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Show No Dress-Suit For Garland Arkansas Senator, When Offered Attorney At-torney Generalship, Said That He Couldn't Take Part In Society So-ciety Affairs in Washington. After President-elect Grover Cleveland Cleve-land had resigned the office of governor gover-nor or New York and taken part in the ceremony by which he formally transferred' that office to David B. Hill, the lieutenant governor, he began be-gan the difficult work of cabinet making. mak-ing. As he had rarely visited Washington' Wash-ington' and was without intimate acquaintance ac-quaintance with any of the leading men of his party outside New York state, he felt that It 'was essential that he should have in his cabinet men who had been In close touch with public pub-lic life, and especially the 'public life which concentrates at Washington. For that reason Cleveland decided that it was imperative that he should choose a majority of his cabinet from the group of able Democratic senators in congress, and he sent, in the order named, for Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, Dela-ware, John G. Carlisle of Kentucky, L. Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, Augustus Augus-tus H. Garland of Arkansas, and offered of-fered them, respectively, the posts of secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of the interior and attorney general. Senators Bayard, Carlisle and Lamar La-mar gave almost Instant acceptance to the invitations of the president-elect to enter his cabinet But when the offer of the attorney generalship was made to Senator Garland Mr. Cleveland Cleve-land noticed that it was received hesitatingly hes-itatingly and almost as though the former for-mer confederate senator from and former for-mer governor of Arkansas was going to give a peremptory but courteous declination to enter the cabinet. Now Mr. Cleveland had a very high regard for the ability and the character charac-ter of Senator Garland. He knew that the Arkansan was esteemed as able a lawyer as any that had sat in the senate sen-ate chamber since the civil war, ranking rank-ing in that respect with Senator Ailed G. Thurman of Ohio, who had left thq senate four years earlier, and with Senator George F. Edmunds of Ver raont, who was to leave that body si. years later. Therefore, when he ncx tlced that Senator Garland hesitated to accept the cabinet post, Cleveland asked him point blank If he did not think he should be willing to forego his personal preference to remain In the senate In order that he might serve his country and his party to bet ter advantage, perhaps, as attorney general. "To that question," said the lata Daniel Lamont. who told me the anec dote, having had It from Cleveland direct di-rect when he was that president's private pri-vate secretary, "Senator Garland replied re-plied that he should esteem It a great honor to serve as attorney general, but that he ought not to accept ths offer without a clear understanding on the part of Mr. Cleveland of one objection ob-jection which he had to entering tha cabinet. " 'I am a student, absorbed in my duties as senator and in some profest sional work,' said Senator Garland. '1 am utterly unfitted by temperament and experience to take any part in ths social life which Is one of the charac teristics deemed essential If a cabinet officer is to be successful. I do not attend public dinners and I give no dinners. To do that would cause me embarrassment." " 'Judge Garland,' said the governor and he couldn't help smiling broad ly 'all that need give you no concert at all. It will be understood between us that your present manner of life is to be respected. "When Senator Garland heard thli cordial recognition of what he was afraid would be regarded as a defeci that would bar him from cabinet asso elation, he assured Mr. Cleveland thai nothing would give him greater gratl flcatlon than to enter the cabinet wltt that understanding." (Copyright, 1910, by E. J. Edwards. Al Rights Reserved..) |