The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-02-12
ONLY TWO ON LIST
Cabinet Guessers Have Several
Long Thinks Coming.
KNOX AND HITCHCOCK SURE
President-Eiect William n. Taft Has
Not Selected Any Timber Other
Than Those Mentioned.

Washington, Feb. 5.-The only ten
ders of cabinet positions made TO date
by or for William II. Taft are those
made 10 Philander c. Knox and Frank
II. Hitchcock. No other man has been
asked 10 accept portfolio from the
next president. Mr.. Taft is adherring
and will adhere strictly To his public
declaration that there would he no
choice of a cabinet until he himself
makes that choice just before his inau,
guration.
I'm spite of all rumOrs and reports,
these statements can be accepted as
absolute facts. They were made today
by a man who is an intimate dawson
OF Mr. Taft. who talked with the presi-
dent elect on cabinet matters before he
left Augusta and who communicated
with him on the day That he sailed
for Panama.
No Other Tenders of Place Made.
II can be said without quibbling or
splitting hairs that since Senator Knox
accepted the state portfolio in the
cGming administration on Dec. Is, no
other American has had a chance TO
accept any of the other cabinet posts
This statement according TO the same
reliable authority must be accepted de-
spite the growing journalistic assurance
that the treasury and attorney general
ha,rn lal al
delivered.
The establishment of the true situa-
ton today is of donble Importance.
1t concerns Mr.. Taft deeply because
he has publicly given his word that no
announcement of cabinet appointments
could be made until he himself made
them about March |. He even went so
far as TO say that if they were made
he would deny them. Yet he now
finds the rumor mongers as hard at
work as they were before he spoke
and this activity may eventually seem
To cast doubt on the truthfulness of
his promise.
Taft Scrupulously Keeps Word
For the sake of the president elect,
therefore, it is worth while to en-
phaSize that he has scrupulously kept
his word. He is considering his posi-,
bile appointees, as he said he would;
he is estimating their abilities and their
willingness TO serve, but ne has offered
no one an appointment.
For the sake of the people also the
emphasis is worth while. 1t not only
confirms their trust in their new presi-
dent by showing the truth of mis- first
pledge TO them, but it allows an III
iinately better cabinet to be chosen in
their behalf. If the amateur cabinet
makers were TO be allowed TO have
their way the new president might find
himself surrounded by a circle of in
dividualiy brilliant and efficient but
mutually antagonistic advisors
Nothing would be more distastful to
the new president than this. His
whole training has convinced him of
the value OF team work" as they
called it at Yale, and he has distinct
wish to retain this important quality
in the body of men upon whom he
must most completely rely during the
next four years.
Picking these men haphazard one
after the other the president elect
might find an ill-assOrted crew when
work was complete. Picking the key
stone and then building the rest of the
nt..h h., 10 ,loIo -,
thought OF as well as the parts, he
should have cabinet as good as any
that ever sat in the White House.
All He Asks Is to Be Let Alone
This, according To his own word, is
the policy of Mr.. Taft He might be
rcsiously embarrassed i'm its fulfiIlment
by indiscreet and inaccurate intrusion
upon his labors. He can be helped
greatly by a spirit of noninterferencc,
which courtesy demands.
Mr.. Taft will return from the is
thmus about the middle of the month.
and from that time until the first of
March unless ne shall decide to act
sooner, he will be preparing for the
i4Ai'ii announcements OI HIS c.lDlnpt ans.
I'm that time, if we shall have more
rumors as to what he has done in
regard to choosing this or that ':favor-
lie son. we can continue to take them
with grain of salt. as there is no
indication that the January promise of
the next president is TO be withdrawn.
1t is noticeable, too, from a, purely
journalistic standpoint. that cabinet
choices announced rs ALREADY made"
do not seem to be backed up by much
circumstantial evidence They are not
confirmed by Mr.. Taft. or by AIr. Knox
or Mr.. Hitchcock, who might be pre-.
sumed TO know. They are not con-
firmed by the supposed appointees or
by their intimate friends They appear
one day as bits of flaming news and
die peacefully the next.
Bankruptcy Petition Filed.
From Thursdays TjaIIv