Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-17

wanted it very earnestly indeed, and
having his cabinet and near-ca binet
and tennis cabinet quite well trained
and amenable to his wishes, usually
accomplished what he set out to do.
But. SO runs gossip in Washington, a
notable exception appeared when he
ran up against the then controller
of the Treasury. a gentleman of rug
J. Tracewell.
the President wanted to use a certain
appropriation in a certain way. The
Attorney General told him he thought
it would be all right, although there
might be a question. 1t was referred
to the controller of the Treasury, who
said No" The controller was sum-
moned to the White House and taken
into conference with the President and
members of the cabinet. confronted
with the opinion of the Attorney Gen.
eraI, and the suggestion was advanced
that he reverse himself.
The controller, explaining that his
ruling was merely the cold interpreta-
ton of the law and admitted of no re-
versal, suggested way out
You know. Mr.. President" said he.
respectfully, you can always get a
new controller of the Treasury
And that settled it, The president
gave up his plan. and there was no
new controller of the Treasury.
Federal law regarding the expendi-
ture of public funds Is an involved and
intricate maze. There are thousands
of limitations and thousands of excep-
lions, the result of l2b years OF legis-
lating In casting the language Of a
certain appropriation Congress. may
run counter to one of these and fail to
repeal except 1t. So what a law
says on its face is not always the
absolute law.
1t is the business of the controller
of the Treasury to be familiar with all
of these: to be equally familiar with
the many decisions of the federal
courts interpreting them and the basic
law,tand to stand guard in the Treas
ury to see that no money Is paid out
save in manner which squares abso-
lutely with the actual law.
1t is tradition in the office that the
men who have occupied 1t have pre-
served a high standard Of integrity
and independence. They have refused
to be stampeded by considerations of
expediency. Imperturbably they have
able occasions.
The controller of the Treasury sits
at a great hat-topped desk. Opposite
him sits his private secretary. Once
Controller Warwick sat in the posi-
ton opposite the controller. 1t took
him twenty-five years TO journey
around to the other side. a few feet
away And the trail was long, for It
led by way of other desks. by way Of a
Cincinnati law office. by way of Pan
anna, by way of still more desks in
the Treasury Department. and finally
to the goal
The story of the journey is the story
of the making of controller.
To begin with. Walter w. Warwick
was born March /. 1868. in Scioto
county, Ohio, but his parents moved
into Cincinnati when he was six years
old and he has called that city home
ever since In 1890 he was graduated
from the Cincinnati Law School and
began the practice of law. AT the same
time he got into politics. democratic
politics, which always are interesting
in Ohio.
In 1891 he ran for the state assembly,
and in 1893 for the Cincinnati city
council, and in both instances lost to
his republican opponent. Between
heats, namely In 1892, an eminent jurist
of opposite political faith, William
Howard Taft, who was then judge of
the United States circuit court at Gin
cinnati, engaged Mr.. Warwick as his
private secretary. for Judge Taft knew
him, admired him and had faith in him
That friendship. by the way. has con-
tinued ever since.
After losing his race for the CITY
council in 1898. Mr.. Warwick came to