The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-04-02
new CABINET
SEEMS TO Be
HAPPY FAMILY
Members Are Taking Hold Of
Jobs With Enthusiasm
Show Zeal for Success
Harmony Prevails.
HARD TO FIND HELPERS
RT MARK SULLIVAN

BY MARK SULLIVAN
WASHINGTON. D. c., April 2-lf
the reader distant from Washington
would like to get an impression OF
how the new administration has taken
hold, he can have an approximate sub
stitute for such a personal impression,
in the shape of a summary of the OBJ
servations Of the newspaper men here.
The newspaper men see the president
and each of the cabinet officials in
informal conferences at least once
week and in several cases frequently.
In addition, individual newspapermen
have frequent personal contacts with
cabinet members.
Out Of these conferences and other
contacts 1t is easy to assemble the ma
terial for a reasonably accurate i'm
preston, as to how things are going.
In this impression the outstanding
feature is what we have all learned
during the war to speak of as NOR
ale"
The cabinets morale is good-neces-
sarily it ought to be good. Any new
group of men taking hold of a job is
fairly certain to start out with fresh
enthusiasm but the particular aspect
OF morale noticeable in this case is the
solidarity and unity of the cabinet. AS
a whole they are obviously a happy
family. They are obviously in agree
ment in practically all questions, OBJ
viously eager not to be opinionated or
take stands on personal points of view
anxious to be generously helpful to
each other and to contribute every
thing possible toward success for the
administration as a whole.
Show Teamwork.
The fact is that as things stand
today the most obvious feature of the
Impressions picked up by an observer
is the generous and effective team
work of the cabinet as whole.
The recollection you have Of any
conference, with . cabinet member is
the pleasure he has In his associations.
his affection for President Harding.
and his zeal for success, on the part
both of his fellow cabinet members
and the administration as whole.
Next to this, the outstanding i'm
preston is that for the present the
thing that the various cabinet mem
bers are most intent on and the field
in which they have rnAde mc6t prog-
ress is what may be called the govern
cleared up, in establishing a prompt
and orderly youtine for the dispatch
of business, III getting the desks clear
ed and in attending with business-like
promptness to things that come up,
the cabinet makes an impression
which leaves nothing to be desired.
There are more business men in this
cabinet than in any previous one for
nearly a generation. Mellon, Weeks,
Davis, Wallace, Fall and Derby have
all had strikingly successful careers
as business men. Hays has not had a
business career but his is essentially
energetic and organizing personality,
and none Of the others gives more
clearly the picture Of a live wire
business man. Hughes, of course, is
wholly a lawyer, but he is much more
the business man type of lawyer than
other secretaries Of state like Bryan,
Colby and John Hay.
Helpers Big Task.
In the effort to make for efficiency
in a business way the cabinet mem
bers are handicapped by the difficulty
of getting good assistance. AS re
spects appointments and patronage
the public is probably cynical. Recall
ing what has happened in the begin
ming of previous administrations the
public probably pictures the waiting
rooms of the cabinet members as filled
with party workers looking for their
rewards.
There is some of this, but very much
less than on previous occasions. Gov
ernment jobs are not attractive as
they used to be. The changing value
of the dollar has been recognized by
business, but not by the government
Business now rewards its workers sc
much better than the government that
Il government job is less sought after
than in the old days.
A newSpaperman who goes from!
/ cabinet office to cabinet office, and
whom in his talks with cabinet mem
bers cannot help overhearing mucL
that is going on over the telephone
and otherwise gets distinctly the i'm
preston that the cabinet is less EN-
barrassed in satisfying the smaller
party workers than in getting able
men to leave their private business
and go to work for the government
at smaller salaries.
The job seekers bore them mildly
but the wish to get able assistants
burns in their mind. You would think
1t would De easy TO get SucceSSfu
business men who have achieved q
competence 10 come to Washington
for the sake of distinction and service
in the spirit in which the dollar-a-yeal
men came during the war. Many o
the cabinet members thought it would
be easy and some of them still enter
tain the hope of achieving it, even
after month of disappointment.
One small detail that makes life ir
Washington in spite of it's many at
fractions less tempting to men wht
have won success and assured posi-
tions elsewhere is the fact that in thu
rigidly arranged social hierarchy o.
Washington, the wives of heads o
bureaus of the sort to which these
men are invited must take positions o
distasteful inferiority. questions of SC
cial precedence and the whole mechan
ism of what is called society" cut ,
larger figure in Washington than il
other American cities. Too much i'm
portance is attached to it. and to,
much of the vitality of hard WORKED
men is consumed in the formal din
ner giving and other functions t.
which local custom attaches so mucl
eancfifv