The Washington herald., 1911-05-07
By JAMES b. MORROW.

1t of value, or nothing over 1t but brush
and grass, are pricking UP theh ears and
cautiously looking around Walter Low
rie Fisher, slim and swift as hound, has
come to Washington to be Secretary of
the Interior in the Cabinet of President
Taft.
Wolves is the word that Mn Fisher
has used himself. THE gray wolves.
he once remarked, "are at the edge OF
the timber waiting for rush.
Thus he pictured in a curt and catch
ing sentence the grating aldermen OF
Chicago. Photographers took 1t up and
so did the cartoonists. Wolves ran
through the current literature OF the
period Fisher, a strange name nation
ally, thereafter became a proper noun
of Importance and a verb of agony and
terror in its local significance
Politicians Were Observation-Disclosures
exposed and whipped. The fisherization
of a great railroad revealed a group of
thieving high officials robbing their en-
ployers Of millions OF dollars by fraudu-
lent repafrs of cars. One unhappy man,
CONSPICUOUS in the world OF finance
pleaded guilty with a bullet and annulled
his case in death.
But Fisher is neither n criminal lawyer
nor a detective. lie is conservator. not
only of trees, water, and soil. but of hu-
man life. strength. and intelligence Dis
honesty is wicked and mean: but by his
philosophy it is also crime against
efficiency. Wars mean waste, and so
he stands for peace-the peace of nations
and the peace of man in his private rela-
ticns He would harness the stream that
flows idly to the ocean. but he would
throw away a quill and substitute
fountain pen TO stop scratching, splatter-
ing. and useless motion between inkstand
and document.
Political Doctor.
A man OF many problems. he works
toward a single and definite end-the
best use of everything. Governmentally,
commercially, and industrially. he is try
ing to tighten the belts on all the pull
leys and TO make each pound of steam
count. The discovery of a thief is moth
ing to him professionally beyond its eff
fects on the business or task concerned.
He summoned Burns. the detective, and
caught the officers who were plundering
the Illinois Central Railroad. only to
in the spectacular efforts of convicting
them. A diagn Ostician, he names the
disease, suggests the treatment, and
leaves the family doctor write the pre-
scrption and watch the patients tenn
ptratUre and tongue He penetrates the
wilds. and GeOgraphers follow him and
make the maps. The wolves have cause.
therefore. to perk their ears, sniff the
air. and look about
81 in height Sec
retary Fisher is slender but large-boned.
He has been trained down in flesh by
golf playing and pedestrianiZinS. His
face is long and angular and so are his
nose and chin. AS energetic as Roose-
welt he is not so square, precise, or
mechanical in his physical movements,
nor so dogmatic or positive in his talk.
and with many more smiles as he goes
along. gaunt and ready man. with
out style in dress. ne is shrewd. pene
trating. constructive. and quick, having
a talent for direct, convincing, and pic
tuTesQue expression. and the eye and
of a hawk. He Is unafraid,
unabashed, and has confidence in him
self
Nature let loose a cyclone in his case,
but disciplined him, tempered him. and
put him TO work. An expert in munich
pal government, he will now devote him
self to the government of the United
States, but specifically to coal in Alaska
and the public lands of the West. For
want of a better plare. It can be stated
right here that Secretary Fisher can
walk twenty-five miles at a stretch, and
that he is the father of eight children,
seven living and one dead. The interview
he accorded me. with no pretense of
alarm or dIspleasure might be called the
Autobiography of 4 strong and
trsDOr n ina nf vNna oil II IN
much that was unique and
needful is still to accomplish more.
He lessened nothing, he increased moth !
ing, but he gave the rough lines of his
life in n voice that was not made to
and in a manner that was free
from boast, humility, and guile.
OF Patriotic Birth.
You were born on the Fourth Of July. |
1862 I said. AN odd and patriotic oc-
l added.
But personally unsatisfactory" Secre- |
tary Fisher answered with smile lean
Ing forward exactly as he does in the |
photograph that accompanies this article !
Il miss a day each year to be celebrated |
Moreover, l can't live up to the occasion |
No matter what l do. l am lost in the |
larger event, concealed in flags and bunt- |
Ing. and unheard above the noise of fire. |
crackers and cannons. As a boy, l sacri- |
feed something: as a man. / am dis |
heartened. By blood. 1 am a peculiar mix
ture of cross elements. BY early environ |
ment. l was the subject OF contradictory |
sentiments and situations. NY father
born In Pennsylvania. was Presbyterian I
minister. He married the daughter of a |
slave owner. an agriculturist who left |
the valley of the James River and settled |
On GOO acres of land in West Virginia that |
George Washington once owned. At the
beginning of the civil war. my grand
father liberated his Africans and SUD-
ported the Union. Meanwhile my father
mad started for Siam to be a missionary.
In New Orleans my mother fell desper-
ltely III and the Siamese enterprise was
abandoned with regret. My father was
preaching in New Orleans when Louis
ana passed the ordinance of secession
His congregation wanted him to remain.
out he held that If his pews We're slave
md his pulpit were free there would be
an undue strain between pastor and
oeople. and SO he removed to Wheeling,
where I was born
What kind of boy were you?'
IT have been informed that was
pretty active, with a bent toward organ
zing things that were organizable The
summers We're spent on the farm of my
] plowed the hilIsides,
pitched hay. and was finally paid the
wages of an able-bodied field hand BY
Ohio. / meant to stay there a year or /
two and finish my education at Prince.
ton."
'sBeinp fully determined 7 soi1 go L