Part 10

The fact that he is drawing a "disability" pension puts him on the list as disabled and unable to perform the amount of labor that is expected of a sound man, and it seems like misplaced generosity on the part of our government to thus place a handicap upon the young ex-soldier in his search for employment, as it is well known that a large percentage of the young men that served in the war with Spain depend upon manual labor for a livelihood.

Mr. Eugene F. Ware, the late Commissioner, issued the following table to show the difference between the regulars and volunteers of the Spanish-American War:

──────────────────────────┬────────┬─────────┬─────────┬────────── REGIMENTS │_Killed_│_Wounded_│_Missing_│ _Claims │ │ │ │filed for │ │ │ │pensions_ ──────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────── Volunteers— │ │ │ │ 1st—District of Columbia│ 0│ 0│ 0│ 472 9th—Massachusetts │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 685 33d—Michigan │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 573 34th Michigan │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 615 8th Ohio │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 652 ──────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────── Total │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 2,997 │ │ │ │ Regulars— │ │ │ │ 6th U. S. Infantry │ 17│ 106│ 17│ 162 7th U. S. Infantry │ 23│ 93│ 0│ 249 13th U. S. Infantry │ 18│ 90│ 0│ 87 16th U. S. Infantry │ 13│ 107│ 17│ 143 24th U. S. Infantry │ 12│ 75│ 6│ 123 ──────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────── Total │ 83│ 471│ 40│ 764 ──────────────────────────┴────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────

It is believed that this spectacle, which indicates lack of patriotism, is due to the solicitation of the pension agent, who received $20 for every pension secured. Now this condition of things is an outrage. The name of every man who receives a pension should be published. If he really deserves it, no other citizen will object; if not, he should be scorched by the community.

Is it any wonder that with such a raid upon the United States Treasury that the pension work is slow, and that many soldiers and widows of soldiers of the Civil War have not yet received their deserved pensions?

It seems to me the following extract from the report of the Commissioner of Pensions, in reference to illegalities connected with applications, may be of interest as showing the condition of affairs in 1902:

The 226 indictments tried, which resulted in convictions, were based upon the following charges:

False claim 64 False certification 26 False affidavit 16 False personation 5 Perjury 40 Forgery 18 Illegal fee 26 Personating government officer 21 Retaining pension certificate 2 Prosecuting claims while a government officer 4 Conspiracy 2 Embezzlement 1 Attempted bribery 1

It has been the uniform practise not to recommend prosecution in any case unless the criminal intent of the parties was clearly shown; and in the cases of soldiers and their dependents, to resolve every doubt in their favor, and not to recommend prosecution where it was apparent that they had been drawn into a violation of the law by others. As a result of this practise, the majority of the convictions secured were against attorneys, agents, sub-agents, magistrates, and others responsible for the preparation and filing of false and fraudulent claims and evidence, and those who falsely personated soldiers or soldiers' widows.

Eugene F. Ware succeeded Mr. Evans as Commissioner of Pensions early in 1902. Mr. Ware is a Kansas man, prominent both in the literature and politics of that State for the last twenty-five years. He has stirred up matters in the Pension Bureau by making even the humblest clerk feel that good work will meet with promotion, and that no influence can keep inefficiency in that responsible place. He has also announced that no one who habitually uses intoxicants can be entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the aged and indigent soldiers, forlorn widows, and helpless children. The consequence is some have been dismissed for drunkenness, others have resigned, others have quit their cups. Mr. Ware comes from a state where prohibition has made the jail a useless building except for storing the great surplus of corn. One of his poems says:

The horse-thief went, the cowboy joined the church, The justice of the peace is laughed to scorn; The constable has tumbled from his perch, The school has left the sheriff in the lurch— The jail is full of corn.

His poem on John Brown, the hero of freedom, satisfies. The first three verses read as follows:

States are not great except as men may make them; Men are not great except they do and dare. But states, like men, have destinies that take them That bear them on, not knowing why or where.

The why repels the philosophic searcher, The WHY and WHERE all questionings defy, Until we find, far back in youthful nurture, Prophetic facts that constitute the why.

All merit comes from braving the unequal, All glory comes from daring to begin; Fate loves the state that, reckless of the sequel, Fights long and well, whether it lose or win.

Mr. Ware was Commissioner of Pensions from May 10, 1902, to January 1, 1905. Then, much to the regret of President Roosevelt, he resigned. Mr. Vespasian Warner, of Clinton, Ill., was appointed Commissioner January 16, 1905. Mr. Warner had an honorable record as member of Congress from 1895 to the time of his appointment as Commissioner. During the last four years fewer complaints have come from the Pension Office than in former years.

