The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-02

pN INC company ne keeps "Ulie nc rs
the White House. Those men wit
whom he chnms will come in for cor
siderable scrutiny from the public, an
the presidential favor Will easily max
or mar them. according 10 how thci
hatbandS endure the strain. They vii
also come in for great share of an
noYancc from off!cescckcrs and propa
ganJisls eager tn reach the prcSlden
through his intimatcs.
Most presidents have gone outside o.
thcjr cabinets to find pIaymates, They
have not wanted la share their hour
uf relaxation with men who might b,
tempted 10 talk shop with them on thC
bride path or golf course. The close
social intimacy of his cabinet rather
pallcd on Roosevelt, ard TO relieve tho
strain he put tho qpictus upon the old
scheme of dining with his full cabinet
nine times a winter. He requested
cabinet members lo leave their col
icagucs cut when taking their turns at
dining him And when he wanted re-
taxation he turned TO his "tennis cabi.
net
Golf Cabinet.
Mr.. Taft seeks bis golf cabinetn in
the same spirit. 1t was Jackson who
began this unofficial cabinet busj-
ness He rarely got check by iowl with
his official cabinet. but chose for his
auNlS'iS Il Slfldll tpltIlG Ol
rather obscure men headed by Amos
Kendall. "A Washington correspondent.
This body WAS called the 'Ekitchcn cab
met, was the similar coteric that
stood close TO Garfield. But Roosevelt
selected his ''tenuis cabinot' less to
advise than amuse him. and the same
can I; be predicted of Mr. Taft's ''golf
The "golf cabinet 81 charter mem-
bcrs arc ice-Presdent sherman, Sec
retary of the Navy Never. Brig. Gen.
Clarence r. Edwards, T.. $. A., and
Capt Archibald w Butt. H. s. A. Ii
Is very unusual for n president and
vice president To rub elbows, except on
formal occasions. Mckinley and Ho.
bart were the only other glaring cx"
ceptlon in recent years.
Secretary MEYERS admission to the
golf cabinet may be due to the
iact that as secretary of the navy he
has less to do than any other member
or the real cabinet, and therefore has
'hc least about. which to ''talk shop"
Nearest Washington Chum.
or this coterie the man who probably
stands nearest tho president. persos
any IN Washington is Brigadcr Gen
cral K Edwards JIo halls from Mr..
Tart s state, but was born in Clcve-
land instead Of Cincinnati, and he is
me president S junior by three years.
Ills rather, a wealthy wholesale grocer,
wanted to make merchant of him,
but he got an appointment to West
Point. Becoming lieutenant of infan
try, his first assignment was AS com.
mander Of the guard at Garfields
grave Then he was professor Of mil
tary science ut st. John S college, New
York.
During the Spanish war he was a
captain Of the Tenth infantry The |
following year he married and was
commissioned lieutenant colonel of vol |
unteers, and sailed off with his bride |
to the Philippines as adjutant general
TO General Lawton. He was in the !
thick Of all of Lawton's s battles out in
the Philippines during the Santa Cruz !
and San Isidro campaigns, and the ex- |
peditions to Morong and Cavite Once I
to make flank movement, he swan
the Zapata river with his command. and |
defeated his foe. For his various acts
Lawton for the brevet. first as major,
then as lieutenant colonel, then as col
onel of regulars. and finally as briga-
der general Of volunteers.
How He Won Taft.
All of the time that he was fighting
he was studying our Malay -Polynesan
w
came back to Washington with Law
g body, in 1900, Elihu Root, then
secretary of war. found him such an
authority on Philippine matters that
he organized for him the division of
insular affairs in the war department
and made him chief. This division was
made bureau two years later, when
Edwards became colonel, and since
then he has been to our government
very much what the secretary of state
Tor the colonies is to Great Britain.
Mr.. Taft was still in the Philippines
as governor, and Edwards, in a sense,
was his Washington representative, and
after Mr., Taft became secretary Of war
became his cheif adviser on
matters. They became chums-
rode, golfed and ate together. Ed
Quoted the famous Taft tour of the
world, on which Miss Alice Roosevelt
became engaged.
Capt Butt, Soldier and Story Writer.
But of the Hgolf cabinet coterie
ne who is seen with the president more
often than any other man is Captain
Archibald Willingham Butt, whom Mr..
Taft has selected for his personal mil
ltary aid. This assignment has so far
carried with it the functions of a COM
panfon, for Captain Butt has been close
ut the presidents side during all Of
his horseback rides, all of his golf
games and all of his railway tours since
The Inauguration,
Butt is man Of many parts. He
is young bachelor of forty-two. a
Georgian by birth, who entered the
army not by way of West Point, but
through volunteer service in the Span.
lsh war. Before that he had been a
correspondent for syndi.
cate of southern papers until he accom-
modated General Matt Ransom to Mex.
leo when the latter was appointed en-
bassador TO, that republic. Since en-.
terlng the army he has served three and
2 half years in the Philippincs-where
Mr.. Taft knew him-and moro than a
year with our army of pacifcation in
Cuba While he, has been in these trop.
lcal climes he has improved his time
by writing many short stories for the
and in between these he
has turned out books on finance and
military problems, Mr. Taft certainly
has taken a shine TO him. and he has
come TO be known as "the president Is
shadow
''Eoll,'' the Oldest Chunl.