The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-02-11
MANNER USED
TO FIX POSTS
IS CRITICIZED
Trial Balloon" Method of Sc
lecting Cabinet Viewed
With Concern-Sutherland
for Solicitor General.
NO COURT VACANCIES
BY MARK SULLIVAN

ginning of the last lap of Harding's
cahinet-making with some concern.
The causes OF their apprehension are
related chiefly to the public impress
sion that may be made by the names
As finally selected, by the manner of
the selection, by the selecting of some
luen and the apparent turning down
of others.
Harding has been strongly urged
that, due to the manner in which
news of the cabinet-making reaches
the public. an impression may be
created on indecision.
Announcement Urged.
He has been advised to either close
the list and announce it at once, or
else to make a public statement that
the list Is complete, even though he
should not announce it until March 4.
Quite apart from the public impress
sion. what is called The trial balloon"
method of selecting a cabinet-the
putting up of names to be shot at
has caused severe distaste on the part
OF some of the targets, some who have
survived and others who have either
fallen out of the race or taken them
selves out of it
Want Hoover.
Not all the leaders deplore the ap-
parent likelihood that Hoover is to he
omitted from the cabinet. A few are
aggressively opposed to him, but the
bulk of the more prudent ones are
eager for the party to have the great
asset Of public favor which Hoover's
presence in the cabinet would be-
1t is true that the omission of Hoo
yer superfcially seems a present likeli-
hood. but is by no means a certainty.
Harding has clung tenaciously to the
idea of taking Hoover in, and no sug-
gestion of any alternative to Hoover
as secretary of commerce has ever
enlanated from Harding personally.
Wants Interior Job.
Hoover himself is understood to
have preferred the interior depart
ment. but is apparent that Harding's
thought of him has been in terms of
the commerce department.
The present putting forward of John
Hays Hammond for this department
comes from a very small group of
leaders close to Harding who have all
along opposed putting Hoover in the
cabinet. AS the time grows short,
they have become alarmed at the lack
of any alternative name for the com
merce department in Harding's mind.
II IL llo" put lOi "fll
on the familiar political axiom that
you can't beat some one with no
one.
Sutherland Out.
Another omission from the cabinet
slate as it now stands which troubles
the more prudent party leaders is that
of ex-senator George Sutherland, of
Utah. In the early stages Sutherland's S
name appeared frequently in connec-
tion with both the attorney general
office and the interior department.
There is much nonsense about this.
For months it has been said that
Harding will have four vacancies on
the supreme court to fill. Ex-President
Taft started it in an article he wrote
during the campaign, in which he
asked whether the public would prefer
that Harding should fill these vacan-
,ies or that Cox should do it, Cox
promptly took the argument up, re-
versed it, and made frequent use of
1t during the campaign.
Vacancies improbable.
There is little or nothing in it. Hard
Ing may as likely have no supreme
court vacancies at all to fill as have
four The terms of Justices of the
supreme court do not come to an end
automatically. at any fixed time.
1t is true that four of the justices
fulfil the conditions under which they
can retire if they wish to do SO. These
conditions are that they shall have
reached the age Of 70 and shall have
served 10 years. The four are White
Holmes, Day and Mckenna But all
four are in normal health and are not
oppressed by their work The Oldest
of ;c and n in
tellectual sense, he might also be
called the youngest, All this specula
tion about candidates for appointment
to the supreme court is wide of the
mark. is in bad taste certainly, and OF
doubtful public usefulness as we'll.
New Place for Sutherland.
The latest suggestion about Suther
land is that if omitted from the Cabi
net, he should be put in the office that
is essentially the most important pure
~ legal office in the administration
ramely. solicitor general The duty OF
tbs official Is to act as counsel for
the government in lawsuits He is the
governments active lawyer
During the next administration the
government will be a party to lawsuits
aggregating literally many billions OF
dollars. There are billions involved
in contested war claims and more bill
iors involved in disputed taxes. 1t is
not too much to say that during the
next few years the difference between
the government being represented by
a first class lawyer and less efficient
one will mean not less than a billion
dollars to the treasury.
Man of Ability.
Sutherland is universally recognized
as man of perfect equipment, both
as. to character aud legal ability But
there might well be in this case, as
in so many others. the difficulty of get
ting a successful lawyer of cabinet
size to take an office subordinate in
honor and deficient in remuneration.
In the cabinet slate as it now stands
practically the only name that carries
widespread conviction based on pub
lie knowledge on a national scale is
that of Hughes. This note denying
that several of the others are very able
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