The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-03-17
A PUBLIC SERVANT
FOR LONG PERIOD
New Attorney General Ex-
perienced in the Work He
Must Now Handle.
BY SIDNEY ESPEY.

appointment OF Attorney General
James c. McReynolds, President VIII
son has made selection which
officials of the department of justice
term fortunate. 1t was thought that
the appointment of an absolutely new
man would so disarrlnge matters that
have been pending before the depart
| ment that serious complications would
ensue.
Mr.. McReynolds, however, practic-
ally has been an associate assistant
United States attorney general since
1907. He has been engaged more or
less in the dissolution proceedings
brought against the American Tobac-
| co company and the Union Pacific and
Southern Pacific railroads. Although
a Democrat, he accepted his first APP
pointment to the department of jus
| tice from President Roosevelt at a
salary of $4,000 a year. That was
in 1907. Since that time he had been
given important tasks to work out by
| Attorney General Wickersham and
during the American Tobacco dissolu-
| ton proceedings his salary was fixed
at $4,000 as special assistant at
| torney general. He is familiar with
all of the workings of the department
and is fairly familiar with the various
cases that are pending. Especially is
this true of the prosecutions under the
! Sherman law.
Even Pleases Clerks.
! Clerks of the department as well
as assistant attorneys general, are
highly pleased with President Will
| sons selection. 1t means, so rumor
has it, that the present high state of
efficiency will be maintained and in
! cidently that many will retain their
positions. 1t was expected that new
attorney general would make clean
sweep of the department in order to
| satisfy the desire of Democratic
politicians, who as early as two
months ago, had their clerks search
ing through the roster of the depart
ment to ascertain the number Of
Jobs" that could be filled with Demo
cratic constituents. Now it is thought,
however that Mr.. McReynolds will not
make many changes in the really i'm
portant positions of the department.
He has been so closely identified with
the department and has formed so
many intimate associations that it is
pointed out, he will not wish to fire"
any of his old friends
Contrary to his predecessors in
Office, McReynolds is Democratic in
every way and manner. He is the
! la nj CT
hats and frock coats. smokes a corn
cob pipe in his office. very frequently
putting his feet on his desk while
reading a law book or studying
case.
AS one of his associates described
him, which he says is typical, Nc
Reynolds is either aristocratic or
lazy. He referred to an incident when
Reynolds seated at his desk, with feet
cooked up, came to a passage in
| brief which he thought of incorporat-
| ing in a case to be filed in the SUI
preme Court of the United States
! Not having a pencil in his pocket or
within easy reach, lie pressed a call
button, summoning his stenographer.
! Thinking that McReynolds wished to
rapher came in with pencil and pad
and took a chair near his chief. Nc
Reynolds. to the CONSERVATION of his
{ stenographer, simply asked for a GER
tain pencil on his desk about a foot
out Of his reach.
! But McReynolds is neither aristo-
cratic nor lazy and many incidents
connected with his work in the de-
partment of Justice, will testify to this
fact
i Were Aristocratic.
! His predecessors, Bonaparte and
! Wickersham were rather much inclin-
ed to be aristocra tic. Bonaparte. is
the grand nephew of Napoleon Bona
part. Wickersham comes from an old
New York family, who followed the
legal profession for many years.
! Shortly after it became known ofTic-
! tally that he was to be the next chief
of the department of Justice, Mr. Nc
Reynolds called informally upon the
retiring head of the department.
Amenities of the occasion were hur-
riedly dispensed with and a business
discussion ensued. Mr. Wickersham
who was very anxious to leave Wash
ington, turned over a mass of detailed
correspondence and some of the press
| ing matters were hurried over in
order that Mr.. McReynolds would
know Just what to do when he assum-
ed active control of the office next
day. He walked to the department
after a conference at the White House
with the other members of President
Wilson's cabint and left arm in arm
with one of the assistant United States
attorneys who has one of the minor
positions in the department. He had
on a blue business suit and SLOUGH
hat, the direct opposite in dress to