The National tribune., 1909-08-12
THE SUMNER CAPITAL AT BEVERLY. MASS.
President Taft Leaves Washington for the SmEer-ow He
Divides His Work and Play Hours-Summer Homes of Other
About All GoneThe Cabinet Officers
Are Scaterng-The New Tariff Keeps Secretary Knox Busy
Postmaster-GeneraI Hitchcock the Last to Go.

| The Cabinet officials have nearly all
scattered to widely separated localities.
Secretary of State Knox is still here a
part of the week. He has Summer work
of importance to do in connection with
the tariff A score of trade treaties are
to be annulled as a result of the new
tariff law, and the Secretary of State
has much important work to do in the
proper conduct of those efforts. He
has a magnificent Summer home at
Valley Forge, Pa, which is only so or
| so miles from Washington. Occasionally
| he comes down in his fast automobile,
and sometimes he journeys by rail. but
he is keeping in very close touch with
| the business of his Department during
the Summer months.
Secretary of the Treasury MacVeagh.
whose home is in Chicago, has had a
\ beautiful Summer home for years at
Dublin, N. H. He has been there once
| or twice this year, and will go there
again for vacation during a part of
August and September. But he is one
of the busiest of Cabinet officers now,
with a new tariff law being put into
operation. This involves tremendous
amount of administrative labor. The
Assistant Secretary of. the Treasury,
Mr.. James b. Reynolds, who has i'm
| mediate charge of customs, will remain
| in Washington all Summer to keep an
/ eye Out over lHLS vi
| new questions about elassifcations and
rates will arise. There will be flood
of controversies and protests against
Treasury rulings. Often the Depart
ment will be asked by Collectors to in
terpret the law with reference to given
shipments. Many Of these questions
will have to go up to the Secretary, for
which reason Mr.. MacYeagh will be
much on the job all Summer, and will
do as much to earn his official salary
of $4,000 year as any other member
of the Cabinet.
The Secretaries of War and of the
Navy are both out of town, and will
not return for several weeks. Secre-
tary Dickinson has been called to his
home at Nashville, Tenn, by the seri-
Gus Illness Of his SOB, who is now i'm
proving. He will not be back in Wash
ington before the middle of September,
and will use the intervening time in
resting, with little inspection work.
He is going to Camp Ferry, Ohio, late
in August to attend rifle match, and
will also inspect some of the forts in
the Middle West. The inspection trips
of the Secretaries of War and of the
Navy occupy lot of their official time.
AS both of the Secretaries are new men
to their work, they have been perform
ing their inspection duties with much
care during the few months of the Ad-
ministration which have passed thus
far. Secretary Dickinson has inspected
the coast artillery forts all along the
North Atlantic Coast, where he spent
the best part of two weeks. but he yet
has to inspect the coast artillery to the
south, and there are many Army posts
in the middle section of the country
where he will be expected to go before
Congress cOnveneS again. These inSpec-
tions are not only necessary for the
benefit of the Army service. but also
to enable the Secretary to acquaint
himself with the business from those
forts which comes over his desk. Then
when Congress takes up the matter of
annual appropriations for the Army its
Appropriation Committees call upon
the Secretary of War for detailed in
formation, and he must have it for
them.
Secretary Meyer has quit his Navy
cares for awhile. and is up in Canada
fishing for salmon on the Restagouehe
River. He makes an annual pilgrimage
there, and gets exercise and enjoyment
out of killing" the big fish, as the term
is used by the natives thereabouts. In
the course of few days he will be at
his home at Hamilton, Mass, which is
almost within stones throw of Presi-
dent Taft's Summer home. Mr.. Meyer
will be in close touch with the Presi-
dent during the iatter's vacation at
Beverly
The Cabinet officer who probably has
the least to do in Summer is the Attor-
ney-Genera1. That is because the courts
always adjourn over the heated term
/, and the Judges go away to the seashore
and the mountains to write opinions
and take it easy. There are no cases
to argue before the Supreme Court and
no prosecutions or civil actions to look
after in the many District and Circuit
Courts scattered all over the country.
OF course, the Attorney-GeneraPs assist
ants can be furthering numerous legal
investigations during the Summer, but
generally this is only preliminary work,
because everywhere they are met with
vacation conditions that prevail in the
legal world. Therefore 1t is that At
torney-General Wickersham can go on
a long vacation without worrying much
about official duties. He has remained
in Washington up to date, but Is PLAN
ming to have lot of time to himself
between now and the beginning of the
October term of the Federal Courts.
The Secretary of the Interior, Mr.
Ballinger, will be one of the first Cabi-
net officers to return to Washington
and resume work. There is much of
1t ahead of him. He has now been away
for month in the West, also on a long
inspection trip to gain information
about the administration of the Rec
lamation Service, the Land Office, the
Indian Bureau and other big Bureaus
of his Department. Apparently there
are hard times ahead of Mr. Ballinger
for he is reorganizing the work of some
OF these Bureaus and is making a great
commotion by his Inauguration of new
methods. His big task will be with
him all thru the Winter months, and
will also involve important matters of
legislation. Some of his Bureau Chiefs
have been meeting him in the West
for purposes of conference and investi-
CATION. The Director of the Reclama-
ton Bureau, Mr.. Newell, has recently
gone to Washington State. and is look