The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-07-24

honor Of presiding passes to an officer
of the respective services when both
the civilian officials are out Of town
Secretary Taft is away much, prop
ably half of the time, and Assistant
Secretary of War oliver does not feel
like sticking TO his desk through all
of the hot summer. Therefore AdJu-
tant General Ainsworth occasionally
becomes the head of the military es-
tablishment in Washington and signs
himself as "acting secretary of war.
The chief of staff Gen. j. Franklin
Bell, would be the head if Gen. Aims
worth were away on such occasions
but Gen. Ainsworth is one of those OF
ficials who can generally be seen IN
his office. He does not Il4I~. excuses
for travelling around the country on
government business. And being con-
stantly at his work, except for week
or two of fishing up in his native state
of Vermont, Gen. Ainsworth does not
give his brother officer, Gen. Bell, any
chance to monopolize the office of act
ing secretary.
Across the big department building,
where the navy has its offices, either
Secretary Metcalf or Assistant Score
tary Newberry are in town most OF
the time but this summer Secretary
MetcaIf has gone away to the PACING
Coast for a couple of months and Mr..
Newberry does not relish staying in
Washington till along in September.
He will get away for brief intervals
and the Presidents personal friend,
Rear Admiral Brownson, chief of the
Bureau of Navigation, will take the
navy helm, probably on occasions for
several days at a time.
In the newest of all the departments,
that of Commerce and Labor, Mr..
Lawrence O. Murray, will have a long
pull as acting secretary for Mr.. Stratus
is off for a long and pleasant jaunt 10
Hawaii. Mr.. Murray is sufficiently IN
dustrious to be in his office for six
days in week during July, August
and September. He is a member of the
tennis cabinet and can hold down the
job of acting member of the real cabi-
net But if he wants to get away
for a little while, the titular honor of
acting secretary passes to Herbert
Knox Smith, Commissioner of Corpora
tions, and also a member of the tennis
cabinet Over in the farmers depart
ment, the role of acting secretary some
times descends to the chief of bureau
sometimes to the chief of the Bureau
of Plant Industry, and sometimes to
the chief of the Bureau of Animal In
dustry. but as a rule either Secretary
Wilson or Assistant Secretary w. N.
Hays is on deck there to sign the Of
fetal mail and to do the honors of head
of the department for all who call on
business.
There was a rumpus in the Interior
Department not long ago, because an
assistant secretary was overlooked in
the designation of an acting secretary.
Mr.. Garfield started off for his fine
summer outing of several months at
government expense and First Assis-
tant Secretary Thomas Ryan was
away. The Assistant Secretary, Jesse
E. Wilson, a young man from Indiana,
was apparently entitled to be acting
secretary but because of his youth,
possibly, or for some other reason, the
President did not want Wilson left in
charge of the department and there
fore designated Mr.. George Woodruff
Assistant Attorney General for the In
terror Department, as acting secretary
of the Interior Mr.. woodruff was a
TX
| ago at Yale and therefore has caught
the Presidents fancy. 1t was said that
the designation of Mr.. Woodruff was
| illegal as the law specified that the
assistant secretary should act in the
absence of the first assistant secretary
and also that Mr.. Woodruff was an Of
| ficer of the Department of Justice AND
not of the Interior Department. How
~l,.1rA
as acting secretary went" because
the President had said so and that
was the end of it, whether it was lega
| or not. No one in the Department OF
the Interior felt like questioning the
| Presidents say-so and it was not like
| ly that any documents would be signed
by Mr.. Woodruff which would become
matter of litigation. Although he i:
an officer of the Department of JUS
tice, the Secretary of the Interior !:
given authority to review his decisions
1t was therefore pointed out that Mr.
Woodruff, in being elevated to acting
secretary, could, if he desired, approve
as secretary of the Interior, his deci
sions as Assistant Attorney Genera
for the Interior Department.
In the Department of Justice the of
| nee of acting Attorney General hit:
around during the summer among man!
rooms. For there are a half dozen o.
more Assistant Attorneys General, an!
one of whom is qualified to take charg'
of the department. Solicitor Genera
Hoyt or Assistant to the Attorne.
General Milton D. Purdy general!
acts in the absence of the Attorne.
General. The building where the De
partment of Justice is housed for tn
present was formerly an apartment
hotel 1t has been much cut up ant
passages have been built to adjaceh
houses, which have been rented to &C
Icommodate the growing government
business. It is therefore a veritabl
labyrinth and during the summer on
in reality needs a guide to be able t
find the office of acting Attorney Gen
eral. All depends upon the particula
assistant who has been designated a
the acting man in the absence of chic
Bonaparte.
Theodore Roosevelt was formerly a
acting Secretary of the Navy and i
that capacity made a record for hin
cs,fF II 1l,