The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-04

, ,n,inistration at Washington enter ltained when it was decided to transfer
 the purchasing of supplies of all kinds. | both for the allies across the sea and
 for the United States, from J. P. Nor
 gan S- Co to the government, was that
 unouestionably MT. Stettinius was just
 the man upon whom to place this re | sponsibility He 1t was who had di- rected for two years for the Morgan house the purchasing of supplies for Great Britain and had revealed himself l as fnasterly salesman upon a great
 scale.
 i But intimation came to Washington presumably from the Morgan house, possibIy from MT. Stettinius himself. that it might not be eXpedient to give him this great authority. for inevita- blv suspicion would rise that still the
 house of J. P Morgan 6 Co. con trolled this enormous business. When Bernard Baruch's name was men tioned in connection with this respon- sibility there were only two com ments heard in the financial district possessed by MT. Baruch for this work, supplemented by a statement that his integrity is unimpeachable.
 He would be above any temptation
 to gain either for himself or his
 friends the secret advantages which, represented by money, would amount to a very great sum- which the pur chasing agent would possess. But it was also said that MT. Baruch had gained brilliant reputation as a high ly successful speculator, not having been associated in his business career with any other venture. It was recalled that he came forward as witness at the time of the investigation of the so called "leak" and frankly testified that he had then taken advantage of market conditions and had made a profit of approximately $500,000. The wonder was whether there might not be some disposition on the part of the peOple to criticise the appointment of a man to so important a position whose ca lreer had been that of very success full speculator But the opinion com monly obtained was that the very 9 bilities which made it possible for Mr. Baruch to gain leadership on the spec ulative side of the securities market were also abilities which would enable him with wisdom. far sightedness, i'm partiality and intuitive judgment to eXpend even as much as $10,000,000,0 900 in the purchase of supplies.
 UNPRECEDENTED REARGUMENT When the supreme court at Washing ton ordered a reargument in the i'm pending case of the dissolution of the international Harvester company 1t broke all precedents, so far as law yers here can recall; for this was the third time the court ordered a reargu- ment in this case.
 1 There has been considerable comment over the rather suggestive fact that two men, both of fhom have been iden- tified in the public mind with prosecu- tions by the department of justice for alleged violation of the Sherman anti trust law and whose corporations are now under consideration by the su- preme court, should have been desig- mated as members of very important
 commissions Cyrus H. Mccormick, president of the International Harvest 1 CT company, was named by President Wilson as one of the American com missioners to Russia, and Judge F. H. Gary, whose name is identified with the United States Steel corporation, is member of one of the most important of the auxiliary associations organized I to aid the government in this emer- ] gency.