as to rely for information as to
what action to take, in ordinary cases, and he has to trust to them to
see the actual executive business of the government well performed.

The chief of them all is the Secretary of State. At the Cabinet meetings
he sits on the right hand of the President. He would take the
President's place should both the President and the Vice-President die.
It is he who shapes or advises the shaping of our foreign policy, and
who has to deal with our ministers and consuls abroad. He does not have
nearly as much work to do, under ordinary circumstances, as several
other Cabinet officers; but whereas if they blunder it is only a
question of internal affairs, and is a blunder that we ourselves can
remedy, if the Secretary of State blunders it may involve the whole
nation in war, or may involve the surrender of rights which ought never
to be given up save through war. Questions of grave difficulty with
foreign powers continually arise: now about fisheries or sealing rights
with Great Britain, now about an island in the Pacific with Germany, now
about some Cuban filibustering expedition with Spain, and again with
some South-American or Asiatic power over insults offered to our flag,
or outrages committed on our citizens. All of these questions come
before the Secretary of State, and it is his duty to digest them
thoroughly, and advise the President of the proper course to take in the
matter. The Secretary of State very largely holds in his hands the
national honor.

Next in importance to the Secretary of State comes the Secretary of the
Treasury. The great economic questions which the country always has to
face are those connected with the currency and the tariff, and the
Secretary of the Treasury has to deal with both. On his policy it
largely depends whether the business of our merchants is to shrink or
grow, whether the workingmen in our factories shall see their wages
increase or lessen, whether our debts shall be paid in money that is
worth more or less than when they were contracted, or in money that is
worth practically the same. I do not mean by this to say for a moment
that the Secretary of the Treasury, or any other official, can do
anything like as much for the prosperity of any class or of any
individual as that class or individual can do for itself or himself. In
the end it is each man's individual capacity and efforts which count for
most. No legislation can make any man permanently prosper