Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-07-06
TAFT HAS
CLEVER new
PUBLICIST

washington, July 6.--As Mcktn
ley had his Cortelyou and Roosevelt
his Leob, so Taft now has his Norton
After Mrs. Taft left for Beverly
Charles Dyer Norton, secretary Il
the President lived at the Whit,
House. Now that the nations bust
ness is being transacted from Bever
ly. Norton is on the Job there.
When Norton recently took his Of
flee he called the newspapermen a
the White House into conference.
"I'm green to the job, he ex
planned, "and / want your assistance
/ believe that the public is entitled
to know how the wheels go round VI
here, and want to help you get then
real news"
It is the secretary to the Presi.
dent who explains to the newspaper
men (and, through them, to the pub
lie at large) what the President
thinks He hears the presidential
brain cogitating, and translates
with iscretion-those thoughts to
the correspondents. It takes good
deal Of knowledge and tact and bic
lump of discretion to translate the
presidential brain.
The secretary is the buffer against
which smash all the vexatious little
things that go to make a presidential
day. He makes and keeps tract of
the Presidents engagements. He
relieves his chief the troublesome and
boresome callers. He gets all the
blame for everything and none Of
the credit
Twenty years ago Norton started
out in life as a book agent, the son
of poor clergyman. Later he went
nito the life insurance business,
learning how to think quick and talk
without circumlocution. He ad-
vanced from solicitor to head of a
division for big life insurance
company.
He had worked HIS way through
college. He learned to study men
through selling them books and life
insurance. Secretary of the Treas
urer MacVeagh brought Norton to
Washington as assistant secretary of
the treasury.
1t is said that President Taft first
formed an admiration for Norton,
when he called at the White House
one day on routine matter. Con-
versation turned into another chan
mel and the executive casually ex-
pressed an opinion on a certain sub
ject Norton very quietly took the
opposite view. And he told the
president why; he advanced further
facts to support his position, and.
finally, got the executive to admit
that his was the right way. 1t was
all done tactfully, and vet with a
display OF backbone, that won Taft
right away,
So It happened that when Fred w.
Carpenters health failed, and the
NArnAAtHb AbAAu hAAhnclA III uStu Ol
an individual with backbone and
plenty OF tact, he turned to Norton.
Norton is ful Of nervous energy.
He is tall and spare. with dark hair
that he brushes back to show a
broad forehead He talks In crisp
short sentences-dlrect to the point.
He smiles pleasantly and his blue
eyes twinkle. He is exceedingly
well groomed, and, all in all, is the
sort OF man people look at twice.
Norton has been on all the trips
with his chief since he became sec
rotary. He is close student OF
politics. Coming to his present job
without a working knowledge of that
most mysterious OF all subjects, he
has managed to grasp the situation
Norton has made a hit with the
because he is one of
ihe Few officials of the government
re reads the papers closely II he
ellis the correspondents BIT of news
,ne day on the next he looks to see
how they played It up"