Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1913-02-25
gets HARDEST JOB
J. p. TUMULTY, AS PRESIDENTS
PRIVATE SECRETARY. MUST
BE MAN uNAFRA,o."
MEETS PRESS OF WASHINGTON
Woodrow Wilson and All Others Pre-
dict He viii Make Good in Filling
Position Which Requires Infinite
Tact
BY GEORGE CLINTON


Washington. = Woodrow Wilson's
present executive secretary. who has
been appointed az his future private
secretary, Joseph Patrick TumuIty,
has been in Washington as the guest
of the National Press club. There
was a large gathering OF correspond
ents and of others to meet the man
who, in a way, will be second in com
mand at the White House after
March 4.
IL Mr.. Tumulty can remember the
names and the faces of one-fifth of
The public men and Washington CORE
spondents who greeted him here he
probably will prove qualified to a con-
siderable degree for the duties of the
of1ce which he will assume on the
irst Tuesday of the first spring month.
1t may be that at one time men were
given TO the Understanding of the
necessities in the case of a presidents
private secretary. He is more to a
president than any cabinet officer and
he can make or unmake friendships
Tor his chief faster than any man who
sits at the presidents round table. The
personal equation figures more largely
II the success of an administration
han anything else to which mathe-
natics lends itself for a figure of
speech.
Mr.. Tumulty is a keen-looking Amer
10
AXE him long to learn the names and
he faces of the men who will call
lpon his chief If he. is not as quick
learning their foibles, their temper
lments, their crotchets. their strengths
and their weaknesses, he may be in
.rouble before the administration is
.hree months old. Being all things to
all men is seemingly an essential in
private secretary to the president of
The United States.
How He Can Make Good.
Everybody says that Mr.. Tumulty
S going to make good, and everybody
hopes so. He has had numerous pre-
iecessors in Office within the last ten
years. He will find that, like them, he
must accustom himself to what may
De called ''dignified humility" in the
presence of men who modestly think
themselves the great of the land. The
member of congress who has bill for
he building of a postoffice in the
county seat Is just as big man in the
White House as the senator whom
seniority, II not qualification, has
made the head of the finance commit
zee. No member of either house has
more than one vote and the enmity
If a congressman who has made no
big mark on legislation may cost a
presidential aspirant the electoral vote
IF state.
The secretary Of the president of
he United States must be the man
3nafraid" There are scores of things
lpon which he must speak for the
president, and he must always speak
with the certainty that his speech is
% go unchallenged by his chief There
nave been one or two secretaries who
declined on any occasion to speak for
he president, preferring to go to him
On every trivial matter. The president
has lot to do and he cannot act at all
times as chief executive and as pri-
yate secretary TO himself
Mr.. Wilson, it is said, has a noun
tain-moying faith in Mr.. Tumulty. If
he did not have 1t he probably would
40 TO
mis- future secretary. Mr.. Tumulty, if
he follows the example. or is allowed
to follow the example, of some of his
predecessors in office, will be on many
subjects great and small the mouth
piece of the administration. He must
keep his tongue from tripping. Sec
retaries have succeeded in doing this
through long years and the strain of
precaution seemingly has not worn
away their health.
Feathers and the Tariff
1t is possible. even probable,
that the congress of the United
States may interpose its authority
to change utterly the fashion in
woman's hats Does it seem that this
is trivial mater to take up the atten-
ton of the careful law makers of the
land? The legislators apparently do
not think so. and good many Of them
say that the agricultural interests and
all persons who love nature will rise
to call them blessed if they enter
with legislative intent into the realm
of Dame Fashion.
1t is possible that the ways and
means committee under the leadership
of Oscar w Underwood will make
up it's mind before Harch Is to ask
congress to prohibit the importation
into this country of all feathers for
millinery purposes, except those OF
the ostrich, OF domestic fowls and OF
game birds. IL the committee which
frames tariff legislation shall take this
action 1t will mark the final step OF
success in crusade which had its be
ginning in the parlors of a few Ameri-
can homes about fifteen years ago.
1t Is probable that for the present
congress viii content itself with a
provision in the tariff laws which will
prohibit the importation "of the plum.
age of American birds. or Of plumage
indistinguishable from that of Ameri
can birds. including aigrettes. crude
and manufactured"
What the Provision Would Do.
The insertion OF this provision into
the next tariff Law has been urged and