THE COLONEL KILLS THREE ELEPHANTS 155 



some that I had received from home. He answered 

 that he had not seen any and really didn't want to 

 see any. 



"I don't believe in clinging to the tattered shreds 

 of former greatness," he said, laughing. 



He had not heard that Governor Johnson, of 

 Minnesota, had died, and when we told him he said 

 that Johnson would undoubtedly have been the 

 strongest presidential candidate the Democrats 

 could have nominated the next time. He wanted to 

 know where he could address a note of sympathy to 

 Mrs. Johnson. 



Later, in speaking of a prominent public man 

 who loudly disclaimed responsibility for an act 

 committed by a subordinate, he said : 



"It would have been far better to have said noth- 

 ing about it, but let people think he himself had 

 given the order. Very often subordinates say and 

 do things that are credited to their superiors, and it 

 is never good policy to try to shift the blame. Do 

 you remember the time Root was in South Amer- 

 ica? Well, some president down there sent me a 

 congratulatory telegram which reached Washing- 

 ton when I was away. Mr. of the state depart- 

 ment answered it in my name and said that I and 

 'my people' were pleased with the reception they 

 were giving Mr. Root. Well, the New York Sun 

 took the matter up and w r hen the fleet went around 

 the world they referred to it as 'my fleet,' and that 

 'my fleet' had crossed 'my equator' four times and 

 'my ocean' a couple of times. It was very cleverly 



