The Washington herald., 1920-11-24
Pennsylvania $ Experience.
Makes Him Ideal" of
CO. P. Leaders. !.
BACKED BY PENROSE
Senator in Good Health and
Age Is Considered No Bar
To Appointment.
d, FRrDEnIc WILLIAM VILE.

by FRfcDEUIC WILLIAM VILE.
Philander c. Knox. OF Pennsyi-
vania, Is rendy to be conscripted
into the secrctaryship of State. He
Is not seeking the office but will
not decline what he would regard
duty's call Thus Senator Knox's
position toward assuming the pre-
Of President Harding's
Cabinet can be authoritatively sum-
married.. No one can say that the
junior Senator from Pennsylvania
has even tentatively been offered
the portfolio. He certainly has not
been promised" IT. Mr.. Harding is
declared to be heart-whole and
fancy-free as far as Federal pa
tronage. high and low, is concerned.
The President-eiect's friends quote
him as being dominated by a pas
sion to surround himself with the
ablest Cabinet talent the q. u.
p. commands. Newly-inaugurated
Chief Magistrates invariably take
office with that desire. In Mr..
Harding's case it Is said to be more
than lip-service and to. amount to
fierce determination. He realizes
the mess and tangle in which Amer
lean affairs, foreign and domestic,
lcdo tnC ndllOu
out of those 'involvements'' he will
pick men Of unquestionably expert
capacity.
Senator Knox, politically, is rated
AA-l. He has the backing of Sen
ator Boies Penrose. who will be
towering figure in the new re-
gime. He enjoys the confidence OF
Senator Hiram w. johnson. Hard
Ing and Knox were great cronies
In Washington. On tie eve of the
Republican national convention at
Chicago in June recall an unre-
hearsed scene on the floor of the
Senate. Some desultory question
was under debate" Senator Hard
ing. who was about to leave Wash
ington for Ohio and the convention.
had moved from the first semi-circle.
where his seat Is placed. and pre-
empted Senator Eeliogg's seat in
the row behind and Immediately
alongside Senator Knox.
Condolences Apssrsat.
There Hafdins and KNOX sat in
animated Whispered conversafion.
the arm around Knox's shoulder
indicating that Harding was in
"confdential" mood. Two weeks
later Senator Harding was. the Re-
publican nominee for President.
The identity Of the new Secretary
OF State will largely depend upon
the result OF President-elect Hard
tng's preinauguration conferences
at Marion, after December 10. That
rs to say, the nature of the new
administration's Immediate foreign
anairs program-peace with Ger
many. and league Of nations mat
ters-as determined by Mr.. Hard
ing's talks with public leaders, will
very considerably determine the
choice Of his minister-in- chief. As
getting back to normalcy" means
primarily getting back TO peace,
there Is a growing impression that
the incoming Presidents preference
VIII be found to be in the direction
Of peace by resolution on terms akin
to those projected by Senator Knox.
II the Marion conferences reveal
such a road to normally" as the
best and quickest to travel, Il is
regarded a foregone conclusion that
Knox will be asked to point the
way as Secretary of State. Hsro-
ing voted for the Knox resolution
in the Senate.
Senator Knox will be on the verge
6 6S- years of age next March.
There Is no foundation for the the
ory. now again being circulated,
that Knox is in bad health. Parti-
sans of other candidates for the
Secretaryship Of State are accused
of putting that view about as anti
Knox propaganda"
Equipped by Experience.
Barring Elihu Root. there is, of
course. no man in the United States
SO peculiarly equipped by expert
ence for dealing with the problems
that happen at the present hour to
be Americas cardinal foreign af-
fairs. viz, Central American (Mex-
ican) and Far Eastern questions.
Prior to occupying himself with,
purely diplomatic problems in the
Taft administration as Secretary of
State, Senator Knox had been the
Attorney General. during the ad-
ministrations Of Mckinley and
Roosevelt.
During the latter days of the Taft
administration Mr.. Knox went to
Japan to represent the United States
government as special envoy at the
occasion he had opportunity to ac-
quaint himself at first hand with
Far Eastern conditions. in which
he had long been vitality interested.
1t Is probably forgotten by most
people that Knox was the them
reviIed dollar diplomacy policy in
China, which only this week has
been formally inaugurated in the
guise of the quadruple consortium
alliance of America, Great Britain.
France and Japan.
Mr.. Knox is probably our fore
most authority on Caribbean affairs.
He knows the situation on both
sides of the Isthmus from personal
sojourns in the abutting countries
II the Panama Canal tolls contro-
gersy becomes. as 1t Is likely to
become. one of the prompt and par
amount issues OF the Harding ad-
ministration. a Knox Secretaryship
of State would be, his admirers as.
sert. ideal from still another
standpoint.
Skilled Corporation Lawyer.
Knex' skill as a corporation law
yer stood him in excellent stead
when he Instituted his famous re-
organisation Of the State Depart
ment. As william Howard Tafts
nnal message to- Congress, in De-
cember. 1919, stated. The Depart
~nsw< ~ Gfa a. was an archaic and