Evening star., 1909-06-27

@HE oldest employe Of the De-
partment Of Agriculture is
Richard H. Cooke, a watch
man. He has been in the de-
partment ever since 1t was a
bureau, with six clerks, under the Sec
retary of the Interior, and has seen it
grow in the forty-five years of his serv-
Ice from a bureau with a commissioner
and desk room In the old Patent Office
building to a department with 1900 en-
ployes, including the forest service, a
Secretary in the cabinet and the begin
ming of one of the finest buildings that
ever housed federal department. The
building is not finished yet. but that is
a matter that Secretary Wilson, Uncle
Joe Cannon and Chairman Tawney will
have to settle between them. 1t does
not bother Richard II. Cooke.
Mr. Cooke is not such an old man,
either, for all his long term Of service.
He rides bicycle and could probably
give a tussle, if it was needed, to man
of only half his years. He Is member
of the G. A. r. a stanch Rechabite and
has had the distinction Of arresting two
Presidens-at least. he came near ar
resting President Taft on the recent oc-
casion when Mr.. Taft and Capt. Archie
In the grounds of the department. But
1t is an incident that he refuses to dis
cuss, because the topic has been inter-
dicted by the Secretary. He is great
adnirer Of Secretary Wilson, says he is
the greatest Secretary the department has
ever had and hopes he may serve out the
whole Of the Taft term.
Capt. Cooke. for he reached commission
rank in the civil war, was born In Mary
land lust outside the District and was
rQa in n iS
F. P. Blair. we'll remembered by most old
Washingtonians. He was born on st.
Patrick's day, 1912. and, coming into the
world on the Irish saints anniversary
he couldn't help being a good tighter.
He was little more than a boy when the
war broke out but answered the first call
of the President for volunteers and serV-
ed with the ninety-day men at the be-
ginning of the struggle. He was In the
1st Maryland Cavalry, participated In
twenty-one battles and skirmishes. When
the first enlistment was out he went In
again and served for the full three
years. and at the end Of that time left
the service. wounded but not disabled
He came to Washington at that time
and entered the service of the govern
ment in the then bureau of agriculture.
He has letters now from Andrew jack
son and President Lincoln commencing
him for the place 1t was little bureau
at the time and little was thought of 1t.
Capt. Cookies appointment was under the
first commissioner of agriculture, Isaac
Newton. who was appointed July 1, 1852.
Cooke went into the service in 1864 serv-
ing continuously under j. w. Stokes.
Horace Capron, Frederick Watts, Will
liam G. LIE Due, George Loring and Nor
man Colman. On the second appointment
Of Colman to Office in 1889 the bureau
was made a department Then came
Uncle Jerry Rust. J. Sterling Morton.
and finally the present Secretary, James
Wilson. The department had been growing
ever since 1t was created a department.
but under Wilson. who proved a splendid
executive, the department went forward
by strides. Its employees increased by the
hundred and, when the forest service was
created by the thousand.
Capt Cooke watched the growth and
was raised from his position as a watch
man in an obscure bureau to be men,
Der Of the metropolitan police foHe and
the watchman at the front door of one
of the biggest and most important depart
ments of the government
In his position as guardian Of the door
he has been thrown in contact with prac-
tically all the prominent public men Of
the country for the past two decades
1t was not long after the coming of
President Roosevelt to the White House
that Capt. Cooke had to hold him up for