Evening star., 1924-02-18

DANIELS DOOMED
FOR PRESIDENCY
Stand Against Teapot Leases Be-
lieved to Give Him Good
Standing.
HAND OF BRYAN SEEN
Opinion Grows That Ex-Secretary
Is Commoner's Dark Horse.
HAND OF BRYAN SEEN
BY ROBERT r. SMALL.

| Special Dispatch to The Sta
NEW YORK. February 1S.-Politi-
| cal and personal friends of Josephus
| Daniels. former Secretary of the
| Navy, az quietly sounding out senti-
| ment in~tllis state as well as other
| sections of the east as to the possi-
| North Carolina editor as the next
| democratic presidential nominee.
| The Daniels boom is 4 tiny one as
/ yet. 1t has risen out of the steam
! OF the boiling Teapot Dome. 1t has
much the same impetus as the move
+; ment which has been started in some
| localities calling for the nomination
| Of Senator Thomas ]. Walsh of Mon
! tana. the man who has had the bur-
| den of the Dome investigation on his
| shoulders for more than year. 1t
| has been recalled here in New York
that the political career of Charles
| r. Hughes grew out of an inveStiga-
! ton, when he was special counsel for
! the Legislative committee which
! showed up some of the illegal prac-
! tices of the big insurance companies.
In the case OF Mr. Daniels, how
J ever, his friends have tentatively
| brought him forward before. They
| have considered him as presidential
| timber long before the Teapot Dome
disclosures have shown him in such
! lieved Mr.. Daniels would have the
backing of many of the best elements
Of his party.
See Hand Of Bryan.
Not the least potent of the infu-
ences claimed to be behind Mr.. Dan
| ielS is that of William jennings
Bryan. When Mr. Bryan announced
some time ago that he had dark
! horse" under cover for the demo-
! cratic convention TO be held in this
city the latter part of next June
many persons felt he had Mr.. Dan
! iels in lni.d. He and the North Caro-
! linian h" served together in the
. Wilson met. As Il matter of fact.
, ii has be"l, said that it was partly
| due TO Mi. Bryan's insistence that
/ Mr.. Wilson named Daniels as head
! Of the Navy Department. Mr.. Bryan
/ was Il dry and a southerner. This
strengthened the belief in Mr.. Dan
] iels. Then the commoner narrowed
his choice. He said the man he had
that he name his man" brought out
the Bryan statement in favor of the
, nomination OF DR.. A. 4. Murphree OF
the University of Florida. one OF the
pest known educators of the south.
but utterly unknown in the political
field.
Ia Florida it is considered that
Mr.. Bryan named DR.. Murphree in
. the belief it would help the former
attain his immediate ambition of
being elected a delegate at large
from the Peninsula state. Mr.
i;aniels' friands say they are conf
ucnt OF the wholehearted support of
the Bryan wing If any headway at
all can be made with the Daniels
boom.
Centers About Teapot Dome.
The present movement in favor Of
Mr.. Daniels has grown out Of the
belief that the Teapot Dome scandals
are going to have a dominant in
fluenCe in the next election.
Mr.. Daniels friends say it has
been shown that the oil plotters tried
to put over on Mr.. Daniels the same
deals which developed later under
the Harding regime. Mr.. Daniels
they assert, stood like the rock Of
Gibraltar against the invading hosts
political favors. These same friends
are pointing out the laudatory
things being said about Mr.. Daniels,
even in the republican papers.
The move to create a Daniels senti-
ment here in New York city has fol-
lowed an editorial in Frank Munsey's
partisan New York Herald, in which
the Daniels incident was referred to
as follows:
at is pleasant to record that when
Creel introduced Stack to Josephus
Daniels and Stack asked Daniels to let
Teapot Dome be opened up. Daniels
refused. That refusal by Mr.. Wilson's
secretary of the Navy shines like a
good deed in a naughty world of oil
and money. Almost everybody else
wanted something. or gave something,
or got something