Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 3.djvu/430

404 Cabinet are exceedingly gratifying to my feelings. Even if the expressions of friendly sentiment in your letter were not accompanied by an offer of high official honor and of an opportunity to render some service to the country, I should most highly prize them as a mark of the confidence of a man whom I esteem so sincerely and whose personal friendship I shall ever cherish and be proud of. That confidence and friendship it will always be my endeavor to deserve, and thus to show my gratitude by something better than mere words.

Of the two Departments you mention, there is one, the Interior, the business of which I should, with diligent application, hope satisfactorily to master. As to the administration of the Post-Office, it requires so much of capacity for business management in detail and in great variety, and so high a degree of practical business training and habit of a peculiar kind which has so far to a great extent been foreign to my mind, that I should fear to undertake it, while I certainly recognize the very great importance of that Department with regard to the elevation of the civil service to a higher level of character and efficiency.

I intend to go to New York for a day or two and might arrange my trip so as to be on the same train with you as far as Harrisburg, when you go to Washington. In case such a meeting would please you, would you be kind enough to let me know by telegraph the time when you will leave Columbus? Your letter speaks of Thursday, but something may intervene. I shall have to start the evening before, and therefore would have to be advised early enough in order to get ready.