The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-09-13

verdict in Judge Lands court. He Is
known as a jurist who likes to play
to the grandstand and it is claimed,
how truthfully is not known, that he
did not give the trust what President
Roosevelt calls "a square dear' at the
trial in excluding evidence which would
have proven that the company did not
know it was receiving favored rail-
road rate in the instances on which
the indictments were framed.
The independent critics of the trial
and of the fine are not speaking their
minds out of any sympathy for the
octopus, but out of fear that such legal
| actions, whether or not they be upheld,
will cause something of a popular re-
vulsion and thus work an ultimate in
| jury to reform.
| 1t is noticeable that prominent men,
known alike for their honesty and in
dependence, are taking the same view
in both parties. Ex-Representative
John R. Thayer. a Democrat, Of Wor-
cester, Mass, who maintained himself
| several years politically in an over
whelming Republican district, recently
| criticized the fine in a public sDeech.
CABINET GOSSIP.
There has been more hot weather talk
about the Presidents cabinet and this
time It Is about the resignation Of At
| torney General Bonaparte. Probably
there is nothing in 1t, except voicing
of the Attorney Generals unpopularity.
AS far as anyone knows authoritative
| ly, the President is standing squarely
behind his attorney general and has no
| serious intention of discarding him for
some other law officer.
AS a matter OF fact, the President
is not likely to ask the resignation Of
any of his cabinet officers at this
stage of his administration. He said
at Provincetown the other day that he
had but eighteen months more to serve
as President. During the six years and
more that Mr.. Roosevelt has been in
the White House he has not dismissed
a single cabinet officer. Mr.. Mckinley,
in the more than four years he was
President, dismissed two cabinet off,
cers-the late Senator Alger of Michi-
gan, who was Secretary of War, and
the late John Sherman, who was Sec
retary of State. Cabinet quarrels are
much less frequent nowadays than for
merly. The administrations proceed
with finer discipline, cabinet officials
have much larger mass Of details
to handle, but Presidents keep a closer
eye on matters of general policy, prob
ably. At least, that has been the case
with President Roosevelt. who has ap-
proximated the custom of President
Cleveland in that particular. 1t used
to be said of Mr.. Cleveland that he
reduced his cabinet officers to the grade
of clerks and simply made them the
instruments for executing his orders.
President Roosevelt has by no means
been entirely satisfied with all the men
who have served in his cabinet and
has frequently reorganized that body.
But he has gotten along amiably with
every man he has invited into the
cabinet. No member has gone out who
wished to remain, except Postmaster
General Robert ]. Wynne. But he was
appointed at the very close of Mr..
Roosevelt's first administration. He was
promoted from the office of First As
sistant Postmaster General, upon the
death of Henry C. Payne of Wiscon-
sin, and it was well understood that
Mr. Wynne was appointed only for an
interim.
There have been two deaths of cab
met officers since Mr.. Roosevelt be-
came President-that of Mr.. Payne and
that of the late Secretary of State John
Hay. The mortality percentage in the
cabinet has therefore been high.
Very likely there will be more cab
met changes before the close of the
administration, for it is very unusual
that a year passes with every man re-
tanning his seat about the Presidents
council table. But the designations
from this time till March, 1909, are
likely to. be for business reasons. Even
with the salary of $4,000 year, which
a cabinet officer now receives, many
members are anxious to return to their
business interests. The designations
for that cause have been increasing
in the last twenty years.
The President now has several
wealthy men as well as several poor
men in his cabinet. Secretary of State
Root, who has recently gone to the
training farm of Billy Muldoon, a
former wrestling champion, near White
Plains. n. Y. to build muscle and over
come the fatigue of official labors, is
now counted as worth at least several
hundred thousand dollars. When he
resigned as Secretary of War in Pres
ident Roosevelt's cabinet and returned
to the practise of law in New York,
he was comparatively poor. But enor-
nous retainers came to him, once he
hung out his shingle again, and he now
has sufficient money to maintain one
of the most elaborate cabinet estab-
lishments in Washington. There is lit
tie danger of wolves bowling at Mr..
Roots front door,
Probably Secretary of the Treasury
Cortelyou, the second highest ranking
member of the cabinet, is poorer in
this worlds goods than any of his col
leagues, unless it be Secretary of Agri-
culture Wilson. Mr.. Cortelyou has had
to count the dollars in his salary, but
he has lived modestly, is still in mid
die life, and, as an ex-Secretary of
the Treasury, will be in a good way to
make fortune for himself and fam
lily within the next ten or fifteen years.
He can command gilt-edged salary