Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-26
MR.. M'AD00'S TILT
At BIC COAL MEN
ST|RS POLITICIANS
Wonder Whether He's Look.
ing Forward to Presi-
dental Candidacy.

Is it to be inferred from Mr.. Nc
Adoo'S tilt at the coal operators and
in behalf of the coal consumers and
the coal diggers that he is looking for
ward to the presidential candidacy in
1920, the politicians are asking. All
the President-makers and near Presi-
dent-makers are talking about 1t.
If So if he is going to throw his hat
into thes ring, what will be the effect
of his assailing alleged excess profit
in its lair. boarding it in its den, to
lapse into the colloquialism of the poll
ticians? "Hooray" said the average
householder and otherwise coal con-
sumer when Mr.. McAdoo came out with
his charge that the operators have
been receiving unusual profit out of
their sales of coal 'Umph. Just
what we thought all along" they
grunted, as they turned to read Abe
Martin and see what Mutt and Jeff
We're doing and how Aloysius, poor
soul, was keeping up with the Joneses.
Gave Operators Sinking Feeling.
There is no doubt that Mr. McAdoo's
foray gave the coal operators that
sinking feeling. Likewise. they were
plumb disguised. Such blow from
such q hand was the unkindest ",t
of all And they feared the public
would believe kun, Ds,..u--
lie knew that he knows. They came
valiantly back with indignant denial.
Will their denial catch up with Mr..
McAdoo's charge, and which side of
the case will the public be most likely
to believe, and want to believe? All
of which the politicians have been
turning over in their minds and dis
cussing in their gossip, up one side
and down the other.
Here, a while back, the politicians
were looking upon Mr.. McAdoo as the
possible preference of the business
CT hsl 70 hnY n "a
md all-embracing term which the
sossips draw upon to designate some
thing they have in mind and cannot
accurately describe in words. Mr..
McAdoo, because of his great success
in floating the liberty loans. his ex-
ecutive ability and all that, was sup
posed to appeal strongly to the vest
ed rights" and so on. The politicians
Tor their part gave him credit for
foresight in tripping lightly down the
gangplank and going ashore as the
democratic ship cast Off on her last
voyage, which some of them thought
might prove a perilous venture.
And now he seems to have gone
and joined the plain people, the poll
ticians say. and flung back the gold
in the face of the tempter with ges-
ture of scorn BETTING the poor but
honest gyurl in the melodrama. They
are all upset about it, and don't know
what to make of it.
Baruch Reported Backer.
Furthermore, their perturbation is
increased by the persistent report
that Mr.. McAdoo's chief hacker in his
supposed presidential enterprise is
Bernard M. Baruch, the multimillion
aire and erstwhile friend and member
of the money-power. That report has
been cropping out in spots for the
past month or so. 1t doesn't gibe, the
!
Mr.. McAdoo standing as the champion
of the consumer and the miner a.
the coal-no, not coal barons; leave
that to others: as opposes to TIE zap.
talists controlling the mines and the
coal lands.
So, for the moment, Mr. McAdoo
| has them guessing" which, old poll
ticians say, isn't such bad thing aft
| er all, at this early stage of the pro.
| ceedings.