| Show THE presidents CABINETS washington february 20 1893 president cleveland has given out considerable sid erable news about his coming cabinet so many ganv changes are made however in such things at the last moment that nothing is certain the cabinet history of the past is full of curiosities and I 1 have found this week some curious letters showing the troubles 0 presidents in this regard one from president polk asking james buchanan to be a member in his cabinet in it he states as a condition of the acceptance that he shall not be a candidate for the presidency or vice presidency while in the cabinet buchanan accepted the office as secretary of state on these conditions I 1 wonder if gresham has made the same promise to cleveland frank pierce wrote about a month after he was elected to buchanan telling him that he intended to put new men in his cabinet and in his letter concerning the cabinet he asks buchanan to burn this letter he said he intended to make up his cabinet before he left concord not got to washington to this buchanan replied that concord was not a very good place to make up a cabinet and advising him not to settle upon his ministers before he got to washington HOW DANIEL WEBSTER BULLDOZED PRESIDENT TYLER I 1 had quite a chat some time ago with gen john tyler the son and private secretary of president tyler he was close to his father during the whole of his administration and he has given me a large amount of unwritten history said he when my father succeeded to the presidency he continued president harrisons cabinet in office until he found that they were working against him his first cabinet meeting was held on the day succeeding the death of president harrison and it was perhaps the most remarkable cabinet meeting in history when all the members were present and the doors were closed daniel webster the secretary of state arose and addressed my father saying mr president I 1 suppose you intend to carry out the ideas and customs of your predecessor and that this administration inaugurated by president william harrison will continue in the same line of policy on which it has been begun am I 1 right my father much astonished nodded his head almost involuntarily and looked at mr webster with wonder daniel webster straightened himself up at this and continued mr president it was the custom in our cabinet meetings s of president harrison that the president should preside over them all measures relating to the administration were to be brought before the cabinet and their settlement was to be decided by the majority of votes each member of the cabinet and the president having but one vote my father was always courteous but he was also firm he had his own ideas of how his administration had to be managed and he was not backward in responding to this exhibition of adamantine cheek he rose to his feet and confronted webster and then looking about the cabinet room he said gentlemen I 1 am very proud to have in my cabinet such able statesmen as you OU have yourselves to be I 1 shall be pleased to avail myself of your counsel and advice but I 1 can never consent to being dictated to as to what I 1 shall not do I 1 am the president and I 1 shall be held responsible for my administration I 1 hope I 1 shall have your hearty co operation in carrying out its measures so long as you see fit to do this I 1 shall be gla glad ong to have you with me when you think otherwise I 1 will be equally glad to get your resignation this concluded gen tyler setta settled the question and there was no further trouble as to who was the head of the cabinet HOW JOHN C CALHOUN GOT INTO TYLERS CABINET I 1 spoke to gen tyler about john C calhoun and he told me how he became a member of his fathers cabinet against his fathers will it was all accomplished by henery A wise upshur who had been made secretary of state on the resignation of daniel webster was blown up on the princeton on the pote mac river in 1844 and this made a vacancy in in the cabinet t henry A wise said gen tyler was my fat fathers herts chief representative ia i congress and he took it upon himself to go as soon as he heard of Ups hurs death to macduffie the leading senator from south carlina and told him to write to john C calhoun that president tyler wanted him to accept the portfolio of the secretary ot of state he did this without saying a word to my father the next day he e came into the white house and told father what he had done he said the letter had been sent and to withdraw it would make the whole south angry my father was thunderstruck he gripped his chair with all his force and it was all he could do to keep from telling wise to get out of his s ight and never cross his path again but he remembered that wise was his chief friend in in congress and he did not dare break with him he never really forgave him and the situation was such that he had to appoint calhoun just at the time upshur died he be had completed a treaty for the annexation of texas and had he lived a few weeks longer this would have undoubtedly been consummated and the war with mexico would never have occurred oc cured tom benton hated bated calhoun and he threw all his weight against the treaty because calhoun had been made secretary of state and prevented its confirmation the result was the mexican war and