The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-18
The HumorIst Of the Cabinet.


A fellow feeling makes the sovereign
hurnsrists Of the country wondrous kind
10 Attorney-Genera CHARLES j. BONA
PARTR. His mail is bursting with their
merry jests. One sends him a check for
$40, 2tO, 1000 to pay the Great Fine. An
when you cover your secret short inter-
ests.' A wag that will be almost the
death Of him requests the Attorney
General in a formal letter not to forget
him when receivers for the Tobacco
Trust are appointed. A fellow with a
lively imagination sends him an empty
envelope with n special delivery stamp
upon il. Troops Of funny men lombard
him with newspaper clippings contain
ing bulletins Of his war on the trusts,
together with sharpshooting comments
from the firing line.
These Joe Millers know their man.
They recognize in MIR. BoNAPARTE the
merryandrew and madcap OF a strenu-
Gus and austere Administration. He
touches no subject, however grave or
tragic. but he lights it up with q fash Of
wit. In the most painful emergencies
he refuses to be serious. Life il a Jest
and all things show it" il the motto of
his philosophy. The idea of the empty
envelope which was supposed 10 raise
the Attorney-General's expect atoms that
the Great Fine was to be paid at last
was borrowed from Mr.. BoNAPARTE him
self. In the Maryland campaign Of 1905
a reporter waited upon him to get his
views about the paramount issue. Mr..
B~ONAPARTE cheerfully said that he would
write them down and soon bowed the
reporter out with a bulky envelope,
which contained on the top sheet the
following excruciating jest:
Nj. BoSAPARrK when requested to make q
statement concerning the matter said"
There was mo- another word in the
half quire Of paper with which the en-
velOpe was stuffed.
Who can ever forget Mr.. BoNAPARTR's
illustration of the drove of American in
dustries feeding at the hog trough and
his happy reference to the Democratic
policy of reform:
The Democrats propose 30 cut OF the supply
Of swli. or. In other words. 20 destroy our pros
perity by unsettlIng all our business relations"
One Of the most facetious things a
public man ever said with a straight
face was his proposal TO establish official
bosses:
Il have sometimes thought that q solution OF
the problem OF getting good candidates for public
once in this country might perhaps be found In
the establishment of 9 legsllzed boss In each 20.
liticsl party in each Of our States and cities"
Consider the airiness Of his humor in
the following touch ne was Secretary
OF the Navy at the time:
Unless I am greatly mistaken. the navy con-
sists Of two elements. ships and men,
Mr.. B~oNAPABTE knows his New York,
too. How deity he hits It of In this
imaginative sllusion:
Il have just passed the last Two days 10 pre-.
pairing my annual report and for that purpose
went into rural solitude in New York. where tue
play Of such imitation OF genius 40 I could muster
would not be disturbed by the vulgar crowd"
The burdens OF ~promiscuous Office
cannot wither him nor writs Of court
stale his infinite variety. I'VE both
sympathized very much with the COM
pany, said he, apropos Of the Great Fine
after a visit to Oyster Bay; and, asked
when he was going to prosecute the rail-
road magnates, he roars ont with a jolly
laugh:
There 10 a big covey Of game. add II would be
a very poor msrEsmsn Indeed who could not land
enough to make n nne mess"
In a time Of anxiety and strain it is a
compensation to have one original and
indefatigable humorist in the Cabinet.
The worst can never seem like the worst
while no is cracking jokes. One can
imagine the inimitable ~BoNAPARTE say
ing the funniest things and raising the
loud laugh that speaks the vacant mind
when the country's business was being
hued and cried to general chaos.