Evening star., 1924-11-26

The cabinet members, often called
"The Presidents official family, VINO
are his confidential advisers. and
each one of whim is head of one of
the ten great departments OF Gov
ernment-State, Treasury, War. JUS
tice, Post Office, Navy. Interior. Agri-
culture, Commerce and Labor-is an
agency Of governmental administra-
tion of growing Importance, but not
provided for by law, existing only by
custom.
The cabinet is not mentioned in the
Constitution, although the members
have come to be known almost as
well as the President himself be-
cause of the Importance of their work
and the growth of their power. Al
most Invariably they are picked from
the same political party as the Pres
ident and are usually chosen so that
all sections Of the country are rep
resented In this way the President
seeks to secure strong political ad-
vice, to strengthen his following In
all parts of the country and to keep
in touch with public sentiment all
over the land.
AS each member Of the cabinet Is
placed in charge of one OF the great
departments of Government, employ
ing thousands of workers and ex-
lars, he should be chosen because of
his training and expert knowledge to
be an exceptionally well qualified ex-
ecutive in that particular field or
Government activity.
President's Privilege.
The President may include in his
cabinet any executive officer, whether
or not he is the head of any execu-
tive department. Thus the Attorney
General was a member of the cabinet
from the very beginning of the
United States Government, although
he did not become the head of an
executive department for more than
fourscore years, or until 1870. And,
although the Postmaster General was
a member of the cabinet from Jack
sons time, his department did not
become an executive department until
1872
But while the cabinet meets in
formally with the President and ad.
viSes him on matters of party policy
or administration of Uncle Sam S
business, he is in no way bound by
their counsel. because under the Con-
stitution he alone is responsible for
executive management of the great
business organization, the United
States Government.
Following the adoption of the Fed
eral Constitution, the first execu-
tive agency created by Congress was
the Department of Foreign Affairs,
established by act OF Congress, July
u, 1889, and on September Is of the
same year the name was changed TO
department of State" which ii car
ries today. The War Department I
was established by act of August Z.
io.in Ilu tpiN ic
diction over both military and naval
affairs. over land grants to veterans
for military service and over the Gov
ernment's dealings with the Indians.
The Treasury Department was estab-
lished by act of September 2, the
same year. The office of the Attorney
General, the forerunner of the De-
partment of Justice. was created by
act OF September "a, 1889.
This constituted the first cabinet
composed of the Secretary OF State,
the Secretary of War, the Secretary
of the Treasury and the Attorney
General, who was legal adviser to
the President and the heads of the
then three executive departments.
Navy Department Created.
Nine years later the Navy Depart
ment was created and it took from
the War Department Jurisdiction over
naval affairs. including naval pen
sions. Then for more than so years
the organization of the executive
brbanch of the Government remained
on substantially this basis.
A temporary Postmaster General
had been provided for by the act OF
September %. 1889, and by the act
of May s. 1894, a general post office
was established-to have supervision
over postal affairs-with a Postmaster
General in charge. But this estab-