Private secretary

“ The private secretary copied the notes into his private books, and that was all the share he had in the matter, except to talk in private.
No more volunteer services were needed; the volunteers were in a manner sent to the rear; the movement was too serious for skirmishing. All that a secretary could hope to gain from the affair was experience and knowledge of politics. He had a chance to measure the motive forces of men; their qualities of character; their foresight; their tenacity of purpose.
In the Legation no great confidence was felt in stopping the rams. ”

“ They are too smart for that. Most of them, however, especially those who work the press continually, have private secretaries. The private secretary work is light, and is attended to by stenographers and book-keepers, but the title affords a handy cloak for disguising the press agent. Ostensibly engaged as private secretaries the men who fill these positions know full well that their one and only duty is to “boost” the professional prowess of their employers; to keep them constantly before the public. ”

“ The position of an ordinary private secretary is sometimes that of an upper servant, or, on the other hand, his own social position may be much higher than that of his employer. A secretary who either has position of his own or is given position by his employer, is in every way treated as a member of the family ”

“ Or you may start light-heartedly from the Refreshment Department of the House of Commons and find yourself suddenly in the bowels of the House of Lords, probably in the very passage to the Lord Chancellor's Secretary's Room.
Still, there is no other way for Private Secretaries to take exercise and at the same time avoid their Members without actually leaving the building, so risks of that sort have to be faced.
While the Private Secretary is playing hide-and-seek in the passages and purlieus his Member waits for him in the Secretaries' Room. ”

“ His choice of a private secretary is perhaps the most important of all, for if he be light-headed, frivolous or indiscreet, he may do his master irreparable harm; and if he be a person liable to get into debt, his embarrassment may be the cause of very serious trouble. Some years ago the private secretary of a French ambassador sold the private cipher of the embassy for a large sum in order to wipe out his debts. ”

“ Get an efficient young man to act as private secretary; a fairly good accountant; no rich man's son, but some one who has had a chance to observe life. Make him a buffer between Mrs. Killigrew and the whining cheats. And above all, no young man who has social entrée to your house. That kind of a private secretary is always a fizzle. ”

“ The private secretary troubled himself not at all about the unfitness of any one; he knew too little; and, in fact, no one, except perhaps Mr. Sumner, knew more. The President and Secretary of State knew least of all. As Secretary of Legation the Executive appointed the editor of a Chicago newspaper who had applied for the Chicago Post-Office; a good fellow, universally known as Charley Wilson, who had not a thought of staying in the post, or of helping the Minister. The Assistant Secretary was inherited from Buchanan's time, a hard worker, but socially useless. ”

“ The duties of a private secretary are naturally to attend to all correspondence, take shorthand notes of speeches or conversations, file papers and documents and in every way serve as extra eyes and hands and supplementary brain for his employer. ”

“ Resolved, That when he shall have been received in that character, he be empowered to appoint a private secretary, with a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum, who shall remain in office till Congress think it proper to make another appointment.
Resolved, That the appointment of no Secretary to any of the Northern Courts in future, shall exceed a thousand dollars per annum, and that the appointments of a Secretary to the Embassy in France, Spain and Holland, shall in [Pg 252] future be twelve hundred dollars, excepting such Secretaries have been heretofore appointed. ”

“ Private secretaries are servants of a rather low order, whose business is to serve sources of power. The first news of a professional kind, imparted to private secretary Adams on reaching Washington, was that the President-elect, Abraham Lincoln, had selected Mr. Seward for his Secretary of State, and that Seward was to be the medium for communicating his wishes to his followers. Every young man naturally accepted the wishes of Mr. ”

“ My mother and I are looking for a private secretary for a charitable concern which we are going to organize shortly. We desire some one who is educated, who will be capable of guarding us from persons not worthy of benefactions, who will make recommendations, seek into the affairs of those considered worthy. ”

“ A secretary has a good deal of opportunity to make trouble, if she chooses to make it. She knows so much of her employer's private affairs. I've been a secretary long enough to tell you that. She might have quietly told the Sans of Miss Remson's letter to the president, asking for an interview."
"But, my dear child, I did not mention the object of my interview in my note to President Matthews," declared the manager. "The secretary would have nothing to tell these girls of any moment. She would naturally attach no importance to such a letter."
"That is true." Lucy looked abashed for an instant. ”

“ In every great government in the world that I know of, officers performing these functions would hold a rank high above that of mere clerks, a tenure not subject to the mere arbitrary pleasure of a superior officer, and salaries in proportion to the duties imposed upon them. Of the division chiefs in the Secretary's office and in the Indian office the same may be said. The consequence is that in many cases men, fully up to the requirements of their positions, find occasion to better their condition by going into the service of private corporations or becoming members of private business firms. ”

“ In interposing the private character of the Secretary, a new issue is presented, entirely immaterial to the question on the adoption of the Resolutions. This is discerned merely by repeating the grounds of these. First, our Society ought to be candid and just; secondly, it should offer a hand of fellowship to our brethren in Philadelphia; thirdly, it should be more useful. These propositions are not answered, when we declare, in eloquent phrase, that the private character of the Secretary is good. I, too, give my homage to his private character. ”

“ In 1806 he was passed on to the treasury, where he was quickly promoted and received a series of special votes of thanks from the lords of the treasury, and in 1815 a grant of money. He became private secretary to three successive secretaries of the treasury. ”

