6
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND, DECEMBER 8, 1912.
(( "e" 111 N 1 fcJSSS
.sir? f--...
fiCRCcf HNU WIAT WILlOU HAV
President Has More Than 10,000 Sweet Political idorsels to Dispense, Flavored
With Salaries From $20,000 Doum Army of Office Seekers Will Have Tempting
Catalogue to Choose From What the Higher Offices Are and What They Pay
pit ' -i
r r
fi":l I
4 Ws
13
ri!
' '-WW
sr O you wish office from the Presl-
I dent-elect?
That quadrennial horde, the
grand army of office seekers, Is plan
ning to besiege Princeton and, later,
to Invade Washington.
Excited by a subliminal belief that
the Democrats will let down the civil
service barriers, to some degree at least,
this hungry throng will be more vo
racious and more numerous than it has
been In a score of years.
I have just made Inquiry at the
civil service commission and have as
certained that President Wilson will
have In his direct gift 10,839 offices
unhampered by any civil service lim
itations whatsoever.
Of the appointees to these 9840 will
have to be confirmed by the Senate,
while 993 will not need the Indorse
ment of that body.
The salaries attached to these "Pres
idential offices" are generally a half
again as high as they were when a
Democratic President last spread his
counter and bid the faithful come 1
and share the pie.
The Biggest Plana.
The highest office to be awarded by
the new chief executive will be the
secretaryship of state, whose holder
will be the third gentleman of the
realm, the next, after the VIce-Pres
ident, in succession to the Presidency.
He will sit upon the President's right
at the cabinet table, will supervise the
Government's correspondence and ne
gotlatlons with all foreign rulers or
their representatives and with the gov
ernors of our own states. He will
publish all laws passed by Congress.
Adjacent to his office will be an el
egantly appointed anteroom where one
day each week diplomatic day he will
receive such foreign ambassadors and
ministers as have business with our
Government. His salary, like Inat of
all other cabinet officers, will be $12,
000 a year.
During our last Democratic adminis
tration cabinet officers received but
$8000 annually, and those who strove
to live In high state paid out that
much In house rent. Cabinet members
have more social expenses than any
home officials, and the wife of each
must hold continual court during the
social season. For this reason, only
wealthy men generally care to accept
the higher cabinet portfolios, such as
that of State and the Treasury.
There will be some perquisites at
tached to each portfolio, but they will
be Insignificant the one of Govern
ment carriages and horses being the
greatest, except In the case of the Bee
retarr of the Navy, who has at his
disposal the dispatch boat Dolphin,
sometimes called "the Secretary's pri
vate yacht." It is not Improbable that
the next President will have an addi
tional cabinet portfolio to confer, that
of Secretary of Labor. The bill creat
In it is now before Congress and is
strongly backed by the labor Interests.
Beat Paytasr Berth, $30,000.
The biggest plum from a pecuniary
standpoint In Mr. Wilson's gift will be
the commission of "President and Gov
ernor-General of the Philippine Is
lands." who will enjoy 40.000 pesos, or
$ 20,000 a year, as well as free use of
the old palace In Manila formerly oc
cupied by the Spanish governors-general.
The next highest salary, $17,600 a
year. President Wilson will confer up
on each of 10 ambassadors sent to
foreign capitals. Many Democrats of
great wealth are already in line for
those highly-prized missions, which
would give them tremendous social ad
vantages and excellent opportunities
for travel.
The greatest prize ef the 10 is the
mission to London, but the recipient
to be a success there must be a man
of vast wealth, who can spend consid
erably more than his salary for house
rent alone. Our present ambassador to
London. Whitelaw Reid, Is paying out
of his own pocket $45,000 a year for
his ambassadorial residence, Dorchester
House, on Park Lane, while the Gov
ernment is allowing him the $3000
yearly rental for the dingy Arst floor
in Victoria street where the offices of
our embassy have remained for many
years.