it was all brought about by henry A wise PRESIDENT FOLKS CABINET president folks cabinet was made up with almost as much trouble as was that of president tyler john C calhoun wanted to remain the secretary of state but he was sacrificed to please martin van buren george bancroft was made secretary of the navy robert J T walker secretary of the treasury and john Y mason of virginia who was secretary of the navy in tylers eylers cabinet was made attorney general he was kept in the cabinet because he asked polk to keep him there he stated to his friends that he wanted a cabinet office for the money it brought said he 1 I hike the place and the salary will assist my virginia land and my negroes in the education of six six daughters and so he got the place HOW PRESIDENT HARRISON FORMED HIS CABINET no man outside of the president himself knows more about the formation of president harrisons cabinet than gen michener who was one of his chief lieutenants at chicago and who has for ten years been his most intimate friend I 1 chatted with him about the subject this afternoon afre moon said he there have been many stories about the making up of president harrisons Ham sons cabinet but few true ones the statement that ex senator platt of new york was offered the of the treasury or of any other place under the administration by president harrison before the nomination was made is false in toto no man had a promise or intimation ti of any kind from harrison before his nomination that he would be given an office by him no man had any such intimation or promise during the period between his nomination and election and there were no promises to speak of made before president harrison hamson came to washington he would not embarrass himself in in any way and as to the cabinet though he discussed offices and men he did not seriously begin in to consider appointments until at feast a month after his election blaine was the first man chosen and gen harri ham pon eon wrote to him and offered him the of state and I 1 am not sure but it is my impression that he received a letter accepting the appointment two or three days after his letter was sent the next appointment was I 1 think ahat of mr proctor as secretary of war senator proctor had never met gen harrison up to the time of the convention he came to chicago and quietly looked over the situation and there made up his mind that harrison was the man who should be nominated while the balloting was going on at about eleven one night he and goc cheney of new hampshire and mv cullough the railroad president of new york came to the headquarters of the indiana delegation and announced their intention of throwing their support to harrison they said a il that they intended to work and vote for him and that if the giving out of the fact would help his cause we were at liberty to do so we were of course glad to meet them and we scattered the information far and wide as soon as we could get hold of the newspaper men after the convention was over mr proctor went down to indianapolis in mcculloughs McCulloug hs private car and met harrison gen harrison was struck with proctors Proc ability and common sense he liked him at once and when he came to making up his cabinet he chose him both on the grounds of gratitude for his work at chicago and respect for his sterling abilities he knew also that the appointment would please new england and he was sure that he would make a good cabinet adviser secretary noble was highly recommended by attorney general miller president harrison had bad known him for years and liked him he came to indianapolis at the request of the president elect and he was afterward appointed to the interior department the appointment of gen rusk was made both on the grounds of friendship of his peculiar efficiency for the head of the department for which he was chosen and as a matter of gratitude for his action concerning the chicago convention As soon as he saw there was no chance for his own nomination he threw all his strength to harrison and sitting in his office in madison wis he kept the wires between that city and chicago hot with telegrams to his friends to vote and work for harrison few of hese appointments point ments were made until a short time before the inauguration and three were not settled upon definitely until harrison came to washington to be i abed these were I 1 think the appointments of tracy Wanamake rand miller the president had about decided as to them but not positively mr tracy had impressed him as a big man and as especially fitted for the head of the navy miller had been long associated with him in legal matters and john wanamaker had bad weight through his great natural ability as a business man and the recommendations of the national committee president harrison decides things very slowly he carefully and judiciously weighs every point and his decisions are made through reason rather than through feeling he chose his cabinet slowly and carefully and it seems to me that his selection has proved to be a good one EX postmaster GENERAL HATTON OF PRESIDENT ARTHURS CABINET mr frank hatton now editor of the washington post was postmaster general during the the latter part of president arthurs administration he was one of the first appointees that arthur made and he sent his name as