Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-24

been suggested a possible selection for Sec
rotary of the Treasury.
For the Interior PORTFOLIO Herbert Hoover
is regarded the man par excellence, if he
will have the job. He knows about the west
country and about the resources which are
awaiting development in that region. Senator
Gronna of North Dakota real dirt farmer"
by the way. is to be a lame duck" after March
4. He defeated for denomination after
serving nine years in the Senate. He may get
the job Secretary of Agriculture, it may
go to Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas who is
well liked by the farmers of the west. If Gov
Allen of Kansas is selected Secretary of
Labor it will bring anguish to some of the
labor leaders. They are strongly opposed to
his industrial court plan. adopted in Kansas.
X X * X
Judge Gerard of New York is at present
raising the campaign funds to elect Gov. Cox.
He served the United States in Europe M
bassador to Germany before this country en-
tered the He is likely choice for Secre-
tary of State under Gov. Cox. Two members
of the Wilson cabinet may be retained Secre-
tary Baker of the War Department. who is from
Ohio, Gov. Cox's state, and E. r. Meredith,
Secretary of Agriculture. It is known that
Gov. Cox thinks highly of Mr.. Meredith. who
. is well liked by the farmers of the country.
Senator Swanson Of Virginia, ranking demo-
cratic member of the Senate naval affairs COM
mittee, has been set down possibility for
the Navy portfolio And Samuel Gompers for
Secretary of Labor. He may prefer to retain
the presidency of the American Federation of
Labor, however. In that event, it would not
be surprising to William B. Wilson the
present Secretary of Labor retained if Cox is
elected
Why not a woman member of the cabinet?
Well, why not? 1t may be that the successful
candidate will pick woman for of these
important posts, if the woman voters demand it.
X X X X
back in 1889. there were only five cabinet jobs:
State, Treasury. War. Justice and Post Office.
His cabinet officers were Thomas Jefferson.
Alexander Hamilton. Henry Knox. Edmund
Randolph and Samuel Osgood. The Office of
Secretary of the Navy was added by law in
1898. and Benjamin Stoddert was the first Sec
rotary, appointed by John Adams. Then came
the Secretary of the Interior in 1s4s with
Thomas Ewing the first. appointed by Zach
airy Taylor; then the Secretary of Agriculture
in 1899, when Grover Cleveland named Norman
]. Coleman. The Department of Commerce and
Labor was provided for in 1903, and George B.
Cortelyou given the secretaryship by
Theodore Roosevelt. This department was
divided in two. and in 1913 President Wilson
appointed the first Secretaries of Commerce and
Labor, w. c. Redfed and William B. Wilson
respectively
From the beginning of the government un-
Til today there have been forty-four Secretaries
of State, fortyseven Secretaries of the Treas
ury and ifty-one Secretaries of War. Yet Pres
fdent Wilson is only the twenty-seventh man
to sit in the White House Cabinet offices have
not proved stepping stones to the presidency
in the last half century. except in the case Of
President Taft. Before that. however six Sec
retaries of State became President, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison. James Munroe. John
Quincy Adams Martin Van Buren, and James
Buchanan, and two Secretaries of War James
Madison and Ulysses S. Grant.