Unless he is a modern Midas, the man
whom Mr. Wilson selects as Mr. Re Id's
successor will suffer by contrast. An
ambassador sent to a monarchy be
comes part of the royal court, where
he ranks next to the heir-apparent, and
there are ancient and picturesque laws
which hold him up as a sacred person
age. Thus neither he nor his wife can
be arrested for an offense or sued for
debt.
Wealth the Opea Sesame,
Next after London, Paris and Berlin
are the posts most sought after by
would-be ambassadors, but at these
courts also great wealth Is the open
sesame to social success. Our repre
sentatives in. Paris have long tried to
keep up their end with other ambassa
dors receiving as high as $100,000 a
year In pay and allowances and furn
ished with embassies that would rent
for $40,000 annually. The scholarly di
plomatist. Dr. Hill, suffered many em
barrassments at Berlin because he was
poor and unable to entertain on a lav
ish scale. His scale of living was made
to appear more modest by contrast
with his Immediate predecessor, Charle
magne Tower, who lived like a prince
and whose wife was called by the Kai
ser "the Von Moltke of society."
The foreign missions next most
sought are usually Vienna, where so
cial life is always gay, and Rome. I
where there is always a considerable
American colony. Fewer aspirants
hanker after St. Petersburg because of
the objectionable climate, but Tokio Is
in great demand, as living in Japan is
very cheap, while the surroundings are
picturesque. Unlike his ambassadors
to other countries, those whom Mr.
Wilson selects for Japan and Turkey
will have official residences furnished
them free by the Government and will
be able to save a considerable share
of their yearly $17,500. But- the mis
sions to Turkey and Mexico will not
be comfortable until local turbulence
ceases In those countries. Like all of
the others named, our embassy in Bra
sil pays $17,500 a year, much of which
can be saved, as the social life in Rio
has been rather dull since the days of
the empire. The climate there is also
bad In Summer, when most of the dip
lomats have to take Summer homes In
Petropolls. In the mountains.
Seven ministers sent abroad by Pres
ident Wilson will receive $12,000, and
an even two dozen will draw $10,000.
The only other envoy on his list will
be minister-resident to the negro re
public of Liberia, who is always a col
ored man. He receives $5000 a rear.
Once the Biggest Prises.
The two most tempting morsels upon
the Presidential pie counter used to
be, as Judged from the standpoint of
remuneration, the offices of Consul
General to Liverpool and of United
States District Attorney in New York
City, each of which in lavish fees yield
ed more than the salary then enjoyed
by the President himself. But both of
these offices have now been removed
entirely from the fee basis, the former
paying $8000 and the latter $10,000 In
flat salary. Nor are Consular berths
any longer npon the pie counter, strlct-
y speaking. Like those for West Point
and Annapolis, candidates for these po
sitions, as well as for secretaryships In
the diplomatic service, are now annoint.
ed to take examinations, which Include
international law, diplomacy and for
eign languages. Young mn who pass
these tests are sent to a training school
in Washington, whence they pass to
the lower positions of their class in the
the foreign service, and gradually work
their way upward.
Mr. Wilson's plethoric prize package
will contain commissions also for four
Philippine Commissioners, at $15,000 a
year; the Collector of Customs at New
York, $12,000. and a list of $10,000 of
flees several Interstate Commerce
Commissioners, as their seven - year
terms expire; the United States District
Attorney at Chicago, who receives the
same as that at New York, and the Solicitor-General,
who is the chief as
sistant and understudy of the Attorney-
General. Next come the $8000 offices
that of Governor of Porto Rico, who,
too, gets free use of a palace; the
Treasurer of the United States at Wash-
ngton; the Assistant United States
Treasurer, Surveyor of Customs, Naval
Officer of Customs and General Ap
praisers of Merchandise, all at New
York; the Collectors of Customs at
Philadelphia and Boston, and the Post
masters of New York, Chicago, Phila
delphia and Boston, and an- Assistant
Attorney-General, wno gets $7500. And
there are the $7000 berths which go to
Federal Circuit Judges as vacancies oc
cur, and the Treasurer of the Philip-,
III ic
f mil in 1 S&rdlzi.
