The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1907-04-11
The new CABINET.
All the Secretaries Hard At Work Re.
erganiziog Their Departments.

All the Secretaries Hard at Work Re.
ergaaiziag Their Departments.
The new Cabinet. which went into
| action March 4. Is gradually settling
down to business. Its members are do
| ing a lot at administration the while
| the President is pounding away both at
matters of administration and at mat
| tiers political. Secretary Metcalf. of the
Navy Department. is just back from a
| pleasant cruise in the West Indies. and
| is now taking up Navy problems.
Incidentally it is worth mentioning
that the Secretary and his Congressional
guests aboard the Dolphin were amazed
at the Improvement the men behind the
guns show in shooting. 1t is proven by
| carefully compiled statistics that our
| Navy is able to shoot five or six times
| as we'll as 1t did during the Spanish War
when the battles of Manila Bay and of
| Santiago were fought. Constant prac-
| tise has given the gun pointers great
skill. Recently off Guantanamo Secre-
tary Metcalf and his guests saw the six
| inch guns on the flagship make IL
| bulPs-eyes in IL shots. This was done
| again and again, and demonstrated the
| wonderful accuracy of aim. The shoot
| ing was done while the ships were sail
ing from IL knots to Is knots By the
ing two men. one to sight the gun for
elevation and one TO aim it horizontally,
| there is a large increase in the number
| of successful shots.
| Acknowledgement Charles j. Bona
| parte, who was formerly Secretary Of
| the Navy. and whom Mr.. Metcalf sue
ceeded, has been delving into abstruse
law questions. Visitors at the Depart
ment of Justice murmur not a little be-
| cause Mr.. Bonaparte Is rarely in his
office, and conclusion has been formed
that he is not making much Of a law
| officer for the Government. This is err
| roneous. Mr.. Bonaparte spends a deal
| of his time in Baltimore and on his
| farm outside the city. He goes back
and forth from Washington frequently,
| as it is only an hours ride. AS a mat
| ter of fact no Cabinet officer has been
| absent quite as much in recent years as
Mr.. Bonaparte has been.
But Mr.. BOnaparte is doing something
| his predecessors as Attorney-General
| never have done to any extent He takes
his important law work over to Balti-
more and also to his farm. and there
| he studies cases without interruption.
| One of a Cabinet officers trials is the
| many Interruptions. Some of these in
| terruptions are Of frivolous character,
| but are often from people he cannot
| ignore. Mr.. Bonaparte has great men,
| tai power in penetrating intricate law
| matters, but he finds 1t more convenient
| to do his hard thinking on his Maryland
| farm.
| The President is believed to have put
some "posers" up to his Attorney-Gen-
| eral of late. 1t is the conviction around
Washington that, among other things.
| the President is after E. H. Hartman,
and that he would like to make a hor-
lrible example of Harriman1put him
behind the bars. The President per-
senally urged the Interstate Commerce
Commission to start upon an investiga-
ton OF the Hartman roads, and kept
at them until the investigation was
started. He showed great personal In
| terest in what the investigation was de-
veloping, and is watching for the day
when the testimony and the findings Of
| the Commission can be turned over to
| the Department of Justice for Mr.. Bona
parte to digest 1t and ascertain what 1t
will be possible to do in the courts.
Secretary OF War Taft is keeping in
the public eye in an administrative az
| well as in political way. He has COM
pIeted his visit to the Isthmus Of Pam
anna, and is now in Havana, where he
IL studying Cuban problems The Adj
ministratiOn Is having its troubles In
Cuba. All is not going well. The Cu-
bans are not contented with the present
regime. They want their Government
back again. and the President is show
ing no disposition to hurry about giving
it back to them. The President seems
disposed to allow the Cubans to hold
municipal elections soon, but the Presi-
Dental election is still long distance
off, unless the signs are misleading. The
Cubans are putting lot of questions up
| to Mr.. Taft for settlement, as the final
| decision in important cases is made by
the Secretary Or the President and not
by Governor-General Magoon. These
| oil he 4.
continuance of fighting with chickens to
the date for an election of q President
and the withdrawal of American troops
from the island
1t is the opinion here that the inter-
vention will continue for many months,
and that q Presidential election next
June, suggested when Secretary Taft re-
turned from Cuba last Autumn, is far
from probable. There may be a pro-
| tectOrate one of these days. The talk Of
| a protectorate Is now strong in infiu-
entail quarters.
Secretary Of the Interior Garfield,
newest and youngest Of all the Cabinet,
except that Postmaster-General Meyer
came in at the same time. but is an
older man. has been continuing his re-
organization of that big Department.
He has been abolishiEg divisions. setting
up new subordinates and starting on
with vim that ,scares the old timers
HUH Tic west, WHO tnOu&Ht s-tnef0
would be a new regime and a more sat
isfactory regime as soon as they could
get rid of Ethan. Allen Hitchcock. Mr..
Garfield has less time for the tennis
cabinet than of yore. but the President
likes his kind Of play, and when Mr..
Garfield can find the time the President
| VIII want. him In the game. Tho In
clement weather has been severe on the
tennis cabinet. For the Junelike days
| in Washington during March and early
April have been Succeeded at frequent
! intervals with January temperature,
and the President has found better rec
reation in tramping over the hills or in
riding horseback.
Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou,
having had a big whirl of business al
most as soon as he took the helm in
the Treasury Department because of
the severe panic in Wall Street, enjoys
the calm that has followed. His friends
have been making the most of that cpl
sode to indicate what good financier
Mr.. Cortelyou is and what confidence
the country has in him. They have been
sending long pieces out to the news
papers about it, and many of these arti-
Giles get into print The newspapers like
Mr.. Cortelyou. He has generally been
their friend. althO in recent years dis
posed to be reticent beyond his former
habit The kindly consideration of the
/ So W. tzT, T.