Evening star., 1924-11-30
Capital Sidelights

thority before there was a President.
, Under the Articles of Confederation,
the Continental Congress passed a
resolution for the esta biishment OF a
board of war and ordnance and also
commonly known as the war office.
At first this board consisted Of five
members of the Continental Congress.
Later new board of war, consist
ing of three persons not members of
the Congress, was established, and
that board, even at that early period,
was known as "the War Department"
In February. 1881. the Congress
recommended the consideration of a
plan for the arrangement of the sew
eral executive departments of the
United States, and thereupon estab-
lished the office, among others, of
Secretary of War. This officer re-
placed the board of war. His duties
were prescribed in considerable de-
tail and He was authorized ito carry
into effect all ordinances and resolu-
tions OF Congress for raising and
equipping troops for the service Of
the United States" and Ito direct the
arrangement, destination and opera
tfon OF such troops"
Thus is will be SEEM said Secre-
tary Weeks, that the Secretary Of
War under the Confederation was en-
to military matters little short of
those vested in the President as COM
mander-in-chicf of the Army and
Navy under the Constitution"
In the organization OF the Govern
mcnt under the Constitution, Con-
gress, on August Z, 1883, proceeded
to establish the Department of War,
with principal officer therein to be
known as the Secretary for the Depart
ment of War, who shall perform and
execute such duties as shall. from time
to time, be enjoined on or intrusted
to him by the President Of the United
States, agreeable to the Constitution.
relative to military commissions, or
to the land or naval forces, chips or
warlike stores of the United States.
or to such other matters respecting
military or naval affairs which the
President of the United States shall
assign to said department" The
fourth section of this act directed
that the Secretary should forthwith
after his appointment be entitled to
have the custody and charge of all
records. books and papers in the
Office Of the Secretary fo- the De-
partment of War heretofore estab.
lished by the United States in Con-
gress assembled" The new Secretary
Of War then directly succee led the
old Secretary OF War OF the Confed-
GRAFTON, actually taking over his Of
hce, records. books and papers. so
the War Department can Justly be
said to antedate the Constitution.
The superior executive functions
respecting military affairs which
were vested in the Secretary Of War
under the Confederation were alb
sorbed into the higher office Of Presi-
dent under the Constitution.
Secretary James J. Davis, who IS
soon to retire from the cabinet, IS
today a polished gentleman, but in
his youth he knew the agony of a
peonage camp on the Louisiana teyee
but even in those bitter days Il his
rugged youth self-sacr1ficing, whole
handed devotion to his associates vas
predominant characteristic.
When the ironworkers In BirminH-
ham struck for more pay. hs with q
trainload OF his fellow strikers went
to Louisiana. New Orleans was then
a popular Winter resort. That Davis
boy got job in a boarding house
where he carried groceries, peeled po-
tatoes, scrubbed the kitchen fioor and
built the fires in the guests rooms
for which he received a dollar a day
with the privilege (an outErowth OF
custom with colored help Of carry
ing away what he wished of what
would otherwise have been garbage
left on the boarders' dishes
In those desperate times man
for cents could get glass of
beer and floor room to sleep, called
Five Cent Flop" Each night young
Davis hard-earned dollar went to
provide such accommodation for a
score of his fellow strikers. and his
nightly -four sack half filled with
biscuits, cold pancakes, corn bread,
chicken necks and wings. and scraps
of steaks made a feast for the
strikers.
Finally the gang from the flop
house was dazzled by an employment
agent who offered to ship them into
the rice country to work on the levee
for dollar day and cakes. Davis
trailed along with them to dyke
building camp. There a vertiable
Simon Legree, descendant OF Span
tSh English buccaneers OF pfratical
ancestry and cutthroat manners, set
him to handle a mule team and
scraper, despite his youth and mex
perience. Result-the mules threw
him under the scraper where he was
beautifully mangled. Then the Simon
Legree boss kicked him out of the
camp penniIess. A sympathetic cook
gave him a hunk of raw bacon and
"bait" of Plowboy tobacco-and so
he hit the road back to New Orleans
-35 miles. He decided, like Queen
Isabella, to pawn his jewels to en-
able him to discover America again.
He had on old ring, met a darky
who had a quarter, and he got the
ring.
Back in New Orleans he traded his
Plowboy tobacco for a bar Of laundry
soap and with his 25 cents bought
a cotton undershirt. Then he went
into the Jungle" at Algiers, across
the river from New Orleans, where.
in hoboes' camp, he built a fire and
heated water in rusty tin pail.
When he stripped and threw his un-
derclothing away, negro said:
white man, you throwing those
clothes away-them's Northern un-
derclothes wool in 'em, kind I like"
Davis explained: You wouldn't like
those, cause in the seams there's
something unseemly, I'm just out of
a 1evee camp"
Hush, mouf, white boy" laughed
the negro, them little things never
bother a Louisiana niger, We Jus
call 'em our little companions" as
he walked off with the garments
proud and happy.
Davis parboiled his body and
boiled his clothing in the lye-satu-
rated water-then went back and got
his boarding house job. A month
later his old gang came back from
the peon camp, having received not
cent for their toll, and lucky to
have escaped. with their lives. their
coolies and their appetite. Davis
financed them again till the strike
was over and they all went back to
Birmingham to look for the speiler