I I a 5
II I'
..oihwfc'JSi,
ft
' !ZL-&m 'ii 'woe i A v
7
ii
a nf Hii-hlT H- in nit 111 m'm " - -. . ... . i ..x ........ .
- - y
- - -ii-i tit -- 11 i. T"TiTM IBifh i 'itt
mint figfe2Sr
m to
pine Islands, four Collectors of Cus
toms, nine Appraisers of Merchandise
and an assistant to the Attorney-Gen
eraX Paying $6000 annually are the
places of the Federal District Judges as
they become vacant, the Commissioner
of Internal Revenue, the Supervising
Architect of the Treasury and the Post
masters of 28 cities.
Fixtures In Office.
Such are the "big plums" paying over
$5000. The list does not include chiefs
and high officials of technical and
scientific bureaus, who are appointed
because of superior knowledge in their
specialties. Such officers are gener
ally regarded by officialdom as fixtures
and political neuters.
By far the biggest group of patronage
offices to be disposed of by President
Wilson will be nearly 8000 "Preslden
tial postofflces." Over 350 will pay
$3000 or more, while over E00 will yield
from $2500 to $3000, about 1000 from
$2000 to $2500, and the remainder from
$1000 to $2000. These are the first,
second and third-class FostmasterB,
who must be confirmed by the Senate.
All of the tens of thousands of the
fourth-class are now In the classified
service, and can be reached only
through competitive examination, after
the Incumbent dies or misbehaves.
When Mr. Roosevelt came to the White
House all fourth-class Postmastershlps
were political plums. He placed part
them, and President Taft the re
mainder. under the civil service.
The next largest groups of "presiden
tial" office-holders are 225 officials of
the land office, who draw from $1200
to $4000; the nearly 200 customs offi
cers, who unciuamg lees) get any-
here from $1500 to $12,000; the 82
United States district attorneys, who
draw from $3500 to $10,000. and-the
equal number of United States mar
shals, whose offices yield from $3000 to
$5000.
General ExMss Expected.
Many of these berths, especially
among the higher offices, are "term po
sitions, and Mr. Wilson will not have
the privilege of filling them until the
Republican Incumbents' terms expire.'
But from the great majority of the en-
mnm
Ft
i
w m
4 Mim
Ik
1 Iff
IMl
r?4
trr:- v
tire catalogue of more than 10,000 pat-1 39 years of the republic the annual re-
ronage offices there will be, curing movais oi "presiaentiai" otiicera con
next Spring, such an exodus as has not
been seen since McKlnley succeeded
Cleveland, 16 years ago. There being
no change of party, thousands of men
in these positions "held over" from Ma
Klnley to Roosevelt, and thousands
more from Roosevelt to Taft.
Mr. Wilson now faces the harassing
ordeal under which every President has
smarted upon entering office. Washing
ton described bis correspondence with
office-seekers as "an almost insupport
able burden" and added that they ne
cessitated his hardening his heart. John
Quincy Adams complained of their "cor
morant appetite for office" and uttered
the jeremiad that one-half the mem
bers of Congress were seeking such
favors for friends. Yet during the first
firmed by the Senate averaged less
than three a year. So when Jackson
came in and turned out 2000 office
holders. 600 of whom had been con
firmed by the Senate, there was a great
commotion throughout the capital.
A War Department clerk "cut his
throat from ear to ear, from the mere
terror of being dismissed," while among
the many other recorded " "tragical
effects" of Old Hickory's ax wielding
was that befalling a State Department
clerk who went "raving distracted."
"Others are said to be threatened with
the same calamity," wrote the excited
scribe who reported this first applica
tion of the spoils system."
Office seeking now began with a vim.
for after Jackson had set the example
his successors were by no means shy
about turning out the appointees of
their predecessors. Some say that the
new system caused the untimely end
of William Henry Harrison Just after
his inauguration that he was really
harassed to death by office seekers.
