West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1909-01-14
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
congress Preparing Hot Old Time
for President,
PERSONNEL OF TAPTS CABINET
Kumor Has About All the Places
Fiiicd-No Use for Incompetents
In Army and Navy.
FROM Our REGULAR Correspondent.

From Our Regular Correspondent
| WASHINGTON, Jan. l2.-Thc last days
OF President Rooscvclts administration
arc fatcd To bc strenuous and stormy.
No doubt his experience In the wilds OF
Africa with lions hippopotami, and rhi-
hosccroscs will bc peaceful in comparison
with the entertainment that congress Is
disposed to give him between now and
the lth of March. OF course he has
brought il all on himself. He should not
nave told the gentle, virtuous congress-
that they handicapped and hobbled the
detective bureau because they did not
want 1t To play follow the leader with
them. II is not good form TO put in n
presidential message and scatter through
the press to three or four hundred con-
HtIluchclcs or congressional districts
thlhgS that arc not much known outside
"i Washington or that have been so long
known here that they are looked upon M
commonplace and unavailable as news.
some members of congress represent
| ing both parties have lashed themselves
INTO fury of Indignation and are going
to wipe from the record the presidents
PLAIN talk, but this, of course, will only
emphasize and give greater publicity To
lIls structures. His message 10 congress,
and especially this part of IL, has been
published in every paper in the United
states and throughout the world I'm all
languages and the rcscntful fury of those
who are hit will simply call further at
tcntlon to the deserved rebuke.
Not since the day that the Republican
majority in the house and senate turned
on Andrew Johnson has there been such
intense feeling against the executive
Office, but here the comparison ends.
johnson was unpopular, Roosevelt IL
stronger IN almost every congressional
constituency or district than IL the repre-
sentative IN congress. Ii il predicted
here that Mr.. Tawncy will at the next
congressional election he defeated through
the presidents criticism of his misreprc-
scntatIon with reference 10 the detective
| bureau
4
IL Is not usual for the cabinet of n
president TO bc 40 widely discussed and
apparently made up two months before
the day OF his Inauguration. As usual
thing only after the president is inaugu-
rated ~ the cabinet named, and then
there are some surprises, This after all
may be the case with Mr.. Tafts cabinet,
but apparently authenticated announce
mcnts are already made.
There is no doubt but that Senator
Knox, Of Pennsylvania, will be secretary
ol state IN the new cabinet; ex.Gov. Her
rick, OF Ohio, il is believed will be secre-
tary OF the treasury; the present secretary
oil war, Wright, is expected 10 hold the
same place in Mr.. Tafts cabinet; Gen.
Meyer the present postmaster general, Il
Is thought by many will bo secretary of
thc navy. Others believe that Mr..
Thompson, Of New York, will be given
the naval portfolio. Henry NJ. Hoyt, OF
Pennsylvania, is slated for the depart.
mcnt Of Justice or the attorney general;
Frank II. Hitchcock for postmaster gem
crnl, and James r. Garfield for secretary
OF the interior James Wilson, the pres
cnt secretary, is expected to retain his
position as the head Of the agricultural
department
Mr. Loeb, the private secretary OF
! President Roosevelt, who has been the
-capcgoat Of 80 many Of his impetuous
! chiefs improprictics," Is 40 pcrsistently
| mentioned for this or that cabinet posi-
ton that he would seem ~ have a cinch
on ~omcthing IL is now said he will be
! secretary Ot commerce and labor in the
place OF Mr. straus, the capable and
modest jew
There would seem 10 be every reason
| Why Prcsidcnt-elect Taft would wish 10
retain the present secretary OF the navy,
| Mr.. NcwbcrrY, at the head of the navy
| department. lie is thoroughly i'm sym
patty with the Roosevelt policy for the
| regeneration of the naval establishment,
| n regeneration analogous tD that which
has been 80 successfully and proftably
inauguratod in the army. Mr.. Newberry
D. comparatively young man. He has
had experience at sea. His long apprcn-
ticcship az assistant secretary OF the navy,
the position once held by President
Roosevelt, has peculiarly qualified and
fitted him for tho further work i'm refor-
nation which this department so Urgent
ly needs Why should ho be displaced
and an unknown and untricd man sub
stitutcd
without war on sea and land tho
Improvements that have been made i'm
thc army and navy during tho seven
years of Roosevelt may never bo fully
known. Both arms of the service arc
| without doubt more ft and efficient than
| at any time within their history, and the
| idea Of the president to promote efficient
| and capable officers and tO eliminate from
/ tho service incompetent, incorporate,
! mentally stupid. and physically unfit,
/ tho obese, pOt-bclicd, knock -kneed men
| IS certainly in the interest Of the service,
but more emphatically in the interest OF
| the country.
OF course this process is not agreeable
/ to some Of the officers, their wives and
/ families, but they should not, where the
| country is involved, be considered. Pull
| ing teeth and other surgery is not an
agreeable operation 20 the subject on
/ even the spectator, but IL is necessary
! and indispensable 10 health and life
/ Only a small minority Of men succeed in
| law, In medicine, or i'm any profession.
| The law Of the survival OF the fttest hui
| namely works 90 eliminate the incOmpe-
tent, but in the army and navy in past
regimes the officers have been kept In
the service and promoted according to
seniority, thus eliminating those incens
tivcs TO effort and those rewards 20 talent