The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-06-01
President Not Influenced by
Wabbling Course Over
Morse Pardon
MADE SAD BOTCH
DEFENDING HIMSELF
Thought Recent Revival of Affair by
Senator Caraway Would Blow Over
and Denied Receiving Money - Crit
icism Not Seriously Received.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

! JUNE I.-<AtlOIhGs
General Daugherty will not resign. Pres
ident Harding has not asked him to do
so and he never will. Mr.. Harding has
unlimited confidence in the integrity of
! his attorney general and does not be-
! lieve him guilty of anything wrong in
the Morse case
| This is the infiexible attitude of the
| administration as revealed yesterday
| after the President and his advisers re-
| turned from a cruise on the Mayfiower,
where the impression caused by the at
| tacks in the senate against the attorney
general was the subject Of informal dis
| cussion.
| Practically everybody in the admin
| istration group admits that Mr.. Daugh-
| efty handled his own defense poorly and
/ that the mixup between him and Sena-
/ tor Watson of Indiana was most unfor-
/ tunate. But on the basis of what has
/ happened to date the administration
/ feels no less confidence in Mr.. Daugh-
! erty nor does it feel that when all the
/ facts and influences attempting to in
| jure the attorney general are exposed in
! the forthcoming war prosecutions the
| public viii have an unfavorable impress
sion of the man at the head of the de-
partment of justice.
| friendship and loyalty in Mr.. Harding's
attitude toward his lifetime associate
and political mentor. 1t is true that to
/ Harry Daugherty more than to anyone
+ else Mr.. Harding owes his nomination
! at Chicago in 1920 which was equiva-
| lent to an election. It's true that Mr..
/ Harding is under obligation to Mr..
! Daugherty but it is also a fact that Mr..
/ Harding knew in the fall of 1920 every
thing about the part Harry Daugherty
| played in obtaining pardon for Morse
/ under the Taft administration and that
/ he did not consider it bar to the APP
pointment of Mr.. Daugherty.
What He Might Have Said.
If Harry Daugherty had come out inn
/ mediately after his connection with the
Morse case was mentioned in the SEN
| ate debate by Mr.. Caraxay of Arkansas
/ and said: Yes, / was an attorney for
i Morse and helped get him a pardon-I
was a private lawyer then and had a
right to defend my client" no one would
have thought any more about the Incl
.Edent But in q telephone conversation
| between Harry Daugherty and Senator
! Watson of Indiana a misunderstanding
| occurred This correspondent is pre-
Sentng the version of that conversation
which is told by friends of Mr.. Daugh-
erty.
Senator Watson had communicated
by telephone the fact that Senator Cara
way had revived the Morse case. Mr.
/ Daugherty. who had been hearing about
| perturbed by it. In Ohio politics Mr.
i Daugherty has some violent opponents
H as well as staunch friends The skele-
ton of the Morse case has been ratified
I every time Mr. Daugherty has been in
the public eye When Mr.. Watson of
i Indiana told him it was up again, the
attorney general told him not to worry
as he hadn't received cent from Morse.
Mr.. Daugherty imagined that the con-
versations related to whether he had re-
i ceived any money and he authorized Mr..
Watson to deny it. During the course
of the debate Senator Watson went a
step farther and indicated that the at
tOrney general had. denied his connection
with the case altogether.
Administration Admits Error.
In support of the contention that the
attorney general couldn't have claimed
any such thing, administration support
ers insist that Mr.. Daugherty would
never deny what had been common
knowledge and what had been printed in
the newspapers at the time of his connec-
ton with the Morse pardon. The err
for in Judgment which Mr.. Daugherty
made in ignoring the senate proceedings
for nearly three weeks before issuing a
statement of explanation is now freely
admitted by the administration group
but this was due as much to Harry
Daugherty's own feeling that nothing
new had been developed and nothing in
furious as it was to the feeling of others
in the administration circle who believed
the whole thing a tempest in a teapot
which would blow over if left alone.
There is reason to believe that the
criticism which has swept the country
because of Mr.. Daugherty's belated ex-
plantations has not penetrated very
deeply here. The view prevails that the
Il hot
the continued confidence of President
Harding in Attorney General Daugherty
will be demonstration enough that he
doesn't think his friend did anything
officially unwise or morally wrong.
The paradox of the situation which
is as much mystery to the administra-
ton as people outside of it is why the
attorney general should be attacked to-
day for helping to free Morse a decade
ago when today the department of JUS
tice is doing everything in itspower to
put Morse back in jail
Acted Promptly Against Morse.
| Tt is a fact that when the shipping
board developed its case against Morse
and asked the attorney general about it
he unhestatingly told the shipping
board to go ahead and then and there
mentioned his early connection with the
Morse case and the possibility of miSun-
: derstanding. if he himself were to under
take the prosecution personally. He au-
. thorized. however, the appointment of a
special assistant assigned to handle the
} prosecution of Morse and it was not I'M
! til several weeks after this was done
that the attack came in the senate.
D All sorts of conflicting rumors are
D afoat as to the purpose of the attack.
Senator Caraway is held immune from
any connection with the influences al
work to discredit Mr.. Daugherty but il
!. is charged again and again that informa-
] ton is being furnished Democratic sen
! ators in the hone that they will keen
D up such a bombardment of the depart
D ment of Justice as to stave off possible