CABINET 



1035 



CABLE 



ments is described under its appropriate title 

 in these volumes. 



The officers who comprise the Cabinet are 

 appointed by the President, but their appoint- 

 ment must be confirmed by the Senate. They 

 do not have seats in Congress, as do the min- 

 isters in England, but in addition to their re- 

 sponsibilities as heads of their respective de- 

 partments, subject always to the overruling 

 authority of the President, they act as advisers 

 to the chief executive. The President and his 

 Cabinet officers work together in close har- 

 mony, and there is a mutual interchange of 

 advice and assistance. In 1886, by the Presi- 

 dential Succession Law (which see), the heads 

 of the executive departments then in existence 

 were made eligible to the Presidency. The 

 greatest prestige is attached to the office of the 

 Secretary of State, but all Cabinet members 

 draw the same salary, $12,000 per year. 



The British Cabinet. As now organized, the 

 British Cabinet is composed of a group of men 

 who fill the highest executive offices in the 

 government, and who act as a unit in direct- 

 ing the government. They serve as advisers 

 to the sovereign, are responsible for all of his 

 acts, and as Cabinet members become a com- 

 mittee of the Privy Council (which see). The 

 Cabinet has come to have the character of an 

 executive committee for the party in power, 

 and the members resign from office when that 

 party is defeated. 



The official head of the Cabinet is the Prime 

 Minister. The Cabinet officers are appointed 

 by the Crown on the recommendation of the 

 Prime Minister. He himself may hold one or 

 more of these offices, and like the other mem- 

 bers of the Cabinet, he has a seat in one of the 

 houses of Parliament. 



The number of Cabinet officials varies, but 

 the Cabinet always includes the following min- 

 isters : First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chan- 

 cellor of England, Lord President of the Privy 

 Council, Lord Privy Seal, five Secretaries of 

 State (for Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, the 

 Colonies, India and War), Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer and First Lord of the Admiralty. 

 Usually, but not necessarily, there are included 

 the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 

 Postmaster-General, First Commissioner of 

 Works, President of the Board of Trade, Chief 

 Secretary for Ireland, Lord Chancellor of Ire- 

 land, and the presidents of the Local Govern- 

 ment Board, of the Board of Trade, of Agri- 

 culture and of Education. See GREAT BRITAIN, 

 subhead Government. 



In the Dominion of Canada. The Cabinet 

 of the Dominion of Canada is treated in full 

 in the article CANADA, under the subtitle 

 Dominion Government. 



Consult Bryce's American Commonwealth; 

 also any good text-book on civics. Names of 

 the latter may be obtained from school-book 

 publishers. 



CABLE, GEORGE WASHINGTON (1844- ), 

 one of the best-known of the Southern group 

 of American novelists, whose most popular 

 stories give a remarkable picture of the life 

 and scenery of Louisiana. He was born in 

 New Orleans, be- 

 gan to earn his 

 own living at the 

 age of fourteen, 

 and five years 

 later enlisted in 

 the Confederate 

 army. After the 

 war he joined 

 the staff of the 

 New Orleans 

 Picayune and un- ' 

 der the pen name 

 of "Drop Shot" 

 became known as 

 the writer of hu- 

 morous sketches 

 and poems. In 1879 he was writing for Scrib- 

 ner's Magazine, and about the same time pub- 

 lished Old Creole Days, the first of a series of 

 books on which his fame rests. Since 1886 he 

 has made his home in Northampton, Mass., 

 where he founded the Northampton Institute, 

 devoted to the culture and education of wage- 

 earning people. 



Cable excels in descriptions of the rivers, 

 swamps and forests of Louisiana, and it has 

 been said that he "knows every mood and 

 whim of the wilderness on the gulf and river." 

 His Bonaventure, Strong Hearts and The 

 Grandissimes reveal his skill in picturing scenes 

 of river and forest life; Dr. Seiner, Posson 

 lone,' and Old Creole Days are notable for 

 their vivid descriptions of the life and pictur- 

 esque beauty of the Old French quarter in 

 New Orleans. His stories have the fault of 

 over-emphasizing the weaknesses of the Cre- 

 oles, and the author is greater as an artist 

 than as an historian of social conditions. To 

 him, however, American readers owe the inter- 

 pretation of a phase of Southern life that is 

 little known, and his pen has perpetuated for 

 them scenes of beauty in French New Orleans 



GEORGE W. CABLE 



