Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-04-17

he had done wrong in office, The
thought of most of the men who held
to the latter opinion was that no man
should be forced to resign when re-
signing might be construed as a quarter
way admission OF guilt. Furthermore,
the forcing of a resignation under fire
is not agreeable 70 the sense Of JUS
tice Of goou many Americans.
National Committee Backed Him.
Many of the Republicans in the
house and senate were insistent from
the first that the President should ask
the attorney general for his resigna-
ton. There was a sharp difference OF
opinion in this matter between RepuD-
Iicans in congress and those Repub-
licans outside of congress who have
to do with the conducting of the par
tvs election campaign. The Repub-
lican national committee has by seem
ing indirection but nevertheless direct
ly fought the fight for the position
which the attorney general took in the
matter. There was no mistaking the
meaning of the public pronouncements
of the committee.
Everything which came from CAM
paign headquarters indicated that the
committeeman felt no man should be
obliged to quit when there was no oil
rect proof of personal dishonesty, and
especially should not be made to quit
on the evidence Of the kind of wit
nesses which were brought before the
investigating committees to give their
testimony Many of the witnesses, as
the country knows, have records be
hind them.
The attorney general has gone out
Of Office just at time when the head
lines in the newspapers of the capital
and presumably those of most of the
other cities of the country are OF the
nature to make it appear on the sur
face that pretty nearly everything
which has to do with the government
is under suspicion. When the WinnoW-
ing process has been used it is shown
that only comparatively few men
are implicated by charges and tnnuen-
does Of wrongdoing, but nevertheless
the few are men who have been promi-
nent in public life and so the presump-
ton is the public forgets that four or
FIVE men are only a small part of the
hundred thousand personnel of the
government service.
May Look Worse Than 1t Is.
Two cabinet officers have resigned
virtually under pressure because OF
suspicion of not having done their full
duty by their departments. One mem
Der of congress has been indicted with
five other men, some of them connected
with the government, for bribery and
conspiracy to release liquor illegally
for public SALE Another member Of
congress is under Indictment on the
charge of a criminal act committed
in Virginia. Another former govern
ment official is under Indictment for
wrongdoing in the veterans bureau.
Investigations are now in progress
which may or may not disclose wrong
doing in other departments of the pub
lie service.
DENLY is out and Daugherty is out,
and now the guns of the Democrats
in congress are being directed toward
the stronghoIds Of the secretary of the
treasury, the secretary of agriculture
and the secretary Of commercials
lon, Wallace and Hoover.
1t seems now that the Democracy
is bent on the Napoleonic tactics of
trying to lick the enemy in detail,
smashing one division of an army af-
ter another before making the final
assault on the commander in chief and
his forces.
Republicans here say the Democrats
are over-reaching themselves and that
Mellon, Wallace and Hoover are in
fortresses which are impregnable, and
more than this, the masses of the peo-
pie are willing to support these three
chieftains of the government forces.
Mr.. Mellon is charged with holding
his Office Illegally on the ground that
he has not given over altogether his
! outside business interests This mat
ter was brought up once before and
nothing came of It, Mr.. Melons
friends say he ceased all his business
activities before he entered on the
Office of the secretary of the treasury.
Republicans say the real reason for
the attack on Mr. Mellon Is that he is
member of an administration which
is under fire and that the assault on
the treasury chieftain simply is part
of a projected plan to carry on the
fight in detail, bringing one object af-
ter another into the general plan OF
assault.
Why Wallace Is Attacked.
1t seems that Secretary Wallace
some time ago advised the admins
tration to withhold, as it had the pow
er to do, the government money which
was intended for helping out the plan
to build good roads in Arkansas.
There is a law which provides for the
construction of certain state highways
and that the federal government shall
bear one-half the expense and the
state government the other half.
When the secretary Of agriculture
advised that the government money
be withheld from Arkansas the Pres
ident Of the United States, through
an official spokesman, gave full en-
dorsement to Mr. Wallace's proposal.
In fact, the authorized spokesman for
the administration made the Presi-
dents approval of the Wallace Sug-