The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-12-07
President Plays Tennis
With Il Fine Crowd.
THEY ALL LIKE The GAME.
Members of the Cabinet and Those
Who Are Going to Be Are Handy
at the BUSINESS.

Massachusetts, who was secretary of
state and attorney general was the first
cabinet officer to play lawn tennis dur
ing his term of office. Among those with
whom he played was Theodore Roose-
welt, now president of the United States
| Mr.. Cleveland, in whose cabinet Mr.
Olney served, did not play lawn tennis
for several reasons. One of them was
that he did not know how There was
no White House tennis court in those
days and no tennis cabinet.
| There have been so-called kitchen
cabinets and drawing room cabinets, but
it remained for Mr.. Roosevelt to com
bine pleasure and healthful exercise with
the formation of secondary group of
advisers, who, in the opinion of the
country, at least, have considerable in
fuence with their chief. The organ
ization of the tennis cabinet was grad
ual
Membership in it was based on con-
geniality and ability to handle rae
| quet. Most of it's members are young
men who share the presidents govern
mental reform ideas but in addition are
bound to him by ties of education, COM
mon tastes and social standing.
| Each of them holds some place under
the federal government and the recent
announcement of changes in the real
cabinet and the changes consequent up
on these who served to show how high
ly the president regards those who join
with him in the joys of knocking ball
over net.
The tennis cabinet got it's name from
the tennis board which was the name
facetiously applied to what is known as
the Keep commission. When President
Roosevelt decided that the methods of
conducting business in the executive de-
partments were obsolete and required re-
form he appointed a committee of five
officials to look into the matter.
These five were Charles H. Keep, as
sistant secretary of the treasury; Frank
H. Hitchcock, first assistant postmaster
general; Lawrence o. Murray, assistant
secretary of commerce and labor; James
K. Garfield, commissioner of corpora
lions and Clifford Pinchot, chief forester
of the government. All of them were
tennis players. Garfield and Murray
were frequently on the White House
court and Pinchot was a constant COM
panion of the president. Thus the Keep
| commission became the tennis board,
and out of this came the tennis cabinet
| Of course, the tennis cabinet had to
have a tennis court, and it was with
the completion of the court at the White
House that the cabinet had it's begin
ming. 1t is the finest court in Washing
ton, the finest, probably, in the country.
| Many workmen were months in max
ing it, and it is as firm as rock, but
full of spring and life. 1t was laid off
directly behind the executive building,
which shelters it on the north.
A high fence of wire netting covered
with green cloth soreness it from the
gaze of the curious, who pass along the
unnamed street between the White
House grounds and the state war and
navy building. There is backstop
fence on the side nearest the White
House, and a low hedge on the remain
ing or south side.
Here the president and some of his
friends may be seen nearly every fine
afternoon when he is in town. There is
nothing stylish about Mr.. Roosevelt's
tennis playing costume. Usually he
wears dark trousers, an indigo blue
sweater, with turtle neck and tan tennis
shoes of the kind that bad boys call
Sneakers. In warm weather he doffs the
sweater for white cheviot shirt, with
collar attached.
When darkness interrupts the game Mr..
Roosevelt and his friends GO to the presi.
dents private office, in the executive build
ing, and remain there until about 1870
o'clock, when the president walks over
to the White House to dress for dinner
The president manages to do some work
while his tennis playing friends are
with him.
What goes on in the office at these
times would make interesting reading
The president and the members of his
tennis babinet discuss men and events
with the utmost freedom, and it is
here that many ideas of interest are
suggested and adopted
Garfield, Murray and the other White
House tennis players were not appoint
ed to public offices, because they knew
the game, Garfield, who is soon to en-
ter the real cabinet as secretary of the
interior, would probably have reached
that high place if he had never handled
a racquet. The president was person
ally fond of him before they ever faced
the net and has great regard for his
ability.
Three White House tennis players
are in the presidents good graces, be-