The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-04-17
SARGENT ADDS.
FRESH COLOR
CABINET
New Attorney General Brings
Human Qualities Into
Administration
BY HARRY B. HUNT
NEA Service Writer

Washington, April 1.-THE great
est value Of John Garibaldi Sargent
to the Coolidge administration is not
likely to be in his administration OF
the attorney generals office. That
! is said in full appreciation OF the
fact that Sargent may make re-
cord of real achievement in that Of
flee. -.
Sargent's real value to the presi-
dent, however, seems likely to lie
in the fact that he brings into the
! administration picture a picturesque
personality, with knack Of quaint
! anecdote and observation. that IS
likely to capture and hold popular
Imagination and goodwill. He brings
human qualities that have been
ciai family. He gives the cabinet a
SAVIOR and flavor that has been lack
inc. He supplies a much needed sea-
soning. Whether he supplies also
elements of real nourishment, the
fact will remain that the salt Of his
personality will make much more
palatable and appetizing the admins
II alton menu. The leaven of his good
| humor. his frankness, his lack of
pretcnse, will do much to relieve
| the heayiness with which the admin
istration has been threatened.
| Up to the time of the Sargent ap-
| pointment, such color as there was to
| the Coolidge administration picture
| was supplied almost wholly BY the
president himself. But even that was
rather a lack of color. 1t was done
mostly in somber tones. The presi:.
dents severity. His New England
conscience. His frugality. His eau
ton. His common sense.
Nowhere in the cabinet-particu.
larly after the withdrawal Of Secre-
tary Hughes-was there a personal
ity flashing color or individu Ality
Not one of the entire cabinet otfered
a splash of brightness or contrast t.
relieve the oppressive hues in the
pictures composition.
Then along came Sargent. He &C
centuates the New England tang pro.
vided by the president himself. But
he brings something besides an &C
cession of Vermont economy ane
common sense.
He brings a sense of humor, which
the cabinet has sadly needed. HI
brings the gift of knowing how K
turn q story with point and effect
Abraham Lincoln doubtless woull
have been a great man without hi!
ability as a story teller, but it wa
his knack of pointing his decision'
with an appropriate anecdote tina
popula rized his greatness. Sargen
has something Of the ,Lincolnian gif
. in this respect.
Imagine, if you can, Hoover o
Mellon or Weeks approaching tn
| president. as Sargent did the day o
his arrival here, with the query:
where's Dawes?"
= "At his hotel, suppose. Why?
answered Coolidge.
II want to look him up and Civ
, him a dinner"
"What do YOU want to give hi
2 dinner for?" asked Cal, puzzled.
+ "Well-didn't he get me the job
said Sargent. :.
Only one not overweighted wit
t the sense of his own Importance an
VI having an irrepressible' sense of tn
s humorous would at that time haN
t. risked joking with the presidel
about having won appointment to tt
cabinet because the vice presidel
had been asleep on the job.
Again, on that SAME day. Sargel
t admitted he was not Solomon ar
& didn't pose as one when. under fl
g Of questions by newspaper men
r. said:
!. "Don't ask me any more question
l. now, will you? Why. I don't ev'
g know where I'm going to- sleep t
l. night"
n Sargent may turn out to be 60
3 lawyer or bad one.
He may or may not measure up
the technical legal learning an
l torney general is presumed to ha,
\ But whether he is big lawyer or
| mediocre one. whether he has q