XXV STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS

THE State, War, and Navy departments are in one handsome four-storied granite building, with a frontage of 343 feet and a depth of 565 feet, situated on Pennsylvania Avenue, just west of the White House. The building is one of the handsomest in the city, being of the French Rennaissance, modified by American ideas. It has five hundred rooms and two miles of marble halls. In the west wing of the building the Secretary of War, Hon. Elihu Root, and General Miles, Commander of the Army, have handsome rooms for themselves and their many assistants. In the east wing can be found the Secretary of the Navy and rooms for the Admirals and their corps of helpers, and in the south wing the popular Secretary of State, the Hon. John Hay, with a comparatively small number of assistants.

STATE DEPARTMENT

In the department of the Secretary of State one sees the portraits of all the great men who have occupied the position of Secretary of State from the time of Washington down to the present occupant. Most people would be interested in the Huntington portraits of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, and in a copy of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington. In the State Department the most interesting are the portraits of Thomas Jefferson, 1789, Washington's first term; Daniel Webster, 1841 and 1850; William H. Seward, 1861 and 1865; Elihu B. Washburne, 1869; Hamilton Fish, 1869; William M. Evarts, 1877; James G. Blaine, 1881 and 1889; and F. T. Frelinghuysen, 1881. A portrait of Lord Ashburton recalls the "Ashburton Treaty" of 1842, which defined the boundaries between the United States and the British Possessions in North America, and provided for the suppression of the slave-trade.

In the State Department are some of the most precious archives of the nation. Here can be found the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution with the original signatures. Here can be seen the handwriting of most of the rulers of the world during the last hundred years affixed to treaties. One of the most unique of these is a treaty with Japan. The clear Japanese characters cover many pages, the royal signature is at the top, and you read from the bottom. The treaty was brought to Washington by two Japanese officials of high rank, who were charged with its safe delivery on penalty of their lives. One day they triumphantly entered the State Department bearing aloft on two bamboo poles a curiously constructed box, in which was the precious document. They were greatly relieved when they saw it safely deposited with the Secretary of State.

Here are the papers of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson; here are all the flags taken in all the wars in which the United States have engaged.

The diplomatic rooms are of great beauty. Here Mr. Knox receives foreign ministers, consuls, and special messengers from foreign lands. Here at almost any time can be seen members of some of the thirty-five foreign embassies and legations. Many of these legations own and maintain handsome residences. A statement prepared by District Assessor Darneille shows that foreign governments own over $500,000 worth of real property in the District of Columbia, the estimated value of the land being $330,776, and the improvements $284,500. The French and Chinese governments have recently purchased valuable tracts of land, and erected magnificent legation buildings which will increase the value of property held by foreign governments to nearly $1,000,000.

Probably the most characteristic feature of both political and social life in Washington is afforded by the presence of these legations. The members are more conspicuous here than at any other national capital in the world, except, possibly, Peking. Not to speak of Asiatic costumes and customs, European manners and morals, if we except those of England and Germany, which are much the same as our own, contrast most decidedly with their American correspondents. Most of the men are pure pagans— cynics and materialists. They look upon a profession of Christianity at its best as a mark of intellectual weakness, and at its worst of hypocrisy. Their own faces, however, do not indicate that they are exceptionally broad-minded or good and sincere men.

I have seen them in public receptions stand on one side and chatter in French, Spanish, or Italian, poking all sorts of fun at the hostess and her entertainment, and then, as she approached, rush to greet her with a mock homage which made my flesh creep. I have heard them declare that "all Americans are cads," and the next instant prove the less sweeping proposition that "all cads are not Americans" by fulsome compliments to a distinguished Justice or Senator.

They, however, dispense a generous hospitality, and society, which has learned to estimate them by their own cynical standards, and is neither elated by their smiles nor annihilated by their snubs, cultivates them as best suits its own purpose.

The United States supports abroad thirty-eight embassies and legations, consisting of ministers, secretaries, and attachés, besides about one thousand consuls.

