Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-10-01
TALES OF CABINET FRICTION
REPORTED AS IMAGINATIVE
BY HERBERT COREY


and then some faithful reporter
watch-dogging about the national
premises. hears that cabinet mem
Der is about to up and quit President
Harding cold. Whereupon he goes out
and prints the story. He Is not to be
blamed. for no important public man
cares to resign his office through
the first page Of the opposition press.
SO that If the cabinet member did
harbor the desire to abandon the wild
delights Of Washington and flee as a
bird to the sagebrush, 1t isn't likely
that he would say as much to the
reporter.
Furthermore, the average reporter
Is cynical and cold-eyed when he
talks with or about public men. The
a. r. has just changed for the worse
since the beginning of the late war.
Reporters Got Even
There was a time when the aver
age reporter hereabouts was on fairly
confidential terms with most Of Sthe
resident great men. They talked to-
gether with reasonable freedom and
the reporter knew that he was get
ting the low-down on the situation,
and the great man knew the reporter
would not turn states evidence in
print. But too many of the average
reporters had dealings with Euro
pean statesmen during the great war
and 1t soured them. That is, it soured
the reporters. They got even with the
statesmen, though. When you read
nowadays that such-and-such a gov
eminent has given out a diplomatic
statement" you know what the re-
porter thinks that statement is. You
know just what he thinks it is.
All this is to explain why the res
ignations of cabinet members get
into the press quite blamelessly now
and then. Almost every cabinet men,
Der has resigned in this fashion with
in the last few months. The first to
resign this way was Secretary Mel
lon. He has, it seems, the banker s
liking for being the boss Of his own
business. He needed a man of a GER
tain type to run a certain desk, and
knowing the man he appointed him.
Whereupon, according to the stories,
the cabinet took day off fro@ the
Farley and Lasker's salt water
agonies and began to reproach Mellon.
How the Mellon story Goes
You mustn't do it that way" the
cabinet is supposed to have told him.
''It isn't done. Play politics, darn it."
WOII /, Sdlu M0llOIS dCCOTQlHS TO
the stories. "I'll resign first"
There is no room to think there is
the slightest bit of truth in the yarn,
save and except that Mellon did name
the men he wanted to the banking
jobs in the treasury and that no one
has ever found out from him what
the politics of the appointees might
be- because he doesn't know and very
ringingly does not care. Hoover was
the next to be discovered at the large
desk, with his pen poised over a first
draft of his letter of resignation. He
had been notified, said the gossips,
that he could not run the whole ad-
ministration and in his rage at being
deprived of this privilege he had de-
termined to resign on Tuesday week.
Weeks have gone by and Hoover's
resignation has been forgotten. e.
Davis Didn't Resign Either
He isn't running the administra-
ton, but in all fairness 1t may be
said that he is running consid-
cradle slice of it. His latest step for
ward is to plan a labor conference,
which some folk think really belongs
in Secretary Davis department. But
no one has heard that Davis is going
to resign over 1t. When the reorgani-
cation bill is offered to the house by
the Smoot committee it will be dis
covered that Hoovers department of
commerce has taken large bites out
of the cherry belonging to Secretary
Wallace of agriculture.
Hence the report gained circulation
that Wallace was about to resign.
Wallace is an enthusiast. If he had
his way he would gobble as large a
part of the administration for the de-
partment of. agriculture as Hoover,
who is likewise an enthusiast, would
for the department of commerce.
Give the pair free rein and they would
70 "A oil In
departments and then fight each
other, winner take all. But there is
no reason to believe that Wallce has
ever seriously contemplated the
thought of resigning. Nor has Secre-
tary DENLY, although they plan to
ment of national defense.
How Other Secretaries Stand
NO one has ever suggested that
Weeks of war woGld resign, because
he is to be the new secretary of ma
t1onal defense and resignation in the
face of such an honor would be folly.
And Secretary Falls Of the interior is
to have his department expanded and
reorgan1zed and lacked up under the
reorganization bill. It looks as though
he will be able to have so much fun
with the newly decorated department
that he could not think of resigning.
Postmaster General Hays does not
SAAA1Ah ~ AuASSAAS IAiO JOUs DuI 61IIOI
ney General Daugherty seems to be a
shining mark for the resignation
writer's. Hardly a week goes by that
some one does not allege his deter
mination to bow himself out.
The truth is that Mr.. Daugherty
eral. He had managed Mr.. Harding s
fight for the nomination out of love
and affection, and worked himself
down to a transparent but vivacious
wrath during the campaign. Then
he wanted to. go back home and get
cabinet Wondering in Washington is
as extensive as keeping an imported
car. He had spent a good deal of
money in furthering the Harding
matter and he has never had any
liking for a hemstitched and tied
back office job. But he accepted the
position in response to the president
desire. The two men have been warm
friends for years and Mr.. Harding
wanted Daugherty at his elbow.
Interested In Secret Service
My own impression is that Daugh-
erty came to Washington planning
to stay for a little while and then
get out. But he became engrossed in
his job. He has always seen, as a
lawyer, that the United States secret
service has not been functioning pre-
cisely as it ought. Under the direc-
ton OF William j. Burns, who has
an international reputation as real
detective, Mr.. Daugherty hopes it
will be what it ought to be. He has
| interested himself in strengthening
the structure of the department of
justice. Because he has always been
| in politics people have assumed that
| he would make of his department a
political machine. They seem to have
forgotten that he is primarily law
yer and that his Sl1ccnCS QtfnrnaU
general will depend very largely upon
the high legal quality of his aids.
1t is not impossible that Daugh-
| erty might resign one of these days.
| after he has made the department of
justice a vigorous legal arm Of the
| government. under the Forthcoming
reorganization bill. It isn't probable
perhaps, but not impossible But it
fort coming rasinna inns Of % hin az