Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-29
|DAUGHERTY FACES QUERIES
BY HARDING ON MIAMI TALK
Premature Announcement
Interpreted by Many as
Meaning Presidents Sec
ond Candidacy to Be EX-
planned
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Oeased Wire Service to The Journal.)
(Convrirht 1927


Copyright, 1921
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla, March 81.
When Attorney General Daugherty
rejoins the presidential party here
tomorrow, President Harding will
have his first opportunity to discuss
the why and the wherefore of the
statement issued at Miami ten days
ago by Mr.. Daugherty, which was
generally construed as formal an
uouncement of the Harding candi-
dacy for 1924.
The president did not know the
attorney general was going to make
the statement he did. Mr.. Daugher-
ty was careful not to say that he
spoke on behalf of Mr.. Harding,
though many newspapermen natur'
ally presumed that because the pres
ident and Mr.. Daugherty were both
in Miami, a matter of such import
ance must have been thoroughly
canvassed with the chef executive
before being disclosed to the press.
When the attorney General sent
for the newspaper men and made
his prediction that Mr.. Harding
would be re-nominated and re-elect-
ed, the significance of a form an
nouncement Immediately was at
tached to his utterance.
First Meeting Since
The president did not see the
newspapers until the next morning,
when he had left Miami, and there
has been no chance since for him
to converse with the attorney gen.
eral, as the latter has been so journ-
ing at Miami on the advice of his
physician, while the president has
been slowly cruising northward
along the Florida coast.
Mr.. Daugherty was as much sur
prised over the fleet his announce
ment produced as were members of
the presidential party. The attor'
ney general promptly told this cor
respondent that he had not talked
the matter over with Mr.. Harding
on the Florida trip, but that he had
made the statement so as to advise
the presidents friends throughout
the country of what was coming. 1t
is a fact that Mr.. Daugherty laid
issued at Columbus last fall, in
which the question of Mr.. Harding's
availability for 1924 was put up
TO the Republican party, it being as
serted that if the party wished him
to run again he would feel COM
PEELED to do so.
All the discussion, meanwhile, as
to whether a formal announcement
should have been made at this time
turns upon whether it is a wise
thing for Mr.. Harding, with a ses-
sion OF congress ahead of him and
with a trans-continental speaking
tour scheduled for this summer, to
appear in the role of an active can
didate seeking the nomination. Mr..
wants it understood he is
not seeking denomination and will
not take a single stepto solicit the
favor of the party that has honored
him in the past.
Daugherty's Purpose
Mr.. Daugherty's purpose was not
to start the 1924 campaign this ear
ly, but to squelch much of the talk
that Mr.. Harding was tired of the
and all that sort of thing. He want
ed to set rumors at rest and he
hoped his statement would dispose
of the matter and nothing moro
would be heard or said about it for
a year or more when the usual pre-
convention activity would begin.
But what Mr.. Daughepty did has
not been accepted as q casual cpl
sode, and the president has learned
since from reading the newspapers
that his candidacy has been regard
ed as launched just as much as if
he had signed the announcement
himself.
The president owes Harry Daugh-
erty SO much for his management
of the pre-conVention campaign in
1920, and he is so fond of him per-
that he would be the last
man in the world to utter a word
of criticism of the attorney general.
But the latter, on the other hand,
is such an astute and courageous
political manager that if he thought
there had been a wrong impression
conveyed by the tenor of his in
formal remarks to the newspaper
sumo responsibility for the initia-
tive he took and clear the president
Of any connection with the an
made in Miami.
Impression Remains
For all practical purposes Mr..
Daugherty's statement remains a
fact, however, irrespective of wheth-
er it is later decided that it would
be advantageous to disassociate the
president from any apparent effort
to seek denomination. The president
is ready to accept renomina::on His
Nose friends have advised him of
their purpose to go ahead and make
sure of his denomination. He has
told them that as Republican lead
ers they have that prerogative. One
Of these friends, the attorney gen.
eral, has gone so far as to predict
that denomination was assured.
That's his own optimistic view and
will be verified by the Re-
publican national convention, but it
is almost a foregone conclusion that
If Mr.. Harding had been consulted
about the announcement made at
Miami, he would have vetoed it as
But there again he is willing to
accept the verdict of his friends.
Some of them insist it was a good
thing to squelch in their infancy
the boomlets of other Republicans
because of the dangers of factional-
ism in the next congress. Others
feel there will be a better chance
Of welding the party elements into
a working unit when it is known the
president is preparing to go to the
country to appeal for support for
the Republican party not simply on
the basis Of his own record, but the
performance of the majority party
in both houses of congress.