Weekly journal-miner., 1908-12-02

ment's head. Instances have been known in recent years where an as sistant secretary went through m en- tire administration vita no more i'm. portsnt duty to discharge than to sign his pay check. In some cases 1t has been because the Cabinet member did n't trust his assistant; in other cases it has becn because he was jealous of him. There is at present a member of MT. Rooscvclt's Cabinet who for years had an assistant to whom no important duty ever was assigned. The assistant died and a new one, of the Cabinet members own choosing, was appointed, and now the assistant practically runs the department.
 Many Assisbant Secretaries.
 There are more of these assistant secretary places than most people imagine, for most of the men filling them do not come often into the lime. light There arc three assistant sec retaries of state. three assistant see. rctaries of the treasury one assistant secretary of war, one assistant Co the attorney general and six assistant at. | torncys general with solicitor gen cral outranking all the assistants, four assistant pcstmas.ers general, one ss- sistant secretary of the navy, two as. sistant secretaries of the interior, one assistant secretary of agriculture and one assistant secretary of commerce and labor.
 Besides, there are any number of lucrative berths at the heads of bur
 caus the salaries of some of which arc
 higher than those of the assistant sec
 retarics. In making a list of these
 the State Department would he omit
 ted. for the reason that the desirable places under 1t are in the diplomatic and consular service and entitled (,
 be treated separately. The trcasur,
 has number of fat jobs in the fllin,
 of which party service is almost in
 variably taken into account. AmonI
 them are the comptroller of the treas
 ury, the register of the treasury Gun der Republican administrations al
 ways filled by negro). the treasure
 of the United States, the eomptrolle
 of the currency. the commissioner O internal revenue, the director of tn mint and six department auditors. Tn , war and navy departments do no , furnish much in the way of spells, fo the bureaus in these departments ar mostly headed by regular officers. Tn | Justice department, in addition
 those named above, furnishes assistan
 attorneys general for the several d'
 parbments, a solicitor of the treasur, a solicitor of internal revenue, an any number of assistant attorneys an
 specia, attorneys. The interior d
 pertinent offers the President to p, political workers into four very d
 sirable places, commissioner of q land office, commissioner of patent commissioner of pensions, and ca ' missioner of Indian affairs. The COT V missionership of education, directo ' ship of the geological survey and
 reetorship of the reclamation servi V arc not considered political offices. . the Agricultural Is a scientific depa'
 ment its bureau chiefs are not ordi - aritly disturbed for political reasoI
 though a President might appoint
 new chief of the weather bureau al a new forester without exciting q , verse comment. In tho Department
 Commerce and Labor are sever n ns places which always have been regaI I ed as fair political spoil among th' " the commissioner of labor, the dire v q, of the census, the fish commission 'u the comm missioner- general of immig ' tion and the bureau of statistics. " If these places arc not suficien . numerous to go around, Mir Taft w " find good places in a number of in - pendent and miscellaneous burea - commissions, ctc., at his dispo' '. Among them may be mentioned pla
 on the interstate commerce, civil S vice and Isthmian canal comissi' " and the hign.sslaried place of pull
 printer.
 ., Fat For the Needy.
 as In the past faithful party work ast have been made happy by good pla he in the consular service, though si nd the advent of Roosevelt the tender ,hs has been to place consular appol ~s- msnts on . merit basis. Still, ther' my nothing to prevent MT. Taft tak