The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-08
Cabinet Changes Due, Says
Rumor in Washington.
Secretary of Treasury Disheart-
ened at Showing Made.
WEEKS WANTS TO CHANGE
Secretary of War Wanted Treas.
ury Post First.
Daugherty Said To Be Ready TO
Quit Attorneys Job.

Washington, Oct. S.-The first slx
months of the Harding administration
having gone by without the occurrence
of anything startling. the tea table
and cloak room gossips of the national
capital are predicting some radical
changes in the makeup of official
Washington for the next six.
tt is the gossip of Washington that
before the new administration cele-
brates it's first anniversary, there Will
be at least two. maybe three and pos
sibly more, cabinet changes. The ru-
mors have recently become so circum-
stantial that they have found their
way into some metropolitan papers
and have resulted in the expected de-
malls. The reports. however, persist.
The names chiefly concerned in
these rumored changes are Secretary
OF the Treasury Andrew w. Mellon
and Attorney General Harry M.
Daugherty.
According to the stories that circu~
late among the tea tables of Washing
ton, Secretary Mellon has tired of pub
lie life after his brief first taste of it.
and is DESTROYS of getting back to the
big corporations and banks with which
he is connected.
This is Secretary Melons first taste
of public life and political contact and
it is admitted by his few intimates
that he has found it little to his liking.
Being naturally of a shy and retiring
disposition. the secretary of the treas
ury is said to have formed a. pro-
nounced dislike to the rough give-and-
take of Washington political life, and
it would not surprise his intimatea
should he embrace the first oppor-
tunity to get back into private life.
Mellon Disheartened. -
Secretary Mellon has found rough
shedding in Washington with his tax
program, and this is said to have in
creased his dislike for his job. One
of his first official acts was the pre-
sentation to congress Of an estimate
of how much money it would take to
run the federal government for the
next fiscal year, based on the amount
of expenditures which he saw would
be necessary in the existing state OF
things.
Congress, with an eye to re-elec-
ton next year and realizing the To-
tency of an economy argument with
the average voter, sIashed his esti-
mates numerically. President Hard
ing was called in as q mediator in the
resultant dispute and, realizing the
party's need, the chief executive sup
ported the congressional side, with the
result that Melons figures were dis
carded.
Many of the secretary's tax recon-
mendations suffered the same fate at
the hands of house Republicans in
bill. The Republicans of the senate
finance committee likewise Disregard
ed and cast aside a number OF his
recommendations.
The net result of these experiences
is said to have increased the secre-
tary's dislike for post which he was
reluctant to accept in the first place.
Weeks Wants Melons Post.
If Mellon does resign, It is generally
believed in Washington hat Secretary
of War John w. Weeks will be shifted
over to the treasury department,
where he has long desired to be. II
is understood that Weeks accepted the
war portfolio with the understanding
that he would be given the treasury
berth at the first opportunity.
The case of Attorney General
Daugherty is not like that of Mellon.
The attorney general has been the
grand master of patronage since
March 4 last. and the demands made
upon him have been tremendous. As
pirants for every kind of a federal job
from Waterman to ambassador
have had to ''see Daugherty,' and as
all have not been taken care of 1t has
led TO some hard feelings in many
quarters
Personal reasons also are said to
figure largely in the attorney gem
erals desire to retire from his post.
His own health is none too good. and
h1fS. OduBn5Ely Is OH 4HNdHut HSSSS-
stating his spending much time tray
cling back and forth between Wash
ington and Ohio.
No confirmation of the rumors re-
garding either Mellon or Daugherty
is obtainable. but the gossiping per-
sists around the capitol.
Should Daugherty leave the cabinet,
the belief prevails that President
Harding would name az his successor
either former Senator George Suther-
land of Utah, or James NJ. Beck OF
New York, at present solicitor general
in the department.