"I am like a man so busy In letting
rooms in one end of the house that he
cannot stop to put out the fire that is
burning in the other," complained Lin
coln of the ravenous horde which de
manded the precious moments which
be wanted to devote to war prepara
tions. These Presidents were delugod with
requests for petty clerkships, as well as
responsible offices, and the first relief
did not come until Grant's time, when
was passed the first civil service act
establishing permanent tenures for
subordinates a system which was
strengthened under Arthur, Cleveland
and later Presidents until now, when
about 80 per cent of all Government
employes enter the service through
competitive examinations.
But during this process of rounding
up division chiefs and their clerical
subordinates in the civil service fold
the "Presidential" offices have grown
to be greater in numbers than the en
tire army of officers and employes of
those early days when the "spoils sys
tem" was at its height.
Thus President Wilson's legitimate
patronage list of high officials con
tains five times as many offices as
those vacated by clerks and officers
together when Jackson "turned the ,
rascals out" I
(Copyright 1912, by John Elfreth
Watklns.)
SLEUTHING FOR BUTTER
(CONTINUED FROM PACE 8.)
and that it is therefore well that
should be widely used, particularly by
DeoDle who cannot afford butter and
who are undernourished because there
is no cheaper product to take its
nlace.
Now these animal and vegetable oils,
wlien pure, are white, like lard. Th
law prohibits the use of any artificial
coloring matter without payment of
the tax. If the manufacturers could
Bnd a vegetable oil from which to
make oleo the natural color of which
would produce a yellow product, they
would be able to make it look
like butter and which would still not
be artificially colored and which
would not be taxed under the law.
There was a certain manufacturer
who gave the internal revenue people
a great deal of trouble by putting out
a product which had the color oi Dut
ter, but in which there seemed to be
no artificial coloring matter. This
dealer claimed that his product got its
yellow color from the oils mat went
into it. and therefore could not be
classed as artificially colored and could
only be taxed one-fourth of 1 per cent
Instead of 10 cents a pound. The agents
knew that the butter was being col
ored, but they were stumped to know
how.
For weeks ther examined all the ma
terial that went into the factory ana
found no coloring matter. Likewise
did their chemists analyze the yellow
ontput without being able to find any
artificial coloring. One of the most
successful agents in the service was
assigned to the task of determining
how the nroduct got Its color and
whether the law was being violated.
ThlR fltrent fniind a nlace of vantage
on the roof of a building that adjoined
the factory. For days he noted every
man who entered the factory and every
package that was delivered there.
Other agents shadowed theBe people
and these packages. Still nothing was
found that might result in me coiorea
oleo.
Whil. the asrent lav on the housetop.
dav after dav. he noted that the vice-
president of the .company called regu
larly every morning in nis auiomouue.
The weather was pleasantly cool and
the vice-president wore nis overcoat.
Then the weather turned warm ana
the vlca-nrenident still wore his over
coat when he entered the factory. That
nv.rnnftt n a warm day aroused sus
picion. Noticing it, the special agent
thought that it seemed to ne worn a.
bit stiffly.
Now there is a certain vegetable oil,
palm oil, which is very intensely yel
low. A small amount of It will suf
lce to give the yellow tint to a great
vat of oleo. Being a vegetable on, iixe
the others that eo Into the oleo, ii is
almost impossible for the chemists to
Hetcnt it it Ik. however, classified as
coloring matter under the law, and Its
use la prohibited.
Th. mrnt decided that the vice-:
president was smuggling palm oil into
the factory under his overcoat ana
the oleo was being colored with thisj
nalm oiL Next morning the internal
revenue man met the arriving automo
bile of the official, nlacea tnai genne
man nnrior arrest and found a large
can, built to the body and containing
calm oiL under eacn arm. mo vice-
president Is now in prison.
Seeking the Retailer.
