The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-22
An Economical Cabinet Officer


With a single exception, every one of the
members of Cleveland's first cabinet was
obliged to draw heavily upon private
means in order to eke out salary of $4,000.
The one exception was Attorney General
Garland of Arkansas. d Senator Garland
stipulated with President Cleveland when
discussing the offer of the post of Attor-
ney General that he should not be obliged
to take part in social entertainment, that
it would not be looked upon as an offense
if he did not give entertainments, and he
frankly gave as his reason his absolute
dependence upon his salary for his support
and his desire to save something out OF
his salary so that he might not be obliged
to depend upon philanthropy or charity
in his old age.
The intimate friends of the late Thomas
f. Bayard, who was Secretary of State
in Cleveand's first administration and
ambassador to the court of st. James In
Cleveland's second administration, have
said that these two public services of Mr..
Bayard cut into his private fortune so
heavily that when he retired from his post
of ambassador he had only a little more
than one-half of the possessions of which
he was owner when he resigned from the
Senate to become Secretary of State.
Some Pathetic Examples
There are many examples. pathetic and
distressing, Of the Indulgence of some of
those who served creditably-and in sew
eral cases to the great advantage of the
public-in the closing days of their lives.
Had it not been for private generosity the
family of the late Samuel J. Randall
would have faced dire extremities when
he died Mr.. Randall had been speaker
of the House for several terms and had
been of great influence in tariff discus
sion and legislation and had been so COM
pletely devoted to public service that he
had never been able, by any outside VEN
ture to provide sufficiently for his family
The late Charles Russell of Connecticut,
an influential member of the ways and
means committee of the House some years
ago and long a member of Congress, had
so Loyalty and disnterestedly given Of
his time and energy to public service that
at the time of his death it was discovered
by his friends in Congress that it was es-
sential to meet by private subscription the
expenses entailed in his last illness and
for his funeral.
Senator John C. Spooner resigned his
place In the United States Senate because
he of sudden realized that he had
reached the time of life when if he was
to provide for 1s family he must give up
public service.
II is fact well known to the few who
had part in the incident that Shelby M.
CullOm, a IeWSWeekS DelUTe tne llfnc l1Aeu
for the election of his successor. nearly
seven years ago, confessed to a colleague
in the Senate that as he probably would
be defeated for reelection he was COM
PEELED to look around for employment
after he left the Senate, since he had not
enough income to support him and his
family He said that he was willing to ac-
cept some sort of a position with a rail-
road company even If the salary was not
over $25OO He was unexpectedly reelected,
so that emergency passed. But as the
time was approaching for the end of his
last term on March of this year, he was
again confronted with the necessity Of
finding something to do Knowing all
the facts and having a high regard for the
faithful service of Senator Culom, Sena-
tor Elihu Root caused an office in con-
nection with the Lincoln Memorial asso-
citation to be created for the outgoing SEN
ator This office is really pension in dis
guise.
Chief Justice Died Bankrupt
One chief justice of the United States
died a bankrupt having exhausted for
tune of 100000 which he possessed when
he became chief justice during his IL
years service, yet he lived modestly. The
friends of another justice or the supreme
court, man of great intellectual power,
probably three or four times his salary
of $4,000 had he remained in practice at
the bar. was discovered to have left moth
ing and his family was relieved from ac-
tual charity by private subscription.