* * * * *

The Congressional Directory gives the personal history of Secretary Knox as follows:

PHILANDER CHASE KNOX, Secretary of State (1527 K Street), was born in Brownsville, Pa., May 6, 1853, son of David S. and Rebekah Knox; his father was a banker in Brownsville; graduated at Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, in 1872; entered the law office of H. B. Swope, Pittsburg, Pa., and was admitted to the bar in 1875; was assistant United States District Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1876; was elected president of the Pennsylvania Law Association in 1897; was made Attorney-General in the Cabinet of President McKinley in 1901 as successor to Hon. John William Griggs, of New Jersey, resigned, and was sworn into office April 9, 1901; was the choice of President Roosevelt for Attorney-General in his Cabinet, and was confirmed by the Senate December 16, 1901; resigned that office June 30, 1904, to accept appointment as United States Senator, tendered by Governor Pennypacker June 10, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Hon. M. S. Quay, and took his seat December 6; was elected by the Legislature in January, 1905, for the term ending March 3, 1911; resigned as Senator March 4, 1909, to accept the position of Secretary of State, and was nominated, confirmed and commissioned March 5.

Congress had to repeal the act raising the salary of the Secretary of State before Mr. Knox could take the position, because he was in the Senate when the salary was raised.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT

In time of war or just following a war the most interesting department is that which was lately occupied by Elihu Root and William H. Taft. Mr. Root is noted as a great corporation lawyer, and at first seemed to consider that the government of the United States could be run on the same principles as a great corporation—that is, "We shall do as we please in spite of public opinion." But he was severely brought to task for this. Later he became Secretary of State.

In spite of this, the report of this department, dated December, 1901, shows difficult, conscientious, magnificent work performed by the War Department since the close of the war with Spain. Possibly the quiet prejudice which existed throughout the country against Mr. Root was largely the result of his treatment of General Miles. He did not like the old General, but the country did. Mr. Root could do many splendid things before the farmer, who only reads his weekly paper and to whose brain new things come slowly, forgave him for rudeness to a man of the people, whose merit had placed him at the head of the army. Any one who thinks he wins favor by calling General Miles "old fuss and feathers," as some newspapers do, quite forgets that the American people like fuss and feathers.

In spite of the above, Mr. Root is a great patriotic man, who, with mental ability enough to earn $100,000 per year, gives his country the benefit of his talents for what must seem to him the modest sum of $12,000. As an organizer and great executive officer he had no superior in the government employ. His last report shows the army located as follows:

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARMY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1901

──────────────────┬──────────┬─────────┬─────── COUNTRY │_Officers_│_Enlisted│_Total_ │ │ men_ │ ──────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────── United States │ 1,922│ 31,952│ 33,874 Philippine Islands│ 1,111│ 42,128│ 43,239 Cuba │ 166│ 4,748│ 4,914 Porto Rico │ 51│ 1,490│ 1,541 Hawaiian Islands │ 6│ 250│ 256 China │ 5│ 157│ 162 Alaska │ 17│ 510│ 527 ──────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────── Total │ 3,278│ 81,235│ 84,513 ──────────────────┴──────────┴─────────┴───────

[In this table are included the 4,336 men of the Hospital Corps and the 25 officers and 815 men of the Porto Rico Provisional Regiment, leaving the strength of the Regular Army 3,253 officers and 76,084 enlisted men.

In addition there are also in the Philippines 172 volunteer surgeons, appointed under section 18 of the act of February 2, 1901, and 98 officers and 4,973 native scouts.]

Of course, now that the war in the Philippines is practically over, many more men have returned to the United States.

In reading Mr. Root's report, nothing impresses one more than the splendid arrangement for the better education of army officers, not only as to military tactics, but for full intellectual equipment. Enlisted men who fit themselves by study, and retain good characters by passing complete civil-service examination, become eligible to official positions among the regulars. Also officers of volunteer regiments by the same process become eligible to official positions in the regular army.

Mr. Root recommended that officers of the National Guard, or officers of former volunteers, be permitted in their vacations to study with regular army officers at West Point, and at the army post schools, so that we may never again be caught without competent officers for volunteer regiments. His report contains full accounts of the forming of the new government in Cuba, the Cuban Constitution, a full account of all the troubles in the Philippines, the wonderful work accomplished by the signal corps, the territorial and military divisions of the Philippines, and recommendations as to the proper currency and system of banking necessary in our Oriental possessions.

He recommended the purchase of the lands of the friars, who could not continue to hold their possession peacefully on account of the hostility of the people, whom they have grossly wronged.

His account of the very valuable unexplored timber lands of the islands, and the industries needed, made his report of great practical importance.

Men of the United States army have always been noted for their high standard of honor. The country believes in the integrity of the officers of the regular army. When any of them fail themselves and betray the trust imposed in them, it causes a shock to public feeling such as malfeasance in no other official position ever produces. To an unusually large extent they have been worthy of the trust reposed in them by a great nation.

