The Washington times., 1921-04-03

sluet tne washington fostOHiCe.
. sHe looked like some sort Of
guard. ABOUT the premises who was
too tired to stand UP apd SO did
his guarding sitting in chair.
My friend had got 80 accustomed
to inquiring our way to the office
of Secretary Hughes, and of Sec
retary Weeks, and so on. that he
asked where we would find Sec
retary Hays.
The man looked at us very con-
temptously. "The postmaster gen.
eralr at length he doomed. Well.
he was on the ffth moor. As we
stepped from the car my friend re-
marked on the practice universal
In Washington of men removing
their hats when In the presence OF
women In elevators.
Our appointment was for ten
o'clock. We had got quite used,
however. to waiting an hour or so
for the gentlemen we, sought to
see. Several other callers were
ahead of us here. and we sat down
in the outer office when he had
presented cards to "a very kind and
attentive young man who appeared
to be in charge.
Within a very few minutes, how
ever, we were ushered round into a
secluded inner office. ''The gem
eral." the young man said will
be in in a moment. He sees them
in two different rooms at the same
time" This large room was en-
tirely bare of painting or other
decorations.
Speaking of decorations reminds
me of the striking handsomeness
of the Cabinet officers we had 30
far been seeing. Beginning with
the President himself (prize win
ner of the lot in this respect) the
spectacle Of this Administration
had up to this moment been a
regular beauty show.
The physiognomy of Mr.. Hays,
of course. strikes a somewhat diff
ferent note in the picture. Though
he is not. l should say. as funny
looking as some Of his pictures
suggest.
TIE fairly leaped into the room.
II Spidery figure. Calls you by
your last name without the prefix
of Mister. Very. very earnest in .ef-
feet. No questions necessary to get
him started. He began at once to
talk. Poured forth a steady stream
Of rapid utterance. Denounced the
idea of labor as commodity"
Said: I'VE have a big job here.
Three hundred thousand employees.
Millions of customers. 1t think we
can do 1t all right. though. But our
people in the department all over
the country everywhere must be
made to feel that a human spirit is
behind them. It's because of the
spirit behind them whether our men
throw a letter on the floor before
a door or put II through a door.
Made a gesture with his hand Illus
trating putting a letter through n
door. Looked very hard at the very
clean top of his desk much OF the
time as he talked. Now and then
looked very straight indeed at us.
Gave us a generous amount OF his
time. At length arose very briskly.
Routed us out around through
some side way. Had a private ele-
vator concealed somewhere In
dark corner. Turned us over to the
colored man in charge Of 1t with the
request. Wont you please take my
friends DOWN"
As we were crossing the street we
n ran into our old friend from
New York, who edits a very flourish
ing women's magazine. Down here,
he said. to get an article from Mrs.
Harding. Had found her altogether
willing to supply him with an arti-
Gle. but In so much Of a fiutter with
her new activities that she didn't
see her way to finding time soon to
write 1t. What, We asked, was the
article to be about? Well. Mrs.
Harding's idea was to revive all the