The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-04-13
PRESS ON HARLAN F. STONE

PRESS ON HARLAN F. STONE
The public will apparently have to accus-
Inn itself to many new names In hugh OF
fetal position, if the inquiries at Wasnmg-
ton keen on turning wheelhorses out. OF OF
flee. The presidents selection of success:
sor to Mr. DENLY seemed to arouse no oppo.
sition. Definite disapproval of the choice OF
Professor Harlan Fiske Stone to succeed
Mr.. Daugherty as attorney general, now
ever. has developed, but only among polti-
clans. 1t manifested itself too late to pre-
vent the confirmation by the senate. Inc
basis of the criticism directed against Mr..
Stone is that he is more or less directly at
filiated with Wall Street as a corporation
lawger. Merely to have been the attorney
for corporation could scarcely be an in
variable ground for refusing a man pubic
office. 1t depends altogether upon the man
and upon the sort of service he was re-
quired to furnish the corporation. In Mr.
Stones case it appears that his personal and
professional conduct is not tainted with any
tmpropriety as yet brought to light.
While in the opinion of the Philadelphia
Public Ledger, the appointment has dis
Rleased many politicians and disappointed
various applicants" yet "Dr. Stone ranks
as an able lawyer in the courts as well as
q great teacher in the schools. He has had
-
corporations, an experience he will need in
the department of justice, that seems so
sadly in need of housekeeping. For the
attorney general is more of an executive
than lawyer. Since the time of Richard
Olney his business has been the direction
of vast department, leaving to his assist
ants the actual work of case preparation
and trial" If the president is looking for
change in the type of official the New
York Times thinks that Sin nominating Mr..
Stone, he has taken man about as far as
possible from the type of the preceding at
torney general In character, in legal attain
uaents, in the approval Of his brethren of
the bar in physical vigor and ability to cope
with the severe labor which will be laid upon
him in the department of justice, Mr.. Stone
is unusually well qualified. The tribute paid
to him last December at the time of his
retirement from the Columbia Law School,
where his work as dean had been intelli-
gent, constructive and highly successful, in
Dictated the hold which he had won upon his
professional associates"
Likewise the Democratic and not too easily
pleased New York World: THE president
has found an attorney general who in char
aeter, learning and association is worthy OF
the office. The sordid connections which
Daugherty brought to thatSoffice, the col
political peddlers who surrounded him, all
belong to a world with which Dean Stone
has no relation. He will take with him to
Washington a cleaner air and the right to
the people's confidence" That it will not be
easy sailing for him is obvious, as the
World continues: He will find depart
ment demoralized for many years, containing
men who know how to play, the game only
aseit was played under Daugherty. Coming
in at the top of vast and intricate depart
ment, Dean Stone must find some way to
break through the organized resistance OF
the Daugherty men fighting for their lives.
A staunch journalistic supporter of the
president, the Springfield Repuohcan,
views the nomination of Mr.. Stone Win
undisguised pleasure, and thinks that in the
selection of this man 1.-The president has pre-
TERED to satisfy himself rather than the
Western radicals who dominate the Daugh-
ertv Investigating committee in selecting a
new attorney general" In this, however,
tbe Republican does an injustice to the very
men whose courageous action has caused the
retirement of that Daugherty whose depar-
ture from public office the Republican halls
with such qualification. 1t is hardly de-
cent, therefore. to refer to them as radicals,
which some of them decidedly are not.
Joining those who believe that the presi-
dent has played no politics in the appoint
ment, the New Orleans Times-Picayune re-
marks: President Coolidge apparently de
cided to please himself. -. Unless there is
n political motive that does not appear on
the surface the president evidently has
elected to disregard the political aspect and
to place at the head of the department OF
iuseice an old and trusted personal friend
in whose capacity and qualifications he re-
poses implicit confidence. The public
in general will be content, we think, to wait
and Judge the quality of the new attorney
general by his performance" a similar
willingness to take Mr.. Stone for granted,
until he has proved himself otherwise, is
shown by the Dallas News: The choice of
the new head of the navy gives us an en-
eouraging view of the Coolidge conception
Of the cabinets dignity and Importance.
The-e can be no doubt that Mr.. Stone made
tremendous sacrifice, measured in dollars
and professional inclination, to take the pO-
Eitipn Perhaps he was moved in small part
on the appeal of the official prestige to be
enjoyed, and in larger degree by his friend
ship for the chief executive, but his accept
lnce, coming from a man of his caliber,
will be generally taken as evidence of high
and sincere desire to serve the nation in a
time when responsibility and capable zeal
n law enforcement are at premium"
The Kansas City Star, which a week
sarlier had reminded its readers that the dis
.overies regarding Daugherty were only of
acts which had been common knowledge,
;inds that much will he expected of the
new attorney general. The department to
which he has been assigned has been democrat
zed. No evidence has involved the retiring
attorney general. but much testimony has
leen given to show some of his associates
traded in privileges and immunities in his
name. A pretty general cleaning up will be
needed if public confidence is to be restored. -
There is quite general editorial agreement
that.the president could have done far worse
chat the appointment was not political; that
the new cabinet official is man of high in
tellectual capacity; that he is learned in the
law that he has had successful executive
experience, and that he will never be brought
otthe painful pass that caused the retire
nent of his predecessor .'''-r
ACCEPTING THE DAWES PLAN