assistant postmaster general in to the senate at the same time he did that of his first cabinet minister secretary folger the relations of president arthur and frank hatton were very close and president arthur advised with him during many matters of political policy from the time of garfielda Gar fields death at the close of his term in the white house I 1 doubt whether arthur had a truer friend or a more conscientious counselor I 1 called upon mr hatton yesterday at the office of the post and had a chat with him about the cabinet and its appointment I 1 found him very modest in his expressions concerning the matter but his story was interesting and I 1 give it as near as I 1 can as he gave it to me said he you remember the circumstances of president garfielda Gar fields death and the temper of the party part and of the country concerning it there there was a strong feeling against conkling and arthur the leaders of the republican party thought it had gone to smash and I 1 dont clont believe that senators sherman allison logan or any others of the then aspirants for the presidential nomination thought at the time that there was much hope of its successful revival president arthur understood the situation and he managed his a appointments ointments and liis administration so zy ably that he succeeded in bringing order out of the confusion and made possible the election of a republican successor when G garfield arfield died it was supposed that arthur representative element of the stalwart party as he was would take conkling into his cabinet and would choose men of this faction for all the positions this was the talk of the newspapers but when he came to make his appoint appointments appointment men ts he rose above factions and considered the interests of the country as well as those of his friends his adoption of the other course would have been decidedly unsafe at the time general arthur entered upon his duties there was a man behind nearly every blade of grass in the count country tr who had an idea that somehow or other he was mixed up with the assassination of garfield and had he appointed conkling he would have only added to the factional flames As soon as he took hold of the adminis administration the members of garfielda Gar fields cabinet sent in their resignations re he replied to them th that agh at he e would like to have them hold their positions until he could consider the matter carefully and make other appointments the first name that he sent into the senate was that of gov folger as secretary of the treasury and he gradually sent in other names until the only man left of garfielda Gar fields cabinet was robert lincoln he stayed until the close of the administration A WHITE HOUSE INTERVIEW 1 I was several times acting postmaster before I 1 was and confirmed as such when postmaster general howe died I 1 was made acting postmaster general for ten days and was then designated by the president to continue as postmaster general for ten days longer during this time some of my friends without my solicitation or knowledge urged president Art arthur hurto to appoint me postmaster general I 1 of course said nothing about it but when I 1 was calling upon him at the white house one day he said to me you would really be surprised at the number of letters I 1 have received asking for your appointment as postmaster general what have you to say about it and what would you think of such an appointment to this 1 I replied 1 d I 1 continued mr hatton that however however much I 1 might appreciate in my appointment to such a position I 1 dionot did not think it would be an advisable one for the president to make 1 I would like to know why not was president arthurs reply ill tell you why said I 1 samuel J kirkwood was in president garfield cabinet and you accepted his resignation he is an old man a distin distinguished shed man and a much loved man in iowa and if you now take a young man ana and an in in experienced encee man from the same state Kirk woods ds friends will think it is is a reflection on him and it will be a very bad a appointment apoi for you politically I 1 then asked ake d as to the other men who hai had been recommended to him and he sh show ow ed me the list and asked me who I 1 thought was the best of them I 1 told him that as far as politics were concerned that I 1 considered judge gresham of indiana as a good appointment he comes from a good state said I 1 and he is as far as I 1 know popular honest and able it was not long after this that judge groshams Gre shams name was sent i in as post postmaster maste r gen aral I 1 dont know that my words about him brought about his selection he had many friends and there was a strong movement in hi his favor HOW A postmaster GENERAL WAS MADE then secretary folger died gen haton went on and judge gresham was transferred from the post office to the treasury I 1 again became acting postmaster general and was again designated to hold the position ten days clays longer at the close of these ten days I 1 received a note from fred phillips the private secretary of the president saying that gen arthur would like to see me at the white house and that he intended to appoint me postmaster general I 1 went up to the executive mansion and I 1 found president arthur in mr phillips room the |
