WASHINGTON, March 1, 1909 (UP) - President Roosevelt fed, praised and farewelled the "tennis cabinet" Monday. "Jim" Garfield of Cleveland was the hero. The president by his speech symbolized the secretary of commerce and labor as the typical tennis aid.
It happened at a luncheon which began at 1:30 p.m. in the state dining room at the white house. If ever before there was such an odd assortment of humanity bunched together at one time under the historic roof, it certainly has escaped the notice of the newspapers.
While the "feed" was given to the "tennis cabinet" primarily, a few of the president's other intimates were there.
The luncheon marked the official finish of that famous coterie of afternoon sportsmen that has been the power "behind the white house" for over seven years.
Heading the list was Jusserand, the French ambassador, and bringing up the rear was John Abernathy, Oklahoma wolf hunter.
Between those two distinguished gentlemen were 27 more, of varying styles of culture, from Justice Moody of the supreme court to "Bill" Sewall, Maine guide, from Secretary Bacon to "Yellowstone" Kelly, whose real first name is Luther, with whom the president ranched it out on the Little Missouri many years ago.
Then there was Capt. Seth Bullock, first sheriff of Deadwood, with whom the president hunted and roped steers and traveled adeck of bucking broncos back in the '80s.
There was "Pudge" Heffelfinger, college foot ball rusher.
There were Commissioners Leupp, Neil, Smith and McIlhenny - the first mentioned being the head of the Indian bureau, the second the chief of the labor bureau, the third the chief trust fighter of the department of commerce and labor, and the fourth in the civil service, who, as a side line, is a millionaire tabasco sauce maker, and with whom the president has hunted bear more or less successfully in the south.
There was a gathering, too, of assistant secretaries, including O'Loughlin, Winthrop, Satterlee and Phillips. Phillips, papers said Sunday, is engaged to Miss Ethel Roosevelt, but Loeb denied it Monday.
Neither were the real secretaries left out, for there was Loeb, the president's right-hand man, Newberry and Garfield. Garfield especially shone with brilliance, for when the president came to make his speech of welcome he placed "Jim" above all the rest.
Others were: Asst. Atty. Gen. Woodruff, Controller Murray, John C. Rose, Lyman M. Bass, Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, Jas. B. Reynolds, the investigator of beef, and many other commodities; Commissioner of Immigration Keefe, Postmaster General Meyer and Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, the scientist.
The real sure enough tennis players in the crowd were: Jusserand, Bacon, Garfield, Meyer, Winthrop, Murray, Smith, McIlhenny and Pinchot.
The president said:
"Gentlemen: You are here nominally as members, or to meet the members of the 'tennis cabinet' - that is, men with whom at tennis or hunting, riding or walking, or boxing I have played, with whom I have been on the round-up, or in the mountains, or in the ranch country.
"But really, as you know, you are not here for that purpose at all; you are here because you are the men, and because you represent the men with whom I have worked while I have been president.
"No administration has ever had finer or more loyal service than you have given, and I do not believe this country has ever had an abler or more devoted set of public servants.
"It was through you and those like you, I have done the major part of what has been accomplished under the administration.
"Moreover, in a vast number of cases, the doing of the work itself has been your only reward. The credit has come to me.
"For exactly as men like to symbolize a battle by the name of the commander, so they like to symbolize an administration by the man at the head, forgetting that the immense majority of his acts can be done only through others, and that a really successful administration must be managed as ours has been, in a spirit of the most loyal association and partnership.
"There are many others like you, whom I would have given much to bring here today; but there simply was not room enough; so I have brought you here partly for your own sakes, but primarily as representing thousands of other workers as representing all good, faithful, fearless public servants, who strive their best to do what the public demands and who in the last analysis stand all on the same level, when judged by that supreme test, which takes into chief account the spirit of the service rendered.
"Whether a man is a cabinet minister, a bureau chief, a marshal, an Indian agent, a forester, a letter carrier, a member of a life-saving service, a clerk in a department, or a workman in a navy yard, or whether he holds one of a hundred other positions, makes not the slightest difference, if he puts his heart and his soul and his mind into his work, and is content to accept as his chief reward the satisfaction that comes from knowledge that the work has been well done.
"So, while I greet you for yourselves, I greet you still more as symbolizing others; and in saying farewell to you I shall take as symbolizing all of you one who leaves public life when I leave it, a man who made a real personal sacrifice when seven years ago he came here to take office at my request; a man who has stood ever since as the type of what a good public servant should be; a man who, for the last two years has been one of the most useful cabinet ministers who ever sat at the cabinet table - Jim Garfield."
