The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-13
PRESIDENT SEES HIS MISTAKE.
DTDNI SAY WHEN CABINET or
FICES WOULD BE VACANT.
VIII RrsubmIt the Nominations Of Corr ely GU.
Nc,er and GarneId I'm Proper Form
nominations OF MOODY, BOnaparte
and Straus Confirmed by the senate.

WASHINGTON, Dec. l2.-in executive
session to-day the Senat tie confirmed these
nominations:
William Henry Moody of Massachusetts.
IN he an Associate Justice OF the United
states Supreme Court.
Charles J. Bonaparte Of Maryland. TO be
Atorney-General. vice Moody.
Victor II Metcalf OF California. 10 be Secre-
,arv of the Navy. vice Bonsparte.
oscar :. Straus OF New York. to be Secre-
tsrv OF and Labor. vice Metcalf.
The PENDING nominations to carry out
the other Cabinet changes contemplated
Nv President Roosevelt were not acted
upon and will he r~esubmitted in another
,orm 10 meet objections on the part OF
,sgtsln Senators, and, in fact, OF nearly
the entire Senate.
The decision to resubmit the nomina-
tons of George B. C%ortelyou as Secretary
cf the Treasury, George Won Ia. Meyer as
Postmaster-General and James r. Garfield
aS Secretary Of the Interior was the result
4 remarkable conference at the White
House this morning, the main object OF
v bicb was to find out exactly near
ass or remoteness Of time Mr.. Roosevelt
v ishes 10 indicate by his use OF the word
soon with reference 10 the vacancies which
the persons nominated are to I'LL.
This question and others in connection with
The Presidents nomination OF new officers
and high servants of the Government
called together in Mr.. Roosevelt's office
Secretary Of state Root, Attorney-General
Moody and Senator'S Aldrich and Spooner.
When the President dominates men for
oHlcc TO succeed other. men who have not
We, been separated from the public service
he Is expected by the Senate, IN accor-
dance with custom, to indicate when the
o4ices concerned are to become vacant.
This rule was departed from when the
president on the first day of the present
SESSION sent in the nominations OF several
cabinet officers and other high officials,
FOR on some Of the nominations he failed
10 give any indication OF the time when
the incumbents would 90 out OF office n
on others he noted that they would resign
soon
In the Senate Committee on Finance yes
terday Senator Aldrich, chairman OF the
Committe e, which has before II the nomina-
ZION of Mr.. Cortelyou to be Secretary OF the
Treasury, called a halt, saying he would
ike 10 KNOW W1al TIE TItSlhtit biCaiib ny
using the words -to succeed Leslie NJ. Shaw
without any indication of the time when
Mr.. Shaw will vacate the Office which Mr..
Cortelvou is nominated TO fill. A similar
obiaction was found to the nomination Of
Thomas Ives Chstield, now an Assistant
District Attorney who has been nominated
10 succeed Judge Thomas in the Eastern
District ot New York.
T--.l.ne.m tIoro ia a faalnn among
certain Senators that Leslie NJ. Shaw has
grounds for n Just grievance against the
President in that a man has been nominated
as his successor without indicating when
Nr. shaw expects or is expected to retire,
and this is emphasized by the knowledge,
which has leaked out, that Secretary Shaw
did no, know until many days after his
r,.r,cseor's nomination was sent in when
10 Va. to leave the Treasury Department.
= WA oven nggested at the Capitol to-day
'rr' m : action on the part Of j President,
-nerher accidental or Intentional, formed
90 aFront which Mr.. Shaw should resent by
...,rg that his resignation be accepted to
'atc eject at once.
Tho mixup on the Cabinet and Judiciary
rumoations was such that Senators Aldrich
md - ooner, representing both the Finance
;rItho judiciary committee =, determined to
so to the White House, and TO ask Secretary
loot End Acknowledgement Moody to meet
them there. Mr.. Aldrich, moreover, was
acting under a decision reached yester-
d,y hv the Finance Committee, some OF the
members Of which urged that if Mr.. Cortel-
v,u we're TO be confirmed at once without
any specification a. to when he was to
take office there might be two Secretaries
Il tho Treasury. This was an ~entangle-
ment not 10 he considered for a moment
when it could be Strengthened out in all
probability by asking the President to ex-
plain his action.
At the White House conference Presi-
dent Roosevelt said he could give no ex-
rlanation for the very unusual way in which
the nominations were sent to the Senate,
for he did not know. He acknowl lodged
RELY that his action was calculated 20
cause precisely the muddle which has APP
reared in the Senate, and concluded by
saying that he would withdraw all OF the
nominations and send them in again accord
ng to the approved forms. Attorney
General Moody was asked how was it that
the nomination Of Mr.. Chatield, which
was sent over 10 the White House from
his Department, was not made out in proper
form, but he could offer no explanation.
The President departed from precedent
nv sending in a large humble OF nomina-
tons 10 the Senate on the first day OF the
Congress before he had been officially
informed that Congress was in session and
before he had submitted his annual mes
sage. Among these was the
Of George B. Cortelyou to be Secretary
NJ the Treasury, to succeed Leslie M. Shaw
. Yet Mr.. Shaw did not know until yesterday
when he was expected TO leave the abine
Yesterday he went to the White House tC
AJAX the President about it. and it is under
stood that the matter was left for him Il
decide. It is known that Mr., Shaw feel
that il would be better for a Secretary o.
fhe Treasury to leave Office on March 4, a
the close OF a session of Congress, than al
some earlier date, say February 1, while
congress is in session. The Secretary haC
read in the newspapers at the time the an
nouncement of coming Cabinet change.
was made from the White House on Octo
her 81 that he was expected TO leave the
Cabinet on February 1. During the con
v~~rsation between Mr.. Shaw and the Presi