Of course the greater number of vio
lators sell oleo for butter only as an
Incident to their business. Every small
grocer is tempted to do it, and many
fail. The Internal revenue men are
able to trace all purchases of oleo to
the various dealers, and when those
purchases are of any gTeat size it is
their duty to determine - whether or
not It is being properly sola.
With a record of the purchasers of
quantities of oleo in hand, two agents
may go into a given city. They dress
as mechanics ana enter a suspected
nlace. One makes a purcnase, while
the other looks on and then the sec
ond man makes a purchase with the
first as witness. They both ask for;
butter. When given its prices they
prot'est and ask if there is not cheaper
butter. This is the merchant's oppor
tunity to sell oleo. At any rate he
will probably sell a cheaper product.
These products are scientifically ex
amined and may be found to be oleo.
The case is pretty good, but to make
it sure some of the people in the
neighborhood are Induced to make sim
ilar purchases. So is the evidence
made conclusive and then a case is
brought against the dealer.
A great deal of this Illicit sale of
oleo has, however, gone on for a great
many years. There is about one-tenth
as much oleo as butter used. In the
cities, however, the percentage is much
greater, and most of this moonshine
Is sold as butter. Many people have
eaten it for years without ever know
ing the deception. One reformed deal
er told a revenue agent a joke on him
self. He had given up the illicit sale
of oleo when the campaign against it
began to get warm. He had a certain
good customer to whom he had been
selling oleo as butter for two years.
When he decided to reform he sent
her, with her next order, the best
butter he had. She did not like it
when It came to her table and called
the dealer up and accused him of hav
ing sold her oleo.
Next to the corner groceryroan the
individual who has been mosi tempted
to enter the moonshine butter business
has been the dairyman. Here is a man
who has been making 50 pounds of
tutter a week and selling it at 35 cents
a pound. He learns of the psiibilitles
of oleo, and has his plant ready built
and is skilled in butter-making. He
buys a 60-pound tub of oleo and churns
it with his butter. The next week he
has 100 pounds of butter for sale at
5 cents, and has added $10 prorit to
his business. The amount of oleo pur
chased increases, and his output and
profit does the same. Eventually the
evenue agents follow the trail of the
large purchases of oleo and the dairy
man goes to Jail.
The possibilities of this deception are
infinite. There was, for instance, the
fiscal agent for a certain large institu
tion. Instead of buying butter for this
institution, he bought oleo, mixed in
the coloring matter in his own base
ment ami kii'jcKed own tno diT'erer.c
between the cost of oleo and butter.
Bu't the oleo was traced to tlui base
ment of his luxuriously appointed ome
and he went to the penitentiary.
Hotels and restaurants and lunch
rooms are often found to be remiss In
this respect. They color the goods for
their own use. But this is still a viola,
tiun of the law which prohibits its col
oring even In a family whero boarders
are kept It is hinted that tbcro is
many a housewife who buys oleo, stirs
n a bit of color, and knocks down the
difference in price on her husband, and
he eats the moonshine without sus
picion. This Is within the pale of the
law, and the housewife may not be
proceeded against.
The Government appreciates the faot
that oleomargarine is being taxed for
o other reason than to Drotect the but
ter business, and that it is the only
food product of the United States that
has ever been taxed for such a pur
pose, liquor -and tobacco coming under
the headings of luxuries and being as
sessed on a different basis.
The pure food people, the Internal
Revenue and the Committee' on Agri
culture of the House of Representa
tives have recommended a nominal tax
and a provision that would allow the
use of coloring matter, but require that
all oleo be put up In sealed and
labeled packages that made it impos
sible that it should reach the consumer
as anything other than what It really
is. This would remove deception and
make it possible to get this food prod
uct on the market at about half the
price of butter. The reputable manu
facturers likewise favor this arrange
ment, and it Is probable that legisla
tion to this end will be enacted in the
present session of Congress.
(Copyright. 1912. by TV. A. Du PuyJ