The Washington herald., 1920-12-19
HARDING FAXES
SENATE CHIEFS
BY BYHISSILENCE
Fear That President-elect
Will Break Traces Ex-
pressed Hee.
LISTENS TO ADVICE
BUT SAYS NOTHING
Associates Who Hoped
To WELD Influence Start
To Worry.
BY ROBERT BARRY.

II gossip heard about the Senate
lobbies can be taken seriously a
political sensation of real dimen-
sions is brewing within the inner
councils of the Republican party.
1t all traces to a positive tendency
attributed to Presidenttelect Hard
ing to do considerable listening to an
factors in the party. but to be very
reticent in SO far as expressing his
own views.
A veritable orgy of rumors, gos-
sip. speculation and guessing has
followed in the wake of the Presi-
dent-elect since his visit to the Ma
tional Capital. Some of his most in
innate political associates some
whose personal relations with the
Senator cover a quarter of a CEN
tury. are represented as being
alarmed over an inclination on his
part to place a somewhat lower es-
innate upon the views of his sena-
hOHAa COlACd6 ucS Inah NhCs-
Party Leaders I'm Dark.
Many influential leaders in the
Senate, men who ordinarily would
be "on the inside" as to what Har-
ding is thinking and planning, are
held to be entirely sincere in their
statements that they know nothing
but gossip. Such a situation, il il
actually exists in the degree repre-
sented. is a joker in the deck for
those senatorial chiefs who believed
the domination of a Senator would
be followed by a Senatorial admin
@istration at the White House.
The cross-currents of speculation
soaring upon Cabinet possibilities
traces to the alleged refusal OF
Harding to permit a few Senators to
/ do his thinking for him 1t is pos
feible to hear half a dozen stories
Nsu straight from the throne'
about Cabinet choices, and some ei
fhen are in direct conflict. For ex-
auple, IL Is possible to hear the
most circumstantial stories in the
highest Senatorial quarters to the
effect that Charles Evans Hughes is
Harding's first choice for Secretary
Of State. In no less reliable circles
|cue is told that Mr.. Hughes has been
advised by the President-elect that
appointment as chief justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States
is in the offing.
Resignations Rumored.
That story has Justice Joseph Nc.
Kenna and Chief Justice Edward
Douglass White resigning within
the next six months. Justice Nc
Kenna would be the first to retire
enabling Harding to name Hughes
as associate Justice. Then when
the Chief Justice retired a few
months later. Hughes would be pro-
NOTED to the center seat on the tri-
bunal.
1t is related in some Senatorial
quarters that Senator Albert B
Fall. of New Mexico. does not seek
the State Department portfolio. thai
he is working for the appointment
Of Elihu Root and has gone so far as
to approach some of the irreconcil,
ables on the question of Roots
league views, holding the co-authol
of the world court plan to be In
substantial accord with the bitter.
ender demand for an entirely new
deal In other quarters no less
given to accurate knowledge oi
party affairs, il is stated Falls sup
posed purpose to resign from the
Senate in a year or so to reorganizs
Mexican railways is mere camou-
mage to coyer his efforts to gain
the State Department appointment
Real Alarm started.
~ ~
the score. They all lead competent
observers of Senatorial doings to
the conclusion that the Senate
knows very little of Harding's
plans. And gossip would have II
that Harding is doing so much OF
his own thinking that some power
full leaders in the party are becom-
ing alarmed- .........
Harding's supposed disposition to
sit back and say little, to hear all
shades of opinion but show pref
erence to none, to extend recogni-
tfon to popular thought from Re-
publicans and Democrats alike. IA
reported to be netting the old-line
leaders. Some of them are known
to be fearful that Harding. viewing
the size of his victory in November
might come to believe IL was q
personal success, leaving him with
out special obligation to the So
called Senatorial oligarchy" which
was credited with his nomination
His own references to the "oligar-
chy." which he dismissed in his Sen
ate speech as a campaign fiction, are
said to have impressed some Sena-
tors who had believed they were re-
sponsible in large measure for his
nomination
Surprised at Change.
Although some Senators dismiss
as a physical impossibility a change
from the Harding they knew in the
Senate to a man placing as much
confidence in his own judgment as
in that of his friends. nevertheless
references to the possibility of his
refusing to give precedence to their
views and advice are becoming so
frequent about the Senate as to
carry the conviction that they are
doing no little thinking in that re-
spect. In those quarters which have
been advised as to this trend iuspar-
ty affairs, more Significance is at
tached to the statement by Senator
Penrose on December 6 than appears
on the surface The fact that Pen
rose saw Mt to, discuss national af-
fairs with newspapermen when they
went to his home to learn about a
CONTINUED ON PAGE -FOUR.