charles
Bonaparte are not in that class.
Root and Taft stand in class bv them
selves. They are the ones who guide the
President over the rough places whenever
they can and they the ones Mr. Roose-
welt calls into consultation first whenever
ne gets IN tight place. Also when he
wants lot OF hard work done, which is
mostly AL the time, he details Root or
! Iaft to do II, even If 1t has nothing to 90
with the legitimate work of the depart-
ments of which they the official heads
lnat he has called on them early and often
during the past year may be easily judged
by the most casual observer who takes
a good look at the faded countenances OF
the Secretary of State and the Secretary
| of War these summer days.
Common opinion credits Elihu Root with
having the greatest intellect In administra-
ton circles. Some go further and say that
he is the brainiest man in America today.
But Taft Is a close second. AS far as
work is concerned. 1t is dead heat between
them Long experience as lawyers mas
taught them both how to be systematic
| Roots brain is by nature almost as cold
as that OF Vice President Fairbanks. Taft
is sometimes hot-headed, but his inclina-
ton toward impulsiveness has effect
the clearness and soundness of his mental
| ity. In fact, the rotund Secretary of war
is the embodiment Of hard, common sense.
Some of Mr.. Roots Work.
In addition to the reform of the admin
istrative features OF the State Department
which would keep ordinary man terri
bly, busy, Secretary Root has accomplished
many things since last autumn. He pre-
pared and got through Congress. with the
help of Senator Lodge and the late Rep
| resentative Berthe Adams the consular
reform bill There was lots of opposition
to this measure, as 1t dealt a death blow
TO many a politician. Then he has had
| question. Only last week he was close.ed
for several hours with the Santo Domlni-
can minister and DR.. HoIlander, the man
President Roosevelt sent down to take
charge of the customs OF that almost bank
rupt republic The Senate refused TO rati-
| fy the treaty the President sent to that
body, and Root is still working out
some scheme to get along without a treaty.
In addition to this he is preparing FOR
his trip to Rio Janeiro, where, at the pan
American congress to be held there in July.
he 1far ixy1- n
the South American republics understand
that the United States government Is not
treally bent upon gobbling up the whole OF
| the southern hemisphere. Root has a hard
| lob ahead of him at Rio Janeiro, and he
understands 1t as well as anybody. Con-
sequently he is working constantly on his
plans for the trip.
This work however, is all In line with his
lob and does not bother the Secretar. of
State to a great extent But, during the
fight on the rate bill he had to share the
| Presidents troubles almost daily. When the
Roosevelt ey-Tfllman-Chandler veracity
contest broke loose 1t was Root who kept
the President from saying things that
| would have but added fuel to the flames
| The President had a hot statement pre-
pared which had 1t been issued, would
| have enabled Bailey and Tillnlan to put
Mr. Roosevelt in a worse hole than they
finally did. Subsequently. when other state
| ments were issued, Root practically wrote
| one two of them
Taft's Two Big Policies.
| Taft has had two enormous policies on
his hands during the session of Congress
soon to end. The Philippine tariff bill and
the Panama canal bill were placed almost
| entirely In Tafts hands by the President,
The Philippine bill went through the House
| with whoop, but struck snag in the,
| Senate 1t got into the committee the
Philippines and there it stuck. For weeks
Taft went to the Senate nearly every day
/ When the committee hearings were on ne
| gave volumes of testimony. When he
| not on the stand he was on the floor of the
/ Senate doing what he could to help Sena-
| tor Lodge carry out the wishes of the adj
| ninistration by appealing personally to
| doubtful republican senators. The valiant
| efforts of the Secretary of War and the
| Back Bay senator went for nothing, how
ever, as the bill never came out of the
| committee.
As 1t was with the Philippine bill so It
| was with the canal bill. Taft prepared all
sorts OF documents and made many speeches
to the committee interoceanic canals.
He was rewarded In this work when the
| Senate by a close vote. authorized the con-
| struction of lock canal instead of sea-