The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-08-23
CABINET SEEKS
PEACEFUL LIFE
Official Washington Is Deserted
During Warm Months of
Summer.
BY Ernest G. Walker.
mail Special to the Advertiser.)

MILL OpGCldi W INC I10sOIt
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson is
never averse to staying in Washington
during the hot months and he has
made no exception this summer. By
and by he viii be straying out to
Iowa for a little rest. He will be here
IL sit on the lid for a while when all
the other cabinet officers have de-
parted.
After week or so, all the depart
ments. with an exception or two, will
be in charge of assistant secretaries.
They arrange those matters carefully,
so that some assistant secretary at
least shall always be on deck. Assist
ant Secretary McHarg will be the Act
ing Secretary of Commerce and Labor
during most of August and Septem-
Der. Assistant Secretary Reynolds will
be Acting Secretary of the Treasury
during the intervals when Secretary
MacVeagh goes up TO New Hampshire.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Beck
man Winthrop has been acting sec
rotary of that department much of the
time in recent months and, as mat
ter of fact, has had more experience
thus far in performing the duties of
a head of department than any other
of the twenty FIVE or thirty assistant
secretaries. He is a great friend of
President Taft and used to be Assist
ant Secretary of the Treasury.
There are half dozen assistant at
torneys general who will alternate in
signing themselves as Acting Attor-
ha M &c
All the assistant attorneys general
must have vacations, but some one of
them is always on deck and knows how
to get into communication quickly
with his official chief in case of emer-
gency.~ Assistant Secretary Frank
Pierce, Utah man, has been presid-
ing over the Interior Department for
nearly month but he has now gone
on a vacation and red -eheeked young
man, Assistant Secretary Wilson, of
Indiana, now signs the Interior Depart
ment mail. He will stick to it till
Secretary Ballinger is back in town
again.
Assistant Secretary Oliver has been
holding the lid down in the War De-
partment but now he, too, has had to
take his vacation and the department
IS in charge of a CHER clerk, Mr..
Scofeld. A year or so ago, however,
the Congress bestowed upon Mr..
Seofeld some of the responsibilities of
an assistant secretary and gave him
authority to act as secretary. This
avoided some of the troubles that used
to arise when the Chief of Staff was
the ranking officer in authority, as
there would be clashes of rank and
otherwise between him and the Ad-
jutant General.
Before long there viii be some jour
neying of cabinet officers to Beverly,
for, while no program for such visits
has been mapped out, there will be
departmental matters demanding the
President s attention. Cabinet meet
ed and there will probably be no more
for nearly four months or till the
President returns from the West.
The big officials. going and coming,
working and resting, of course monopo-
lie the attention as far as summer
official activities are concerned. But
a big movement of the subordinate
workers to many parts of the country
is now in rapid progress. The gov
ernment gives each one of them Il
months leave Thousands of clerks
whose annual pay ranges from $1,000
to $4,000 a year are scurrying away to
the country side and getting rested
for the years work ahead of them.
Most of them manage to have very
good time, for they are well paid as
d rule considering their services, and
know how TO get the worth of their
money.
In reality most cabinet officers plan
&c be away from Washington while
this big vacation period endures. The
working forces are so reduced that it
Is more difficult to get much accom-
plished. So nearly everybody connect
ed with the government in Washing
ton is about to have long play day.
tt will be month or six weeks be-
fore the rush homeward begins and
the great industry of administering
the affairs of the United States. is
hncu,iper mara