The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-04-28

The dean of the corps of Cabinet
private secretaries is Walter r.
| Pedigo, of the War Department. He
has the unique record Of having
| served four successive Secretaries Of
War.
Mr.. Pedigo got his training for the
job in clerical service in the War De-
partment. He was born at Pulaski,
Va, in 1880, and received his educa-
ton in public schools and in a bust
ness college at Roanoke. He was
s~tenographer in a wholesale grocery
house at Roanoke when the Spanish
American war broke out in 1898.
Enlisting as a private nj the Second
Virginia Volunteers. he started out to
fight; but his talents as a stenograph-
er becoming known, he was detailed
as secretary to General Fitz Hugh
Lee early in his army career.
With General Lee Mr.. Pedigo serv-
ed with the Seventh Army Corps in
Jacksonville and Savannah and later,
for two years, in Cuba. Then when
General Lee was appointed to the
command of the Department Of the
Missouri PedigO accompanied him to
Omaha. In 1901 Pedigo came to
Washington, from Omaha, as. secre-
t tary to General Edwards and served
here until Secretary Wright secured
him.
Comparatively a newcomer in the
!, field of private secretaries is John L.
Suter, private secretary and assistant
to the Attorney General. Mr.. Suter at
the time of his appointment last sum
mer was one of the oldest-in point
:. of service-of Washington CORE
spondentS, and was president Of the
National Press Club. He also has
served long on the standing commit
Il tee of correspondents which regulates
the affairs of the press galleries at the
Capitol.
Mr.. Suter is a native Westinghouse
. and a graduate of the Washington
=, High School. Twenty-Five years age
he entered Washington newspaper
= work as a protege of the late William
T.. Curtis. Since then, with two shor
iS breaks, he served continuously a.
,f Washington correspondent of Chicago
newspapers until entering the Depart
). ment Of Justice. In 1891 and 1892 h.
was out of the newspaper business as
~, Sisting Mr.. Curtis in the organization
Of the first International American
is Conference out of which grew tn
~present-day Pan-American UnioI
'ct and for a time in 1893 he was at tn
#. Worlds Fair at Chicago assisting i
conducting the Latin-American Bu
reau.
Here's the Youngest.
of Careful, painstaking, suave court
Of o u and level-headed, Mr.. SUITE
at ANbA CA ioCoA iIAooo
SIX not a practicing attorney, Mr.. SUITE
to years ago acquired the rudiments
re- a legal education and hat prov
EN- helpful, though not essential, to tt
ity discharge of duties which are admin
istrative rather than legal.
he OF all the Cabinet private secret;
Igh ries the youngest in point Of years
Herbert H. Meyer, private secretary
OF Franklin K. Lane, Secretary Of II
Interior.
ore MIR. Meyer is the product Of t
cen civil service. He was born 81 yea
in ago at Chillicothe, Ohio, and w
ons educated at the Staunton, Va, Mi
tary Academy, where he won hi
re- honOrs. Coming to Washington
,nly took the law course at the Geor
art Washington University and was a
,re- mitted to the District Of Columt
AS bar in 1908.
He Rose Gradually.
Mr.. Meyers first Government e
rior ployment was as clerk in the office
Sec the Marine Corps. Later he "
lied transferred to the Department
.ane Commerce and Labor. When t
tary Railroad Securities Commission Y
created under the Taft Administ
ton, to investigate the stock and be
issues Of railroads, Mr.. Meyer '
appointed clerk to that body, a me
vate Der of which was Walter l.. Fisher,
Chicago. In 1911 Mr.. Fisher beca
1cia1 Secretary Of the Interior, and
the took Mr.. Meyer with him to the
partment as his confidential Gle
en- Later Mr.. Meyer became private s
rotary to Secretary Fisher, and S
and Rotary Lane continued him in the
hose sition. Mr.. Never. like most Of
Cabinet private secretaries. is N
~ in ried and a father.
and When Secretary McAdoo came
Mt OF the Department last March he brou
ivate with him Byron L.. Newton. a hig
Hill. trained New York and Washine
Vice man, as his private Sc
an tary. Mr.. Newton has already
been his promotion to an assistant Sc
taryship and his place has been ia
men by another newspaper man, GeOrg
d in Cooksey.
was From the .AssOcitcd Press.
h Il. Mr.. CookSey is a native of w
from ington, who's entire
1901 roor hoe haap Sncpt in tho Soryic