The French are no more jealous of the good name of their army than are Americans. The person who takes away the good name of our brave, patriotic, self-sacrificing men, "who are a-doing and a-dying" in the Philippines, because of the evil actions of less than one-twentieth of their number, deserves public execration. The least we can do for our army is to give them their hard-earned laurels unspoiled.

The following sketch of Mr. Root, now Senator from New York, is taken from "Who's Who in America":

Secretary of State from July 1, 1905, until March 4, 1909; born in Clinton, N. Y., February 15, 1845; son of Oren and Nancy Whitney (Buttrick) Root; graduated from Hamilton College in 1864, where his father was for many years professor of mathematics; taught at Rome Academy in 1865; graduated from the University Law School of New York in 1867; (LL.D., Hamilton, 1896; Yale, 1900; Columbia, 1904; New York University, 1904; Williams, 1905; Princeton, 1906; University of Buenos Ayres, 1906; University of San Marcos of Lima, 1906; Harvard, 1907); married January 8, 1878, Clara, daughter of Salem H. Wales, of New York; U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, 1883-85; delegate-at-large to the State Constitutional Convention in 1894, and chairman judiciary committee; appointed Secretary of War, August 1, 1899, by President McKinley; reappointed March 5, 1901; resigned February 1, 1904; became Secretary of State, U. S., July 1, 1905. Member Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in 1903; temporary chairman Republican National Convention in 1904. Trustee of Hamilton College, Carnegie Institution, Washington; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; President Union League Club (New York), 1898-99; president New York City Bar Association, 1904-05; president American Society of International Law, 1906.

XXVI STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS (Continued)

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT

THE offices of the Navy Department are situated in the same building as those of the War Department. The Secretary of the Navy occupies some of these handsome rooms. On their walls are the pictures of eighteen Secretaries, more than half the number of those who have occupied the high place being yet unrepresented. Secretary Long urged that the pictures of those yet waiting should be secured and given a place among these worthies. Down to Lincoln's day the following persons occupied the place of Secretary of the Navy:

During Washington's administration the Secretaries of the Navy were also Secretaries of War. Three men occupied the double position: Gen. Henry Knox, of Massachusetts; Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts; and James McHenry, of Maryland. In John Adams's administration the Navy was made a separate department. The Secretaries of the Navy since 1798 have been as follows: Benjamin Stoddert, of Maryland; Robert Smith, of Maryland; Jacob Crowninshield, of Massachusetts; Paul Hamilton, of South Carolina; William Jones, of Pennsylvania; Benjamin W. Crowninshield, of Massachusetts; Smith Thompson, of New York; Samuel L. Southard, of New Jersey; John Branch, of North Carolina; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire; Mahlon Dickerson, of New Jersey; James K. Paulding, of New York; George E. Badger, of North Carolina; Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia; David Henshaw, of Massachusetts; Thomas W. Gilmer, of Virginia; John Y. Mason, of Virginia; George Bancroft, of Massachusetts; William B. Preston, of Virginia; William A. Graham, of North Carolina; John P. Kennedy, of Maryland; James C. Dobbin, of North Carolina; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut. Since then have come John Faxon, Adolph E. Bane, Geo. M. Robeson, Watson Goff, Jr.; N. H. Hunt, Wm. E. Chandler, Wm. C. Whitney, Benj. F. Tracy, H. A. Hobart, John D. Long, M. H. Moody, Paul Morton, Chas. J. Bonaparte, S. H. Newberry and George von L. Meyer. Mr. Long resigned in 1902, and was succeeded by Mr. Moody, who later was transferred to the Supreme Court. Of Mr. Meyer the Directory says:

GEORGE VON LENGERKE MEYER, of Hamilton, Mass., Secretary of the Navy, is trustee Provident Institution for Savings, Boston; director Old Colony Trust Company, Boston, Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, Manchester, N. H., and United Electric Securities Company, Boston; was a member of the city government of Boston, 1890-1892; member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1892-1896; Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1894-1896; Republican national committeeman, 1898 to 1905; confirmed as ambassador to Italy December 14, 1900; transferred as ambassador to Russia March 8, 1905; recalled in February, 1907, to enter the Cabinet as Postmaster-General, and took oath of office March 4, 1907, holding that post until March 6, 1909, when he took oath of office as Secretary of the Navy.

Now that the United States has become a world power, the navy is the right arm of the government in taking needed supplies to our distant colonies, and in protecting with devoted care the property of America the world over.