Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-11
The South and the Cabinet.

| On the subject of the recent cabinet
changes the Nashville Banner says:
THE south has been practically without
| representation in the cabinet since Cleve-
| lands last administration. The republican
presidents have seldom found men OF their
party in the south whom they cared to
| trust with cabinet portfolios. at least very
| few southern republicans have been so hon.
| ored. President Hayes. wishing to reconcile
| the south, made a Tennessee ex-confeder-
| ate, who had up to that time been demo-
| crat. postmaster general; but republican
| administrations as a rule have ignored the
| south both in cabinet appointments and
| also In important diplomatic missions.
| in the south Is considered 1t is not surpris-
| ing that the President did not look to the
| ranks of his own party in this section for
| cabinet material But one Of the new men
| he has taken into the cabinet has not been
always a republican. He was one of the
boilers on the financial issue of 1896, and
| the President might have found an able
southerner of the Same description willing
to take place in his official family"
The Presidents reasons for not going
south for cabinet officer are his own. but
| the Banners contention that the southern
states contain no republican material suita-
BILE for so high a place is absurd. Such ma
terfal may be found in abundance there,
and Tennessee contains her share Of it. The
man just defeated for governor, H. Clay
Evans. would honor Tennessee at the cab
met table OF any republican President. That
these men are not widely known Is to be
ascribed to the fact that political condi-
tons in that section have forced them to
devote their time to private rather than to
public affairs. But their prosperity and the
personal regard in which they are held by
their neighbors testify to their ability and
deserts.
The Banners reference to the experiment
President Hayes made in going south for
his Postmaster General Is instructive, but
not In support of the Banners suggestion.
Judge Key was an excellent man, and Mr..
Hayes object In selecting him and his OBJ
ject in accepting the appointment were both
good. Sectionaism was then bitter, and
the hope was to allay 1t. But the hope was
not realized Not only was there no friend
ly response from the south. but Judge Key
lost his influence at home entirely as the
result of accepting Office at the hands Of q
republican President.
Mr.. Strauss, who enters the Roosevelt
cabinet after years Of aff1liation with the
democracy. will pay no such penalty, and
for the reason that eastern politics Is not
as personal as southern politics. Men in
the east divide largely on Issues There is
constant and the freest discussion, and a
man may change his party when some
great issue is up without mourning censure
and abuse, In the south. on the other
hand, the politicians of the dominant party,
finding that the race issue may be made to
serve them at all times and In all cases,
keep it constantly in 'front.' and trade on it
from constable to President.
Both the south and the country lose by
this. The former is kept In the back
ground. while the latter loses the services
OF many highly capable and worthy men,
who, with opportunity, would distinguish
themselves in national office. 1t is a very
short-sighted policy which condemns the
south to subsection to few eastern states
solely in the hope of spoils