The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-06-04


white NJ. ncnaratte 70, aione pfss-
~ we'll NJ Secretary of the Navy. there
~ no disguising the fact that he has
been very unpopular IN Washington,
ESPECIALLY since he became Attorney
General N IL aisp fact that the
leading lawyers among Republicans In
public life have little confidence In Mr..
Bonaparte's ability to handle the great
trust prosecutions now pending before
the department. II IL conceded that
Baitimoreans regard Mr.. Bonaparte as
an able lawyer but he has by no means
attained great ominence AT the Mary
land bar for handling cases Of any
thing like the magnitude OF the trust
cases
II is whispered about Washington,
perhaps unJustly to the Attorney Gen.
eral, that Senator Knox, OF Pennsyl-
vania. has been the administrations
most trusted legal adviser since Mr..
Bonaparte became the head OF the de-
partment OF Justice. Certain II is that
some of the Assistant Attorneys gem
eral have been frequently consulting
with Mr. Knox on legal questions they
had to consider. This might have been
because OF Mr.. Bonaparte's frequent
absence from the city or because of
greater confidence in Senator Knox's
legal judgment.
The President would not tolerate a
cabinet officer long, on whom he could
not place full reliance. Above every.
thing he could not afford to retain
long an Attorney General who was not
looking carefully after the govern
ments trust cases. Any criticism that
might be made of the Attorney Gener-
al along that line would be made of
the President and the people would
soon be saying that the President had
grown lukewarm in his trust busting
program. To a President who has
climbed to such a pinnacle as has Mr..
Roosevelt such popular comments
would be very damaging indeed.
THE REST DOING WELL.
Apart from this incident the Presi-
dent is getting along exceedingly we'll
with his cabinet. All are congenial
men to him and are working in the
most perfect harmony with his plans.
OF none is this more true than of the
new Postmaster General, Mr. George
Won L. Meyer. He Is business man
by long training before he embarked
upon a diplomatic career and is taking
hold as business man in the great
work of administering that depart
ment. The President and others of Mr..
Meyers friends hope that he may
make a marked success, for there is
abundant opportunity for the exercise
of good business judgment. The last
str,n OF GpnnrDl who rpRlrd-
ed as really a great Postmaster Gen.
I,eral, was John Wanamaker. a business
man. There have been several capable
postmasters general since Mr. Wana-
makers time, but they have made no
particular impression upon the admin
istration of its affairs. The only two
business men among Mr.. Wanamaker's
successors. prior to the assumption of
the office by Mr. Meyer, were James
A. Gary, of Baltimore, who came in
with the Mckinley administration, and
Henry c. Payne, of Wisconsin, who
was one of President Roosevelt's first
cabinet nominations. But Mr. Gary
served only a little more than one
year and made no remarkable record.
Mr.. Payne was too Ill during most of
his incumbency to do his very best
and then Mr.. Roosevelt expected him
| to give considerable attention to polit-
| ical matters.
Wilson S. Bissell, of New York, and
William l.. Wilson, of West Virginia,
who held the office of Postmaster Gen.
eral in succession during the second
term of President Cleveland were law
yers. Charles Emory Smith, of Penn
sylvania, who served under Mckinley
and Roosevelt, is newspaper editor;
Robert ]. Wynne, who succeeded Hem
ry C. Payne was a Washington cor
respondent, and Mr.. Cortelyou had
spent practically all his nature life in
various official capacities here.
| So Mr.. Meyer has an unusual oppor-
tunity as a business man to take a
business mans view of the depart
ment, which is the greatest organiza-
| ton under the government. He has
been giving attention to lot of mat
tiers. calculated to improve the postal
| facilities to the business public, Is
trying to improve the registered mail
system, the money order system, and
also to eliminate delays In the delivery
or foreign malls. Because of a lack
of mall clerks aboard ocean steamers
CRYING mails, the letters have to be
sorted at Boston and New York post
offices in some instances. Mr.. Meyer
hopes to find way to have mail clerks
aboard all these steamers.
The new postmaster general proposes
to work away at these and other prob
| lens confronting him and to spend
| most of the summer in Washington,
which is something that most cabinet
officers avoid nowadays. He will try
to get away for while in July, when
he hopes to go to Canada and engage
in his favorite sport of salmon fishing
He is an expert at this sport. having
found time to kill a few salmon an
nually for twenty-five years.
ERNEST G. WALKER.