"Then passing to the front, I said to one of the older boys: 'Young man, why do you act so differently from other boys? Are you afraid of being punished?'
"The cadet rose to his feet. 'Sir,' said he, 'you see before you thirty-two cadets. We all expect to govern others in our future work. The first element of a good governor is self-government; sir, we are practising that.'"
The Commodore added: "That was twenty-five years ago. In the providence of God none of these young men have been called to eternity. I will now read you their names." And the audience recognized in each man a name famous in the navies of Great Britain, Germany, France, or America.
Now those lads had not merely kept silent. The mastery of self made them victorious over temper, bad habits, and all depraved tastes. They were men in soul as well as in body. Truly, "He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city."
XXVII
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
In February, 1903, President Roosevelt nominated to the head of the new Department of Commerce and Labor his secretary, George B. Cortelyou, and to be Commissioner of Corporations in that department James R. Garfield, who is a son of President Garfield, and a member of the Civil Service Commission. Of these appointments the New York Times expressed the general opinion of the press of the country:
The former appointment is significant chiefly because the new Secretary is intimately known to the President, and his policy in the department will probably represent the President's views very closely. It cannot in any special sense be regarded as a political appointment. The selection of Mr. Garfield is also conspicuously on the merits of the appointee, who is not an active politician, is an able lawyer, has been prominent and useful in the promotion of municipal reform and of the merit system in Ohio and as a Civil Service Commissioner. He has plenty of energy, a cool head, experience in public affairs, and may be expected to do all that can be done with the powers of his new office, the value of which must depend much on the character of the Commissioner and the support and direction of the Secretary and of the President.
After that Mr. Cortelyou made an efficient officer in this Department, then was transferred to the Treasury, which he ably conducted during the panic of 1907. At the end of the Roosevelt Administration he was called to the presidency of the Consolidated Gas Company in New York City.
Mr. Garfield was soon called to deal with the great corporations, and confronted the greatest problem of the times. He came to his responsible place a comparatively unknown man. His name carried something of the halo which surrounds the name of his distinguished father, and for that reason he started with the best wishes of his countrymen.