Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/124

90 you too strongly the necessity of having in the Interior Department a man who can be depended upon to put that most vulnerable and dangerous point of the Administration in a condition of safety. With regard to this point, if I had the responsibility of constructing a Cabinet, the geographical would not have a feather's weight with me. Let me repeat that the geographical consideration appears of great importance only before the formation of the Cabinet, and perhaps one day after it, and is then never heard of again. General Grant had in his Cabinet at one time five men from the States east of the Alleghany mountains, a fact which was scarcely remembered at that time, and the only censure passed upon the Cabinet was that the men composing it were in some instances not the right kind of persons. Believe me, if your Secretary of the Interior is good, nobody will ask where he comes from a week after his appointment. If he turns out badly, it will not be taken as an excuse that he was selected for geographical reasons. I speak of this with so much warmth and urgency because I know the Interior Department and all the difficulties and dangers connected with it; because I have the policies successfully inaugurated in several of its branches very much at heart and would greatly deplore to see them spoiled, and because I am convinced, from personal observation and experience, that Walker is far better equipped for its business than any man so far mentioned in connection with it, in fact far better than any man I know.

As the Cabinet is the subject of frequent discussions here, I have now and then mentioned Walker's name, and in every instance the unanimous judgment was that his appointment would be almost too good a thing to hope for. I can only add that such an appointment would be hailed by every well-wisher of the Republic in general and your Administration in particular with the greatest satisfaction,