Evening star., 1922-05-31
Belief Held Attorney General
Merely Made Poor
Defense.
KNEW OF MORSE CASE
BEFORE APPOINTMENT
Rumors Credit Attacks to Persons
DESTROYS Of Hampering War
Fraud Probes.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

attorney General Daugherty will
not resign. President Harding has
not asked him to do so and he never
will. Mr.. Harding has unlimited con-
f1dence in the integrity of his At
torney General and does not believe
him guilty of anything wrong in the
Morse case.
This is the infexible attitude of the
administration as revealed today af-
ter the President and his advisers re-
turned from a cruise on the May
flower. where the impression caused
by the attacks in the Senate against
the Attorney General was the subject
of informal discussion.
Practically everybody in the ad-
ministration group admits that Mr..
Daugherty handled his own defense
poorly and that the mix-up between
him and Senator Watson of Indiana
was most unfortunate. But on the
basis of what has happened to date
the administration feels no less con-
f1dence in Mr.. Daugherty, nor does 1t
feel that when all the facts and in
fiuences attempting to injure the At
torney General are exposed in the
Forthcoming war prosecutions the
public will have an unfavorable i'm
preston of the man at the head Of
the Department Of Justice.
President Knew of Morse Case.
There's something more than per-
sonal friendship and loyalty in Mr.
Hardings attitude toward his life
time associate and political mentor
It's true that to Harry Daugherty,
more than any one else, Mr.. Harding
owes his nomination at Chicago in
1920, which was equivalent to an cleo
ton. It's true that Mr.. Harding is
under obligation to Mr.. Daugherty
but 1t is also fact that Mr.. Harding
knew in the fall of 1920 everything
about the part Harry Daugherty play
ed in obtaining a pardon for Morse
under the Taft administration, and
that he did not consider it a bar to
the appointment of Mr. Daugherty
II Harry Daugherty had come out
sinmediately after <his connection with
&e Morse case was mentioned in
Senate debate by Mr.. Caraway of Ar
kansas and said: Yes, l was an attor-
ney for Morse and helped get him par
don-I was q private lawyer then and
had q right to defend my client" no
one would have thought any more
about the incident. But in telephone
conversation between Harry Daugn-
erty and Senator Watson of indiana
misunderstanding occurred. This
correspondent is presenting the YER
sion Of that conversation watch is
told by friends Of Mr.. Daugherty.
Senator Watson had communicated
by telephone the fact that Senator
Caraway had revived the Morse case.
Mr.. Daugherty. who had been hearing
about the Morse case for eleven years,
was not perturbed by it. In Ohio
politics Mf. Daugherty has some vio-
friends. The skeleton of the Morse
case has been ratified every time Mr..
Daugherty has been in the public
eye. When Mr.. Watson of Indiana
told him it was up again, the Attor-
ney General told him not to worry, as
he hadn't received a cent from Morse.
Mr.. Daugherty imagined that the con-
versation related to whether he had
received any money. and he author
ized Mr.. Watson to deny it. During
the course of the debate Senator
Watson went a step further and in
dicSted that the Attorney General had
denied his connection with the case
altogether.
Called Error in Judgment,
In support Of the contention that
the Attorney General could not have
claimed any such thing. administra-
tion supporters insist that Mr..
Daugherty would never deny what
had been common knowledge, and
what had been printed In the news
papers at the time Of his connection
with the Morse pardon. The error 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 injurious, as it was to the
feeling Of others in the administra-
tion circle who believed the whole
thing a tempest in a teapot which
would blow over If let alone.
There is>reason to believe that the
criticism which has swept the coun-
try because of Mr.. Daugherty's be-
lated explanation has not penetrated
very deeply here. The view prevails
that the incident soon will be passed
by, and that the continued confidence
Of President Harding in Attorney
General Daugherty will be demon
stration. enough that he doesn't think
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