The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-20
HUGHES FORMALLY DECLARED MEMBER
 HARDING CABINET
First Official Announcement Regarding Membership of Family of CounseIors
 Is Made
Bx Assoclated press

By Associated Press
 St. Augustine, Fla, February D. Charles Evans Hughes. former gov ernor of New York, Justice of the sn- preme court. and republican nominee for the presidency in 1916, was formal Iy designated by President elect Hard ing today as the Secretary of State of the coming administration. The announcement. em5odying the first of- fcal word to come from the President elect regarding selections for mem bership in his family of counseiors. WAS made In . simply worded oral statement after a long conference be- tween the two men on the foreign proD- leIns that must be solved after March 4. Neither Mr. Harding nor the prospective head of the state depart ment added any formal comment. ,. There was no element of surprise iI the selection, for 1t had been known flor several weeks that MT Hughes vir- place He, is known to have been MT. Harding's choice from the first, de spite strong pressure on behalf of other aspirants.
 DETAILS WITHHELD
 In making this announcement, MT. Harding declined to go into details about the subjects discussed with MT. Hughes during their all-day confer enees saying that one of the policies of his administration would be to let eaca department head speak for himself. Mr. Hughes |, ill his turn, declared no Iublic statement on the problems ahead would be expedient at this time.
 Of eourse,' he added, I appraiso it as great privilege to be Invited by Senator Harding tossserve in his administration. And l regard it as an imperative obligation to accept"
 It. generally was understood how ever sthat diplomatic appointments to be made at the outset of the new ad ! lninistration furnished one of the topics talked over and that tbere was consideration also Of the preliminary steps to be taken toward an associa- ton of nations. sIn regard to appoint; ments. the discussion was more or less indefinite, 1t being the policy Of the Rresident- elect to delay most of. the selections for diplomatic posts until X after inauguration
 Although neither Mr. Harding nor Hr. Hughes would dtvuige the opin- ions expressed during their consuIta- tion, the general impression. among those close to the Presid ent-e1ect is that the first diplomatic approaches to other nations in regard to a peace sas- sociation will be of an entirely :n- formal character.
 TO FEEL OUT POWERS
 No official diplomatic correspondence is expected on the subject and no formally accredited diplomatic missions are likely to be sent abroad until the attitude of other powers has been felt out quietly and some basis for nego- t.ations established.
 Xr Hughes will bring to the secfs- tSryship of state q legal training of unusual scope as we'll as mind sym pathetic to international agreement for The maintainanee of peace During the treaty fight vhe advocated reserved ratification of the Versailles league and he proposed several reservations which were considered by the Senate majority in the preparation for it's final programme.
 In the midst of the national cam paign last year MT. Harding held one of his longest conferences with the man now selected to sit at the head Of the cabinet, and when the sconference of "best minds began at Marion in De- cember he was the first to be sum- ( moned. It is understood that even then Mr. Harding virtually had decided or the 8pQOIuLneut, tuOuSfI lHt luIiildl -t'- vitation was not extended until q later date
 ROOT STRONGLY URGED
 Strong support for other available men for the state portfolio developed during December and January, one Of the most insistent movements being for the selection of Elihu Root, a fur- rner secretary. Since the first of the year, however, there have been re- reated indications that MT. Harding mind was made up on the question, and he is known to have considered announcement of the appointment. early in January.
 The only question Mr Hughes was willing to answer tonight in regard to the policies of his department re- late to publicity Asked whether he intended to follow the precedent of tie present administration in holding periodical conferences with newspa- per men he replied with an emphatic affirmative. adding that he wanted to give the fairest publicity to every de partment question that would permit of public discussion.
 Although the conference with MT. Hughes occupied virtually all of the President-elects attention during the day he had several other callers, in cluding Chairman Fordney of the House ways and means committee who came to talk about tariff legisia- ton, and Manual Angelo represen- tntive of the Cuban liberal party. who asked that the American government aid in guaranteeing fair elections in Cuba On neither of these questions did MT. Harding express any final opin-