Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-05
FOES Of DAUGHERTY
FORCE: HIM To STICK
To POST IN CABINET
BY ROBERT Il, SMALL
Copyright. 1924, by the Consolidated Press
ssociation-Specal Leased Wire
10 The Atlanta Lnnrnal.l

to The Atlanta Journal.)
MIAMI BEACH, Fla, Feb. 3
Attorney General Harry NJ Daugh-
erty is a tired man. There is a gen
eral belief among his friends down
here that he would like to retire
| from the cabinet but his "enemies"
won't let him. In other words, Mr..
Daugherty has made it plain time
and time again that he will not quit
public office under fire and just
now he realizes that the lombard
| ment AGAINST him is at it's heaviest.
Nothing short OF a request from
President Coolidge would cause the
| attorney general to resign at TINS
time and he has been assured there
will be no such request as result
of the bitter partisan debate which
| has sprung up in the United states
| senate. AS matter OF tact since
he has been down here, Mr.. Daugh-
| erty is said to have received tele-
gram of congratulations from Mr..
Coolidge on his birthday annlYer-
sary,
1t is no new experience to Harry
| Daugherty to be the butt Of political
| attack. He has had a fight on his
hands ever since he first went into
political life. He has made many
staunch friends and many unrelent-
ing enemies. Some of the latter
have been lifelong foes. There never
has been a period of truce with them,
From them, Harry Daugherty has
asked no quarter. He has been con-
tent to stand up and fight it out.
He does not deny that in the maui
ing he has got some awful wollops
but he has always been able to
come back for more and to give
punishment as we'll as take it.
Harding's Death Kept Him
On account of his health and
the small financial return Of a cab
met officer there is every reason
to believe that if President Harding
had lived Mr.. Daugherty might have
been out of the cabinet by now He
would have liked to have gone out
in the field again and managed the
campaign for the denomination and
possible reelection of his best be-
/ loved friend. More than once Mr..
Daugherty has declared that the
friendship of Warren G. Harding
had offset the hate" of all his enc
| mics. With the death of President
Harding and the accession of Presi-
dent Coolidge the anti-Daugherty
forces Immediately predicted that the
attorney general would retire. There
| were intimations that Mr.. Coolidge
might not desire to retain Mr.. Daugh-
| erty because of the attacks which
| had marked his stay in office under
Mr.. Harding.
Mr.. Coolidge, better than any one
else, knew the esteem in which the
late president held Mr.. Daugherty
and he felt that it would be SAVIOR.
ing Of "disloyalty' if he should make
such an exception in the retention
of the Harding official family.
Furthermore, Mr.. Coolidge as an
active member of the cabinet had
come in constant contact with the
attorney general and a feeling of
mutual esteem had grown up be-
tween them. Mr.. Coolidge and MIR.
Daugherty were thrown together So
cially, too, far more than the out
side world realized.
Professional Pride
Therefore, when Mr.. Daugherty
was invited to remain in the cabinet
he felt impeled to accept. If he
had resigned, as he had the impulse
|
forever be claimed that he had been
forced out. Furthermore he had a
professional pride in what he had
done under Mr.. Harding and he want
ed to demonstrate that his service
would be just as acceptable to n
new president.
The intimate friends Of Mr.. Daugh.
erty know that he has given the
very best that is in him to his du-
ties at the department of justice.
Realizing that he was getting pretty
we'll along toward the allotted span
of human life, and conscious of the
fact that his health was gradually
giving away under the strain of an
exceptionally strenuous existence,
Harry Daugherty has wanted his
work in the department Of justice
to stand as his monument in the
years to come. His friends say he
has done his duty, as the light was
given him to see that duty and with
all the strength that was in him.
Although for more than year
the attorney general has been a
sick man, his political enemies have
Unanswered him into, a position
where he can not lay down his pub
lie work. He feels he must go on
now to the finish.
Remains CnmoVed
Mr.. Daugherty insists that he is
not the least bit worried by the turn
OF events in Washington. He felt
from the beginning that an investi
cation of a fellow cabinet officer
should not be placed in his hands
He felt it would be better for the
administration and better for him
self that special counsel should be
provided.
Whether the administration foes
in congress will be content with
} pressing the resolution aimed at Sec
rotary Of tae Navy DENLY or wheth
err they will feel called upon, on gen
eral principles, to press a similar lie
quest for resignation against the at
torney general, the friends of the lat
ter can not say. They have beer
assured however, that President
Coolidge will not act upon politica
pressure at once. He would not ash
for a cabinet resignation unless ant
until independent evidence was
brought to his attention competing
the officers in question with trans
actions which he would have to be
lieve had some tinge of corruption
in them.
Meantime those who have talked
with the attorney general since he
has been down here say he is talk
ing life philosphically. 1t seems
that when he was a little boy anC
: the circus came to town, Harry
5 Daugherty, along with the other
boys. used to try to get as close
S as possible to the elephant and give
. him a surreptitious kick as he went
: by. All the boys took a similar
! kick at the poor old pachyderm.
: Today, Harry Daugherty says he
knows how the elephant felt.