The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-26

even among the members of Cabinet. And they do say up here right now that Attorney-0 General Wickersham and his chief assistants in the Department of Justice resent the common report that MT. Hitchcock who has the repu- tation of being the political manager of the administration, is expected 70 tell the shining legal lights even what sort of men to pick out for attorneys, Judges and marshals for most of the Southern States. But some of the fol- lowers of Barker and Thompson persist in saying that 1t Is an exceptional thing in Alabama and that MT. wickersham will be only too glad to let the Post master-General nx these things for Alabama so long as 1t would be . spe- cial favor to Barker and Thompson.
 The only thing for the average citi- zen to do is to walt and see just what the powers that be are going to do. The coming appointments in the Middle District will tell the story.
 One. of the latest reports to reach Washington Is that former Referee Charles H. Scott Is showing signs of getting into the game again. It had been supposed here that Captain Scott was becoming so enamored of his mar ble quarry that he did not banker after politics any more.
 Right now the failure of Postmaster- General Hitchcock to, settle the Birm- ingham postmastership before Congress took the holiday recess is a genuine puzzle to many people. Before he left for Birmingham Senator Johnston could not account for the delay. Representa- tive Underwood appears to be ail mixed up over that situation, too. In spite of his endorsement of Postmaster Carter for reappointment. Mir. Underwood has been possessed of the idea that because Barker and Thompson have been back ing Joseph Bowron he would receive the appointment.
 ExpIafns Estimate of Bowron.
 In saying not long since that Bow ron would not be worth the flip of coin politically to Thompson, Mir. Un- derwood, of course, did not mean to reflect personally upon Mir. Bowron He just simply meant that MT. Bowron is in a class pretty high above the men usually recommended by patronage dis pensers in the South, and that if he gets the ofice he cannot be controlled by the faction bosses as they would be able to control other men Thompson is Known to have originally preferred for the position. Common talk has 1t that If MT. Bowron gets that office. he Isn't going to be bossed by anybody around Birmingham or Mobile. Pecu- niarily he doesn't need the ofice. and that makes wonderful difference.
 It is too early yet to form any idea as to how far certain elements among the former Union soldiers will go in their opposition to the reception on the part of Congress of the statue of General Robert B. Lee which already has its place in Statuary Hall. There does not seem to be any organized movement among the Union veterans. Only here and there do the more fiery ones let 1t be known that they do not relish such a statue being in the col lection. Lately complaint has been made particularly of the fact that the Confederate uniform Is shown in the bronze figure. and those who do not like this say they could probably overcome their objections If this fea- ture had been omitted by the sculptor and those who accepted the design.
 They forget entirely that General Lees chief fame was as commander Of the Confederate forces, the hotheads insisting that he was a leader of ''reb- els" and that he and his followers tried their best to disrupt this coun- try. However. there are not many of these complaining ex-soldiers of the Union. and pretty much everybody has