The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-01-29
OAuCHERTY
TO ACCEPT
is. OPINION
Taken for Granted Harding
Will Offer Him Post of At
torney General, Friends Say
He Will Take Position.
POLITICIANS PROTEST
By MARK SULLIVAN


The question remaining seems to be
merely whether Daugherty will take
1t. A year ago or more, when Daugh-
erty began his effort to make Harding
president, he told Harding that if the
attempt was successful he wouldn't
take any office.
But this attitude on Daugherty's
part seems to have gone the way Of
many other things that politicians say
when the contingency seems remote
Those who are best informed now be-
lieve that Daugherty wants to accept
the offer
At times he has seemed to be of
two minds about it, saying on one day
that he couldn't afford to take it and
that he couldn't move his family to
Washington.
Say He Will Accept
More lately. however, Daughertys
friends say he will take the appoint
ment for the purpose of hanging it
around his neck as a decoration, so
to speak, for the purpose of being able
to walk down Main street in Columbus
and shout q malevolent defiance to
the political enemies who have been
crying him down and belittling him
for tho larger part of a fairly long
lifetime
1t would be characteristic of Daugh-
eTtV to take a step so vital to him
self. to the success of Harding's ad
mlnistratiOn, and to the country, and
base the decision solely on his rela-
tion to an ancient political feud. The
minute you try to arrive at any esti-
mate of Daugherty's plans in the
world and his fitness or unfitness for
the particular job of encouragement,
you instantly run into those Ohio
feudS.
Mass of Opposition
For this reason it is difficult to ap-
praise the mass of things that are
said against Daugherty in Ohio
You quickly find that the bulk of
them come from political enemies, be-
tween whom and Daugherty there is
not q great deal to choose. But you
can dismiss everything that is said
about Daugherty by his political enc
mics. You can accept Daugherty's
own account of his career and take
the facts of records, and confining
yourself to those things only you will
quickly. arrive at the conclusion that
If Harding makes Daugherty attorney
general he will have no reason for
doing so except the payment of an OBJ
legation to an old political friend.
Not Good LawIer.
If Harding were choosing his attor-
ney-general on the same basis I think
he is choosing his secretary of state,
his secretary of the treasury. his sec
retary of the interior, and his secre-
tary of agriculture, namely, on the
basis of picking one of the three or
four leading men in his line, then in
that case there are several hundred
lawyers in the United States who
would come to his mind before Daugh-
erty would. Daugherty is not even in
the class of lawyers whose names
would suggest themselves to any open
minded person picking an attorney
general on the sole basis of legal
achievements and standing in the pro-
fession.
Daugherty has a law office in Co.
lumbus and two minor partners, but.
as someone expressed it. if the Ameri-
can Bar association should choose tc
look into Daugherty's career and make
a mathematical calculation of the
number of hours he has spent arguing
before judges in court. or studying the
law books in his office. or otherwise
in anything that constitutes what peo-
pie mean when they think of the prac-
tice of the law, the result would be
pretty damaging to Daugherty's
chances of appointment
Corporation Lawyer.
The practice Daugherty has is chief
ly representing big public service cor.
porations before the public utility
commission of the state. Daugherty's
enemies say that he has made his
political career and his practice of the
law help each other; that he gets his
clients as lawyer by virtue of his
standing as a politician. There may
be something in this but l doubt if It
is wholly fair to Daugherty
As Daugherty at the age of 81, re-
views his career, appraises his for
tunes and his present standing as a
lawyer, he must be compelled to re-
fleet that the time and energy he has
devoted TO politics are now dust and
ashes and that he would have better
place in the world if he had devoted
himself TO the law. Politics has not
helped Daugherty. it has been handi-
cap to him.
Loves To Fight.
Daugherty as attorney genera would
be a deplorable appointment but it Is
necessary to be fair to him neverthe-
less. and it is hardly fair TO conclude
that Daugherty is in politics for the
sake of the money he makes as law
YER. Daugherty is perfect example
of the politicians who plays the game
for the love of the fighting. because
the rough and tumble and intrigue of
il is a part of his nature.
Probably Daugherty's principal en-
eny in Ohio is a man who happens TO
he the owner of the leading two out o:
the three papers in Columbus. 1t
takes courage to carry on lifetime
fight against an enemy who has the
enormous advantage of owning both
the leading morning paper and the
leading evening paper OF your nome
city.
All the talk about Daughertv being
the Mark Hanna of the Harding ad-
m!nistration or the Colonel House of
II, is sheer nonsense. Daugherty is of
~ such calbre as that. He has neith-
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