The National tribune., 1910-04-14
CABINET SPOKESMAN.
Attorney General Wickersham
Coming to the Front in that
Capacity.

| There is much interest in Washing
ton as to whether Attorney General
| Wickersham is to be the Presidents
chief spokesman in the Cabinet. He
has been selecting the Attorney General
of late for considerable platform work.
! On legislative questions Mr.. Wicker
sham has been eXpounding before audi
ences at intervals for some weeks. and
apparently is to do quite a bit more
work in that line.
Meanwhile all the other Cabinet Off
cials have practically dropped out of
the public platform work. Secretary
| of War Dickinson is a very effective
public speaker. The President desig-
mated him for certain tasks in the early
part of the Administration. but of late
Mr.. Dickinson is making almost no
speeches at all, and none that have a
bearing upon the Administrators es-
sential policies. OF course, the fact that
Mr.. Dickinson is a Democrat initiates
against his being an effective advocate
upon the platform of President Taft's
measures. He is naturally supposed to
be in accord with the Presidents poll
| cieS, but the fact that ne is a Demo-
crat and has even been considered in
recent months as a Democratic possi-
/ bility for United States Senator from
Tennessee would seem to put bar up
on his speaking politically for the Presi-
dent.
Secretary of the Treasury MacVeagh
| is very capable platform man He
holds the attention of an audience
lsplendidly with scholarly and convinc-
! ing utterances. But the topic of the
hour which Mr.. MacVeagh would most
likely discuss, because of his position as
head of the Treasury, is the tariff
There again it happens that the man
! in question is a Democrat The tariff
IS very gingery subject, anyway, and
the strong political dislike of the Re
publican leaders for Mr.. MacVeagh be-
cause of his Democracy does not make
it feasible for him to appear before
audiences attempting to justify the law.
In fact, he made tariff speech before
a Boston audience some months ago
that many friends of the Administration
did not like, and since then he has con-
fined himself largely to his official du-
tles without going abroad speechmak-
ing.
The President as Spellbinder.
The President, of course, has been
doing the heft of the tariff speaking
for himself. During the last Roosevelt
Administration he was the chief spolles-
man of the Cabinet, and accordingly
had very extensive training in that
particular line of effort. on the whole.
| he has talked much more than did
Roosevelt. because he has travelled
much more and has been addressing
more public gatherings Because of
| MS own activity there has been less
call for a chief spokesman in the Cabi-
net. Some of his closest friends how
ever, have been advising him to speak
! less frequently, and to try out the ideas
| he has in mind thru some Cabinet Off
clal There are indications that he will
do this after he has completed his forth
looming Western tour. He has announced
IN Il sFN+ Flr.
at Beverly during the Summer and early
Autumn Then the traditions of the
of1ce are in effect that President shall
not participate in campaign stumping.
On the other hand, in recent years a
practice has grown up of sending one
or more members of the Cabinet out to
make political speeches As Secretaries
Dickinson and MacVeagh are hardly
qualified for those assignments because
or their Democratic Ieanings, they be-
ing two of the leading orators of the
Cabinet, it seems probable that the
bulk of the Cabinet stumping in the
East will be done by Attorney General
Wickershan.
Altho year ago he was practically
an unknown man outside of the circle
or New York lawyers, he has developed
INTO a very successful speaker He gets
a good grasp of his subject, easily makes
himself heard, and has a manner and
uellFeIy thdt pleaSeS audiences. He
VIII probably be available for numerous
speeches this side of the Allegheny
Mountains, and especially for speeches
setting forth the purposes of the Ad-
mlnIstraton in Federal legislation,
There is much hostility to him among
the western insurgents, and it remains
to be seen whether he will speak ex-
tensively in the Western States. His
speech Saturday night at Chicago. in
which he gave it to the insurgents hot
and heavy, has aroused that contingent
in the Senate and House, and they pro-
pose to turn their guns upon him from
this time on.
The Attorney General is by no means
the sort of man who will be discouraged
by criticism of that character He does
not shrink from a fight, and probably
VIII be heard from later with regard to
the aspersions of the insurgents.
great many Senators and Represen-
tatives of the wing of regular Repub-
means viii be upon the hustings thru
the Spring and early Autumn They
viii do much of the work that the Pres
ident wants done in the political line.
The Republican Congressional Commit
tee has already made out an extensive
| program for speakers at the Chautau-
qua assemblies thruout the West.
few Cabinet speeches may be found
timely to round out efforts in that field.
1t Is plainly to be campaign of a vast
deal of party oratory, as is generally
the case when lively issues figure in a
National election.