The why repels the philosophic searcher, The WHY and WHERE all questionings defy, Until we find, far back in youthful nurture, Prophetic facts that constitute the why. All merit comes from braving the unequal, All glory comes from daring to begin; Fate loves the state that, reckless of the sequel, Fights long and well, whether it lose or win. Mr. Ware was Commissioner of Pensions from May 10, 1902, to January 1, 1905. Then, much to the regret of President Roosevelt, he resigned. Mr. Vespasian Warner, of Clinton, Ill., was appointed Commissioner January 16, 1905. Mr. Warner had an honorable record as member of Congress from 1895 to the time of his appointment as Commissioner. During the last four years fewer complaints have come from the Pension Office than in former years. XXV STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS THE State, War, and Navy departments are in one handsome four-storied granite building, with a frontage of 343 feet and a depth of 565 feet, situated on Pennsylvania Avenue, just west of the White House. The building is one of the handsomest in the city, being of the French Rennaissance, modified by American ideas. It has five hundred rooms and two miles of marble halls. In the west wing of the building the Secretary of War, Hon. Elihu Root, and General Miles, Commander of the Army, have handsome rooms for themselves and their many assistants. In the east wing can be found the Secretary of the Navy and rooms for the Admirals and their corps of helpers, and in the south wing the popular Secretary of State, the Hon. John Hay, with a comparatively small number of assistants. STATE DEPARTMENT In the department of the Secretary of State one sees the portraits of all the great men who have occupied the position of Secretary of State from the time of Washington down to the present occupant. Most people would be interested in the Huntington portraits of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, and in a copy of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington. In the State Department the most interesting are the portraits of Thomas Jefferson, 1789, Washington's first term; Daniel Webster, 1841 and 1850; William H. Seward, 1861 and 1865; Elihu B. Washburne, 1869; Hamilton Fish, 1869; William M. Evarts, 1877; James G. Blaine, 1881 and 1889; and F. T. Frelinghuysen, 1881. A portrait of Lord Ashburton recalls the "Ashburton Treaty" of 1842, which defined the boundaries between the United States and the British Possessions in North America, and provided for the suppression of the slave-trade.