The Days of a Man 1897 



became painfully evident, especially to his many 

 friends. In 1897, when the annexation of Hawaii 

 was contemplated, he assured the Japanese minister, 

 Hoshi, then leaving for home, that nothing of 

 the sort would be done, and Hoshi so cabled his 

 home government. But before he reached Tokyo, 

 annexation was already definitely arranged without 

 Sherman's approval. On William R. Day, a quiet 

 anc ^ well-informed attorney then Assistant Secre- 

 tary of State, the President largely depended. At 

 one time (as I was told on what seemed good au- 

 thority) McKiniey reproached Sherman for talking 

 so freely with reporters concerning affairs in his 

 department: "Don't you know that you are em- 

 barrassing Mr. Day?" At this Sherman broke out: 

 "Who the devil is Mr. Day? I thought he was a 

 clerk in my office." 



Nevertheless, Sherman had broad views on national 

 matters, and he was distinctly a master in finance. 

 His relations with Lincoln had been especially in- 

 timate; nothing, moreover, gave him greater pleas- 

 ure than to talk of their friendship. Soon realizing 

 the impossibility of his position, he resigned the 

 secretaryship, to be succeeded by Day, who, how- 

 ever, shortly withdrew and was afterward appointed 

 by Roosevelt to the Supreme Court. Upon Day's 

 resignation McKiniey put John Hay at the head of 

 the State Department, where he remained until his 

 death in 1905. 



John Hay Hay was the most scholarly as well as the most 

 internationally minded of all who in recent times 

 have served our country in that position. A poet 

 and historian of keen mind and a charming per- 

 sonality, he was also an efficient executive, ably 



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