The Washington bee., 1911-02-04
Public Men AndThiDUs
(By the Sage of the Potomac.)

The passing of DR.. Vernon as Reg
lister of the Treasury brings to mind
the fact that Cyrus Field Adams, the
| Assistant Register, continues on. like
a springfield brook, and that he is now
! serving in his third term. Just what
holds Cyrus, outside of his total alb
StInence from mixing, is a matter that
stumps the boys. He is neither a
power on the stump, nor mixer, or
an organizer. He remains about as
far away from his brothers with CO.
! coanut she'll compilations as the man
who hibernates around the islands OF
Terra Del Fuego. You see, I'm still
up on my "gogefy." Some say Cyrus
has his hair cut at white barber shops,
and feeds, when he dimes out, at white
restaurants, just to let the whites COM
pare their pinkbloom compilations
with his. However, as to that / can't
make biblical affirmation for the
reason that my complexion is so pro-
nounced that l don't have a peek in
where the whites toy with canvas
backs and daily with Pomry Sec.
Cyrus does one thing, though, and
that is as soon as the National Com
alysis out of his hand, and signs a
check for about fifty bucks" which
he sends to the treasurer by special
delivery, and then he Immediately re-
vises that antique Negro Campaign
Book up to date and inhicts it upon
the committee These heroic twin
acts are always supposed to pass as
receipt in full for another term
Certain it is that he has been getting
that another term" with a regularity
that makes all the would-be Assistant
Registers count their thumbs. During
the past two years no less than SIX
real COlOred aSpirantS took a turn at
trying to hit that saliva-coated ball
with a $4,000 trade mark, registered
in the Presidential book as Assistant
Register, and every one of them came
near breaking their backs reaching for
it. If a fellow didn't happen to peep
into the office and see Cyrus maunch-
ing on crackers and lactated food,
worth about three cents in Chinese
money, he would never know that
Cyrus was on the globe. He joins no
colored organizations, attends no col
ored churches or enteTtainmenis-in
fact don't elbow up to Ham, and yet
he remains while the brunette and near
brunette Registers, who pass and re-
pass, take the count regularly every
four years. But Cyrus, you know is a
bachelor, and all bachelors, after they
get into the seer and yellow leaf, are
'tarnation peculiar. He's Johnny-on-
the-spot, though, when it comes to at
tending strictly to business, and while
Registers are spellbinding through the
country, and organizing delegations
for the G. 0. P, Cyrus Field IS right
there at his desk attending to his knit
ting (figuratiVely and literally), every
day in the year, and preparing to rush
another term" 1t has been predict
ed that as long as we have a Govern
ment, and just as long as the gentle
man with the podrida hair remains in
statu-quo on this proposition Of mix
ing with his brothers, he'll be the As
sistant Register. And if he can make
first on a little inield hit, and then
steal second, third and home on pass
es, can you blame the WhitehalTed
gentleman from Uncle Joe's State?
But don't ever get into your Uranium
the erroneous impression that Cyrus
is rot a man of ability, just because
he is a recluse. His head is chucked
full of brains, and he is a fellow of
exemplary habits and loyalty to race.
He Just minds his own business, and
it pays to form a trust of your own
business instead of making free trade
out of other peoples business. Cyrus
just saws wood, and mighty fast, too,
and artiCulates nothing. He's wise.
4
Noticing in number of newspapers
published ostensibly in the interest
of the race, but in reality IN the in
terest of the editors, a Washington
weekly plate letter recalls to me the
fact that John Bruce, old Bruce
Grit" was probably the first colored
pencil-pusher to conceive the idea OF
sending out a weekly Washington
syndicate letter. | use to COllabOTate
with Bruce, in getting out a sizzling
hot letter. However, Bruce's letter
was fresh, sort of aeroplane like, while
a plate letter frequently contains stuff
so old it reminds me of antiquities
excavated from the ruins OF POmpeii.
This, of course, amt the fault of the
correspondent, but the result of nee
essary delay in reaching far points
with the plate. Bruce Grit was per-
haps the most versatile and the best
correspondent who ever regaled col
ored readers of cOlOred newspapers
with the "doings," cOmings, gOings
and aspirations of the leaders, would
be leaders, social directors, and others
too numerous to mention who hob
nobbed in Washington or migrated to
the city of buried hopes. Bruce was
a corker That head of his, big as a
hogshead, had more odd stuff in it
than you can find in a rummage sale.
Many were the hours we put in to-
gether while he was in the old town.
Referring again to plate matter,
which fills a long-felt want for col
ored newspapers, and white newspa-
pers, too, an editor has to keep
close lookout or every now and then
the factory will slip in spurious com
on him. For instance, a bunch OF us
were discussing and were much anus
ed over the appearance IN a local con.
temporary week before last OF a halt
page of stuff, hoary with age, on the
holding of a brunette exposition, and
which was accredited to the New
York Age, which piped it of about
six weeks in priority. On an inside