South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-03-02
SENATE SEES
TRIYIALITY IN
APPOINTMENT
Pretends TO Trace Naming of
Colby to Shipping Board
Brief.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE oNE.)

commonly done It is true that at
the end OF as hours OF informal ex-
change OF views there is nothing in
sight that would be a necessary inn
pediment TO the confirmation. But
the senate will act slowly. neverthe-
less, not so much because of Mr..
Colby as because OF Mr.. Wilson. the
general situation and the approach
ing campaign.
/ II is claimed that the appoint
ment bears every evidence Of being
the casual result OF an impulse
ratheg< than the fruit OF a careful
SURVEY OF the available ability Mr..
! Colby's appointment came out of
the inner recesses OF the white
house in as startling a manner as
Mr.. Lansing's dismissal. and Wash
| ington - permitted to know even
less about the reasons that dictated
Mr.. Colby's appointment than about
the reasons that dictated his prede-
cessor's dismissal.
! The only fragment that the most
penetrating of political news gath
erers are able to lay hands on is a
story 10 the effect that within the
past week or ten days Mr.. Colby
was recalled TO the attention of the
presidents mind by an episode more
or less in the nature OF an accident;
Mr.. Colby, I'm the course OF his prac-
4 tice OF law, has recently been ap-
pearing before the shipping board
as counsel for some American oil
producers who are beneficial own
ers OF certain tank steamers, which,
before the war. were registered un-
der the German flag and held In the
name of a German corporation, of
which the stockholders were Mr..
| COlby's clients. 1t happens that
these steamers have. become the cen
ter of an international legal tangle.
/ During the war they were seized
| by the British, and the status of
their true ownership. together with
the ultimate disposition of them,
/ has been in dispute. on this point
Mr.. Colby. in the course Of his prac-
I tice, wrote a brief, and il is said
that because this brief pertained to
one aspect OF a large question which
is now before the president 1t hap
pened to come TO the presidents
personal attention. IL is said that
the brief impressed Mr.. Wilson, not
only by its ability as a legal argu-
ment but also by the identity of
/ Mr.. Colby's course Of reasoning with
/ Mr.. Wilson's own point OF view on
the larger question of the distribu-
ton OF captured shipping. which
question was one of the difficult in
cidents Of the peace treaty and is
! just at this moment 10 the front
among international problems.
Why He Appointed Colby.
The reading of the brief. accord
ing to the story. brought back to Mr..
Wilson's mind his previous &C
( quaintanCe with Mr.. Colby. who, as
a member of the shipping board.
I had been i'm occasional conference
with him, both in Washington dur
ing the war and in Paris during the
peace conference That is the story.
1t is all surmise; but. even so, if
one feels like apologizing for deal
ing in matters so relatively trivial as
this, the answers that there is at
this moment an immense and ex-
cusable acuteness on the part of the
public, due 10 Observation-Disclosures
agitation, about the motives and
other impelling agencies back Of
every little act of the executive
branch Of the government.
Thus the anti-administration
forces are affecting the feeling that
Mr.. Colby's appointment could not
have been the result OF calm refec-
ton on the part of The president.
for the reason that Mr.. Colby. what
ever his abilities. is precisely not the
man to fill the presidents own quail
Iifications
The president has said that he
WANTED a man whose mind would
go along with his" II has been
made as plain 10 the public as any
thing can be that the foreign poll
cies OF the United States are to be
Mr.. Wilson's own. He has said so
himself. and he has separated with
two secretaries Of state 20 make
sure II should be so. Mr.. Bryan
quit for the same reason that Mr..
Lansing was dismissed.
7 What Mr.. Wilson wants is a man
who will completely subordinate
himself To Mr.. Wilson's own mind.
He wants a secretary of state who
will devote his talents to phrasing
the presidents intentions. to putting
the presidents will into words And
OF all the men the president might
have chosen for such a purpose, so
els enemies say. Mr.. Colby would be
considered one Of the last by those
who know him.
Mr.. Colby is distinctly an indi-
viduaI. He is a rebel. an insurgent.
/ a man who goes his own gait, and
who gets out OF his gait If interfered
with. Mr.. Colby has a markedly
brilliant mind. but he carries the
/ handicap that such a mind gener-
! ally has. He is original and indi-
vidual almost TO the point of being
erratic. It is the things about him
that are called erratic that will he
brought up against him in the sen
ate. He is the last man for team
work In the course Of the years
since he became a voter he has