“ When he has done that the Assistant-Secretary to the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary's Secretary comes out and says that the Prime Minister has been called away suddenly to Geneva.
The public man then goes off after the new smells. A dog's life. ”

“ I have already made you a great man; for as you know by this time, the office of Secretary to my legation is great enough in all conscience. Some men have a stomach for office like a cormorant, which is a serious scourge to the nation. Pray, sir, if you have a turn that way, get rid of it before another moon."
"By my honor, general, I've no such craving; for I was content enough before I saw you to live a poor critic, and never thought of being a Secretary. ”

“ The President ought not to usurp the power of his appointment, which ought, after serious discussion by the Council, to be made by the Society at large.
Besides the three Secretaries, there is an Assistant Secretary, and recently another has been added, who may perhaps be called a Subassistant Secretary. All these places furnish patronage to the President. ”

“ The Secretary is not merely a minister for foreign affairs, but is the guardian of the seals of state, the medium through whom the laws are promulgated, the depositary of the government archives, and the first assistant of the Chief Executive. Tradition has conferred upon him a dignity next to that of President, the law making him second in the order of succession to the presidency by vacancy of the office, while it has become the custom for the President to invite him to participate in the performance of his duties rather as a colleague and associate than as an adviser and servant. ”

“ The secretary of state keeps the seal of the United States; and he makes out, records, and seals all civil commissions to officers appointed by the president and senate, or by the president. His duties in relation to the publishing and distributing the laws, and certain other matters, are similar to the duties of a secretary of state of a state government.
§5. The secretary of the treasury has charge of the finances of the nation. He superintends the collection of the revenue, and performs certain other duties of the nature of the controller or auditor of a state. ”

“ When a secretary of the government is required to give information on any subject, he may act, and generally does act, through officers under him. He is not expected to make over his own signature all the communications required from the department of which he is the head. ”

“ For the Secretary of State, too, is a bird of passage as they are, passing through the Colonial Office on his way to other departments, or holding the seals as part of an administration whose tenure of office grows every year more precarious, which exists only upon popular sentiment, and cannot, and does not try to look forward beyond at furthest the next session of Parliament. ”

“ But the President himself says that 'upon him has been devolved, by the constitution, and the suffrages of the American people, the duty of superintending the operation of the executive departments of the government, and seeing that the laws are faithfully executed.' If there existed any such double source of executive power, it has been seen that the treasury department is not an executive department; but that, in all that concerns the public treasury, the Secretary is the agent or representative of Congress, acting in obedience to their will, and maintaining a direct intercourse with them. ”

“ On the other hand, the Secretary of State is always a member of the party that has prevailed in the last election, and is usually the member of the party, next to the President himself, highest in its confidence. ”

“ Secretary, whether it is not better, in your opinion, that the Congress of the United States should prescribe the duties of executive officers, so that they can act in pursuance of law, rather than the executive officer should be acting on his own notions of what is best? ”

“ I do not deny that I would be as much pleased to accept the station of Secretary of State from yourself as from any man living. I entertain a strong conviction that under the controlling direction of your wisdom, prudence and firmness, I might be useful to you in conducting the Department of State, and I know from your established character, so far as it is given to mortals to know anything, that our social and personal intercourse would be of the most friendly and agreeable character. ”

“ While it may be admitted that, so far as the public alone have an interest in the proper performance by the commissioner of his duties in the administration of his bureau, the secretary might satisfy his duty of direction and superintendence by prescribing general rules of conducting the public business and securing, by general oversight, conformity to them ”

“ There isn't a public body in the country, not so much as an Association of Licensed Publicans, which doesn't send two or three deputations to each Chief Secretary. I expect he's receiving one this moment, headed by Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. ”

“ If my preferences were consulted as to any particular Department I should say that there are two things I have studied and know something about—international relations and finances. The State Department has another special value, as the Secretary of State is ex-officio more than any other Secretary the confidential Minister of the President and the representative of his policy. ”

“ Management even of financial details may be made instrumental in turning the money-markets upside down. The Secretary of the Treasury is, therefore, less a mere chief clerk than are his coadjutors; and if his duties are not properly political, theirs certainly are not.
In view of this peculiarity of the Secretaries, in being appointed as partisans and endowed as mere officials, it is interesting to inquire what and whom they represent. They are clearly meant to represent the political party to which they belong; but it very often happens that it is impossible for them to do so. ”

“ The employment of any Senior Administrator and of the Secretary General may be terminated for cause by absolute majority vote of both the Executive Cabinet and Presidium combined, but not contrary to civil service rules which protect tenure on grounds of competence. ”

“ The Constitution, By-Laws, Rules of Order and Standing Rules should all be written in one book, leaving every other page blank; and whenever an amendment is made to any of them, it should be immediately entered on the page opposite to the article amended, with a reference to the date and page of the minutes where is recorded the action of the society.
The secretary has the custody of all papers belonging to the society, not specially under charge of any other officer. Sometimes his duties are also of a financial kind, when he should make such reports as are prescribed in the next section. ”

“ But the system now proposed, while thus allowing the frequent bringing in of new and capable men from public life at home, requires that a large proportion of each grade above that of secretary, save a very small number of diplomatic agents, commissioners, and the like, shall be appointed from those thoroughly trained for the service, and that all secretaries, without exception, shall be thoroughly trained and fitted. ”