XIV

ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT

HE Cuban record has brought this narrative to the

TH

spring of 1897, when Cleveland's Administration went out of office, and that point of time invites a glance at Olney's management of the State Department in general.

He had an excellent chance to devote his time to the foreign business on the Department's docket. The unusual political isolation into which Cleveland and his official family fell during the last part of the term, combined with Olney's own reputation for not letting politicians and reporters "hang around" and with that something which made most people a little afraid of him anyhow, relieved him from a large portion of the distractions and interruptions which ordinarily harass a Cabinet officer. Within the Department the Secretary was a synonym for punctuality and dispatch. He was naturally an orderly and a rapid worker himself, and his habit of deciding things as they came along facilitated and expedited the labors of his assistants (among whom he was lucky enough to have men of such experience and ability as Alvey A. Adee, William W. Rockhill, and E. Uhl). For some minds the questions which come before a Secretary of State are freighted with fascinating provocations to embark historical research, philosophical and political reflection, or experiment with the refinements of language. But Olney was interested in nothing except what tended to bring things to

upon

a conclusion. He could fill his room with books and papers till they covered all the tables, work over them alone until the case and his own decision on it were clear in his mind, then dictate for an hour and make few revisions in what he had dictated. It seems that his lack of technical experience did not abash him, for he felt himself competent to make the essential decisions. When he had got into the draft of a dispatch the substance and general form of what he wanted there, he would turn the paper over to Mr. Adee or some other experienced assistant and tell him to put it into "the lingo." (Although this was not his procedure in the case of the Venezuela note.) "If he had been in the Department for a few years he would have got the docket cleared for once." Thus, although his dispatches lacked the style and the sweep of political vision which distinguished Mr. Root's, he is said to have disposed of more business in a day that ended regularly on the stroke of four than even his great successor disposed of by working at all hours.

In fact it used to be said in Washington that at four o'clock precisely every day you could see the Secretary of State come streaking down the Department steps with everybody else following at his heels. It suited his pleasure and his constitution to play tennis or walk every afternoon. He had stuck to the hour of tennis during the hot week at the end of June, 1894, when the Chicago strike kept him at the Department of Justice or the White House night and day, and no equal crisis occurred to interfere with his regular habit while he was Secretary of State. Also it belonged to his view of the order of things that if the working day was supposed to end at four o'clock

in the departments, everybody's work should go on until then and stop at that hour. Once, as he was striding from his own room to the elevator, the tall figure of Sir Julian Pauncefote appeared before him. "Mr. Ambassador," said the Secretary of State, "it's now four o'clock and the Department is closed; so I must ask you to call again to-morrow." And he passed and left Sir Julian standing agape in the corridor.

It sounds arbitrary and a little inconsiderate, perhaps; but busy men appreciate an efficient worker and too seldom find such an one as Olney in the Government's offices to do anything but smile over such an incident. Olney's relations with the members of the diplomatic corps were, indeed, excellent. His handling of the Mora claim and the Venezuelan case excited their respectful attention at the very beginning of his secretaryship, and his courtesy, his intelligence, his downrightness, and his industry all commanded their growing esteem.

Within the Department questions of personnel were nothing to what they would have been at the commencement of a presidential term. But so far as they did arise they were simplified by an order which made a date in the history of the consular service. This was issued under the Civil Service Act and provided a merit system for the appointment of consuls having salaries of more than $1000 and less than $2500. Olney recommended such a measure. Cleveland was eager to improve the consular service in such a way and signed the order on September 20, 1895.1

1 Correspondence (Olney Coll.) indicates that this had been a topic of conference when Cleveland was at Gray Gables and Olney at Falmouth

It remained in force until the next Administration came

into office.

That order, and the examinations held under it, along with other events of the year, diplomatic and departmental, and a few recommendations, including one that our representatives abroad should be housed by Government, are mentioned in a "Report of the Secretary of State" which is printed at the beginning of "Foreign Relations" for 1896. It is an interesting report because it is the only annual report that any Secretary of State has ever made. It was like Olney to think that there was no reason why he should not account for his Department once a year just like any other Department head, and to start a precedent accordingly. But it was natural that his successors should prefer the earlier practice of letting the President review our foreign relations in his annual message. Brief as the report was, it has given us, along with the diplomatic correspondence in "Foreign Relations" for 1895, 1896, and 1897, an unusually complete

survey.

In these volumes lie the stories of numerous incidents which were, in their special ways, of real moment. They could not be treated with satisfactory amplitude in this place. Students and scholars will go to the records and special histories, anyhow. It must therefore suffice here to have pointed to them generally and to pass on.

earlier in September. Olney's formal letter of recommendation of September 17th was preceded by a note in which Cleveland referred to "our civilservice scheme" and said, "You will see I have blundered away at the order you drew..."

XV

THE LAST YEARS

FTER March 4, 1897, Olney took no part in the re

sponsibilities of government again. The spectacle of such a retirement is in itself a commentary on American politics, for he lived almost exactly twenty years longer, and the numerous unofficial public services which he performed while still carrying on a law practice showed that he continued to exercise all his faculties and powers. He said once, with a conviction of manner which impressed his hearer strongly, that "a man who splits his party assumes a great responsibility." It was certainly true that one of the most unfortunate consequences which flowed from the Democratic disruption of 1896 was that many men whom the nation needed were forced out to the side-lines. The Chicago Convention— surely one of the most extraordinary conventions in the history of the Republic-condemned Cleveland's sound-money policy, his fiscal arrangements, the Debs injunction-in fact everything important that his Administration had fought for except the Monroe Doctrine. It refused to mention the name of the President who had been the party's only successful standard-bearer since the Civil War in either its resolutions or its platform, and it even cast aside a motion which contained a vague pro-forma endorsement of the honesty, economy, courage, and fidelity of Cleveland's Administration. It crowned its work by choosing Mr.