The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-12-22

said to be slated for the position o.
Secretary of Agriculture There is nc
doubt that Mr.. Burleson is entitled tc
anything that he may ask. He was ar
effective factor in the Wilson cam,
psign for the nomination, and wher
the outcome was still a matter Of
doubt. At the same time, what could
Mr.. Burleson gain by Cabinet Office;
Like Mr.. Underwood, he will be re.
tanned in Congress by satisfied con-
stituency until he dies or resigns. He
is almost certain to be eventually the
chairman of the Committee on Appro-
priations and among his fellow-mem-
bers holds high place as a man oil
wise counsel. As Secretary of Agri-
culture he would become involved in
the petty and annoying details of ad-
ministration, while, if there should be
political change four years hence, he
would find himself relegated to private
life. In his case, as in Mr.. Under
woods, one wonders whether he would
yield to the attraction of a Cabinet
portfolio.
1t is a curious and interesting fact
that while a Cabinet may collectively
make or mar an administration by its
weakness or strength, the position of
Cabinet officer has never seemed to
possess much political advantage for
the individual. There is hardly one ex-
Cabinet officer in the United States to-
day with halo still around his head.
Few men can now name off-hand the
Cabinet officers of the last administra-
ton. Not one man in ten can remem-
Der accurately the names of McKin-
ley's advisers. To go still further into
the past is to mingle with shad-
owy and ghost-like phantoms. There
was a period, long ago, when the Sec
rotary of State was deemed the logi-
cal successor OF the President. That
time has passed. Nowadays a Cabinet
position seems to be the most effectual
quietus for political ambition
The fact that there is in the Senate
contest over nominations submitted
by an outgoing President, that there
are scores of men in the House whose
interest in public affairs is dulled by
the knowledge that their political death
has been decreed, and that the great
commercial and financial interests of
the country are merely marking time
until the new tariff legislation has been
enacted, invites emphatic attention to
serious defect in our system OF gov
eminent. There ought to be some one,
somewhere, with sufficient power and
force to bring about reform, so that
new administration shall immedi-
ately follow an election A President
should be inaugurated on the Ist of
December instead Of the 4th of March.
The present system is relic of
stage-coach days. when it took almost
as long to travel from the Ohio River
to Washington as it now docs to en-
circle the globe.
There would be no trouble in sccur-
ing the change if some one would only
take the initiative Everybody knows
that it is not good public policy for a
defeated member of the House to par
ticipate in a session subsequent to his
defeat. More than once the country
has experienced the evil results of
waiting for more than a year for the
into law of policies de-
cided upon at the polls. The last four
months of an outgoing administration
is simply a period of wasted time.
They do these things better in Eng
land, where a responsible government,
being overthrown by the will of the
people, at once steps down and out. In
this country there has been much talk
of reform and a general acquiescence
in its necessity, but what is every
body's business is nobody's business,
and so nothing has been done There
is a niche in the hall of fame for the
person who will energetically undertake
to correct the obvious defects in our
governmental system and do away with
the senseless hiatus which now exists
between an election and the incoming
of a new administration.
The Republican organization has |
found some occasion for encourage |
nent during the week in the prediction
Of ex-senator Spooner of Wisconsin,
hat the Progressive party would share
the fate of the old Populist Party,
and in the speech Of Gov. Deneen of
illinois, who asserted that the Repub-
ican party would again rally around
is standard and march to new vic
.ories.
There is no doubt that encourage
nent is needed. Mr.. Spooner's inter-
view. Gov. Deneen's address, and the
Republican dinner in New
York on January 4 are the only. evil
fences of recuperation from the re-
;ults of the election. Perhaps the lead
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