The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1912-03-15
Former Cabinet Officers Find
Themselves Arrayed Against
Each Other.
ROOT STRONG TAFT PARTISAN
RooseveIt's Secretary of State Takes
Issue With Former Chief-Former
Secretary Shaw Is Lined Up
With Colonei's Forces,
BY GEORGE CLINTON.


sion. 1t is said that all Of Mr.. Roose-
velt's cabinet officers, whether they
are supporting him or not, still have
strong personal affection for him,
and this makes their antsgonism to
his ambitions probably the harder for
them. Elihu Root, now senator Of the
United States from New York, was
~ close personally to Mr. Roosevelt
- any man in Washington The sem
ator ordinarily is spoken ol as a cold
man. but there was warmth in his
relations with Theodore Roosevelt
which showed that underneath the
cold exterior some fires burned
When the corner stone OF the Bu-
reau Of American Republics building
was laid, both Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr..
Root made speeches and the then
president in speaking of Mr. Roots
work as secretary Of state said that
IN the whole history of the country
there had been no greater secretary
than Elihu Root. Mr.. Roosevelt de-
pended on Mr.. Root to give to the
country a good many of his views on
government. There were some things
IN which Mr. Roosevelt believed that
Mr. Root did not believe in, but the
president always knew how to diff
ferentiate and when Root could not
apeak from his heart on a certain
legislative subject, Roosevelt would
not ask him so to do but would send
some one else into the field whose
heart was really engaged in the mat
ter which the president wished pre-
sented
Strong in Friendships.
Elihn Root is man of seeming con-
tradictions. He is spoken of frequent
ly as an "aristocrat,' but when he
was secretary of state Mr.. Root was as
Democratic as any clerk in the de-
partment. He absolutely refused to
use the carriage and horses which the
government put at his disposal and
Invariably walked back and forth to
his work. disdaining in the coolest
weather the use of an OvercOat For
years Mr.. Root has made habit Of
wearing a flower in his button hole
and almost invariably it is a flower of
kind which grew in the old fashioned
gardens. The senator goes to his
summer home on the top of Clinton
Hill near Utica in April every year
and there makes garden He owns
the house on Clinton Hill in which hs
was born. the house in which his ia
t7er, Oren Root, lived for the half cen.
tury that he was professor in mathe-
matcs in Hamilton college.
Senator Root has strong personal
friendships. Vice-President Sherman
Is one of the men who holds Mr.
Roots strong liking. The senator il
member Of the college fraternity
Known as the Sigma Phi 1t is a small
college brotherhood, the oldest, bar
ring perhaps the Kappa Alpha, Of all
the Greek letter societies. There are
r not many sigs. and those that thers
are hang together better than do some
1rothers. Vice-President James 8.
Sherman is Sigma Phi and grad
e uate of Hamilton college. the alma ma
TER OF Elihu Root. Senator Root is 4
strong partisan Of President Taft and
hopes to see him renominated %
Former Secretary of the Treasury,
Leslie M. Shaw, has come out for The:
odore Roosevelt, his former chief
Mr.. Shaw was the great story teller
OF the Roosevelt cabinet. It is said
that the colonel once declared that
Shaw was the author Of the Arabian
Nights, for he had heard him tell one
thousand and ono stories MI. Shaw'l
Str trrsA ~ cfo%>
man interest.
Shaw Sold Apple Trees.
Mr.. Shaw was Yankee born. He
went west to grow up with the coun.
r. try as the time-tried saying has it.
o He wished to study law, and in order
. to get the money to do studying htf
-. sold apple trees. They were good an (
pie trees. The farmers Of the ,west,
~ another has put it, "in the. long wjn-s
ter evenings found their mouths Vi, 1
tsring for the succulent apples Of
the old eastern homestead: 1t must
be remembered that most of theso
early day farmers in Iowa 4 were
Yankees. Shaw resolved that applest
were his long suit and he set out,
"SSiSo VI tHC SlCnl OlCudfuS iOl lOW2.J
As dealt fairly and in delivering tho,
goods he made friends and became
known throughout the region
For five years Leslie NJ Shaw was 4
member OF the cabinet Every Tues
day and Friday he would walk from
the door of the treasury through tho,
White House grounds to the door of
the cabinet room. Invariably he had
with him 4 little black portfolio,
"snuggled' under his arm. 1t still re-,
mains one Of the mysteries of Wash
lngton what that portfolio contained.
No other cabinet officer ever carried
one. It was suggested time and again
that the package held stories, but az
Leslie M. Shaw never Sprung man.
useript' when telling yarn it seems
That this explanation of the contents