St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1909-11-06

papers any more, and ! thought per-
maps he had dropped out" was the
rejoinder.
That is just the difference between
this administration and the last one,"
replied the bystander. This admin.
lstratlon seems to try to keep out of
the newspapers. President Taft al
most Lruke a golden rule when he
gave out his statement of his position
On the tariff. l am convinced from
what | have learned that he would
not have done that had not that
bunch of congressman mistaken his
previous silence and good nature and
made it an excuse to browbeat him
into their way of thinking. But, sIeak-
ing about Smith, has, anybody seen
Charles P. Neill around here lately?"
Yes, | saw him on the street the
other day." broke in third man. He
is another old Roosevelt standby who
doesn't seem to be getting into the
newspapers as much as he did. The
last time l heard of Neill in the prints
he was in Georgia trying to settle that
colored firemen's strike and did not
even know he had come back to
town"
The foregoing conversation in the
reception room of the executive Of
fees at the White House gives a con-
ception of the way the Roosevelt
lights" have gone out in Washington
since March 4. Smith, Neill, Law
renee o. Murray. Clifford Pinchot and
Ambassador Jusserand of France, all
members of the old tennis cabinet,
are still accredited to jobs in Wash
ington. They are not members of the
Taft golf cabinet and are no longer
SO close t. the throne as to make
their coming a time to set ones
watch.
1t was standing joke in days gone
by that Afford w. Cooley, former civil
service commissioner and later assis-
tant attorney eneral; Secretary of
the Interior James R. Garfield, AS
sistant Secretary of Commerce and
Labor Murray, AMI others o. the ten
mis- cabinet, had stated hour to call
at the White House. When President
Roosevelt went away the newspaper
meE used 10 make pools as to which
one would be the first to welcome him
back
The number of confidantes Presi-
dent Taft has in the departments is
few. The Old tennis cabinet has scat
tered to the four winds. Those who
are still on the job are doing as good
work as they ever did, but, like the
interstate commerce commission
which was the cynosure of all eyes
during the Roosevelt administration,
they have stepped from the limelight,
except when they have departmental
news 70 give out. They are as well
come at the White House ever be-
fore, but they have less excuse for 60
ing there.
Commissioner Smith reports prog
ress on the investi 7ations his bureau
is making from time to time and re-
ceiyes honorable mention in the
press; Comptroller OF the Currency
Murray has been at the bottom of
some of the most important reforms
yet introduced in the comptroller's Of
fee and has received his share of
credit for that; Commissioner Neill
and Chairman Knapp of the interstate
commerce commission did yeoman
service on the Georgia railroad strike
and got credit for that, and Chief For
ester Clifford Pinclot has come into
the limelight again by getting into
row with Secretary of the Interior
Ballinger over lands withdrawn from
the forest reserves. The White House,
however, is not shouting about the
work they do.
The Grants, the Sheridans and the
Promwe!ls, who added gold ace to the
White House social affairs, ave given
way to the omnipresent Capt Archi-
bald w. Butt, who sticks to civilian
clothes except when he has to don his
regimentals. "Old faithful" William
Loeb, Jr, has been appointed collector
of the port of New York and has had
more publicity than any of the others
in the old Roosevelt encourage be-
cause he has cleaned out the New
York custom house in spite of the pol
iticians.
Roosevelt's cabinet is another ad-
junct of the last administration that
has dropped out of sight. Former
Postmaster General Meyer is secre-
tary of the navy and Secretary of Ag-
riculture Wilson, "irremovable," is on
the old job, but that is all Of the
Rooseveltians who sit around the cab
met table Tuesdays and Fridays. Eli.