The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-10
TAFT AT BARBECUE
PREsIDENT-ELEcT SPENDS DAY IN
 WOODS
Mr. Taft Has Determined That no OtheF Cabinet Appointments Shall be Made Known
 Until March {.

l Augusta, Ga, Jan 9.~-Beyond the I refteration of the announcement that 1 Philander c. Knox will be Secretary
 of State, and Frank H. Hitchock post
 master general. President-elect Taft | has determined that no other cabinet
 appointments shall be made known un.
 til March 1. To make this determine
 tion effective, he will deny all cabinet 1 .rumors predictions or announcements l from any source whatsoever. I 1t is predicted. that Mir. Hitchcock ] will retire as chairman of the re- l publican national committee at some I convenient time to be determined up- 1 on after he has assumed the duties of 1 his official position. Tn this event. he
 will designate a vice chairman from 1 among the members of the committee
 who will head the committee until It's 1 meeting in December proceeding the l next National election at which time
 the formal election of a chairman will | be in order. It is stated that no con- 1 troversy has existed over this matter; | that 1t never has been and is not now | an issue in any quarter. Mir. Hitch- l cock, who is here, declined to dis i cuss any plans he may have In this i connection, and would make no pre-
 diction as to what member of the com
 mission he will designate as vice | Chairman.
 
 | retary of Agriculture to serve longer as a cabinet member than has any oc- | cupant of like member has developed ] an interesting discussion as to whether MT. Wilson does not at the present l time, hold the record for the longest cabinet service. His tenure of office on the fourth of March next will be twelve years according to information here. His competitors in this line are | said to be William Wirt, who was at- l torney general for eleven year and six or eight months and postmaster general Granger. who was at the head or the
 postal service for thirteen years, but
 during none of that time was he a | member of cabinet. The position of
 postmaster general then was not a l cabinet place. Should it develop l authoritatIvely that Mir. Wilson will have achieved his ambition on the fourth of March. it Is regarded as highly probably here that he will wish to relinquish his official duties. Other
 wise Mir. Wilson will doubtless be a msmber of the Taft official family. at least for a few months.
 Aside from this place 1t Is regarded as a fair conclusion that Mir. Taft has fixed In his mind and has had approved by Messrs. Knox and Hitchcock, the men whom he is to Invite to seats a. round his council board. This Is be- lieved to be the extent of his program at the present time, as 1t is under stood that no offers of places besides the two determined upon have been made to any one That the profrer of places Is the next step in order is matter of course.
 Like a trip into the good old days of the past" was the novel experience of the president-elect to-day In being the guest of the Beach Island Farmers Club, of South Carilina. at a repetition of a barbecue the club has held once month, without missing a month, for nearly seventy years. The old darkey. John Hays--made the "cue" just ex- actly the same aS he has been doing every month ever since long befo' de war; The plain board club house, with its holes in the roof and walls, has been the meeting place for the discussion of all questions as well as for the feasts served In one of it's two rooms, for more than fifty years It stands alone in q beech forest about seven miles from Augusta. and in and around It to-day were gathered half