Evening star., 1924-02-23

| Secretary Denbys resignation from
| the cabinet is accepted as 4 matter
I of course. The Senate investigation,
even If il has proved nothing against
Mr.. Denby's personal honesty, has
proved that he is unfit to be trusted
| with cabinet responsibilities, in the
opinion of the nations press. Editors
| unanimously agree that the success
| full drive against him should be but
the beginning of a relentless prose-
| cution of the oil inquiry and further
housecleaning on the part of Mr..
Coolidge, IL the odor of oil and many
other things are to disappear from
his official household.
"To strain at DENLY and swallow
Daugherty will seem an extraordi-
nary act of discrimination" as the
Baltimore Sun puts 1t, for "Mr. DENLY
apparently had too much self-respect
and too much loyalty to his chief to
remain any longer where he was un-
Mr. Daugherty has much thicker
hide and 1t may be necessary to hand
him his hat before he takes the hint"
The difference between the Falls and
the DenbyS seems to the Newark
News "to be that between unworthi-
ness and unfitness and the case shows
that unfitness may be about as dam
gerous."
Here, there and everywhere
| throughout the country, the Boston
Transcript claims, there is growing
a feeling that if President Coolidge
| is to have the fair chance that his
icountrymen wish him to have, a cab
| met Of his own selection is an essen
tial that cannot much longer be de-
MED him." The resignation of DENLY,
the Knoxville Sentinel declares. can
only mean the realization by Coolidge
that DENLY was involved and can only
be the beginning of the end-the
shaking to earth and downfall of the
entire administration concerned in
so colossal and unheard of scandal" J"
This is also the opinion of the Bir-
mingham News. AS the matter stands,
the New York Times affirms, "Secre-
tary DENLY was called upon to sacri-
fee himself for the good of his party
| and the administration in Washing
ton, and has done So
Impartial persons, the Philadelphia
Bulletin believes, twill defer their
judgment as to the moral quality of
the Secretary's acts until the legal
experts have finished their examina-
tion and any proceedings involving
the retiring Secretary that they may
initiate have run their course" Be-
cause so far as can be judged from the
evidence that has transpired, the Gin
cinnati Times-Star finds 'the most seri-
Gus accusation which is made against
Secretary Denby is that he was weak.
and became an unconscious fnstru-
ment in the hands of men like Fall
and Sinclair and Doheny and the
specious swarm of political 'attor-
neys' who we're in their lobbying en-
tourage."
maintains that good judgment is as
desirable as good intentions in a
cabinet officer. and Mr.. Denby's quail
ifications for successfully meeting the
tricks and maneuvers of experienced
and wealthy would-be exploiters of
question" SO he does we'll to get
out" The Lynchburg Advance points
lout further that "Denbys continuance
as Secretary was entirely inconsist-
ent with the Presidents efforts to
prosecute the oil contracts" But his
| futile effort to hold on in the face
OF the volume of criticism aroused
| by his acts and his blundering de-
fense Of those acts" the Brooklyn
Eagle insists, "on1y illustrates the
lack of comprehension in Washing
ton"
For the country the main point is
that Mr.. DENLY is out" in the opinion
of the New York Evening World,
| which asserts further nobody sacri-
feed him; he sacrificed himself when.
i having reversed the national policy
of conservation. he declared he would
go on with the reversal" The resig-
nation of DENLY, according to the
Springfield Republican, has two as
poets: personal and political. On
| the personal side it is tragedy. On
the political side Mr.. DENLY made an
Impossible burden upon the admins
tration when, In the face OF an ap-
] parentIy unanimous opinion among