Evening star., 1925-10-14

Although an Annapolis graduate,
and therefore in possession ot nun
tarv training, John W. Weeks ran the
war Department like businessman,
rather than IKE soldier. His own
conception of the job was that he was
nrincipaIlv a liquidator of the gigantic
war establishment the armistlce leIt
on our hands. Practically throughout
his four years in the secfetarysiip-
Weeks was engaged in taking the
Government out of war He used 10
say there wasn't a department store
in the whole United States Win So
immense or so complex a proposilloli
on its hands. In addition 10 ordlnaiS y
military affairs, the Secretary OF war
administers our overseas possessions;
manages public buildings and grounds
in washington: supervises river ana
harbor engineering throughout the
country and attends to q host OF
other nor-Army functions. Weeks
banking experience stood him In Soooi
stead at the War Department. AT all
points he applied business methods
TO it's conduct. Seasons In the House
the Senate and the cabinet nave mace
Mr.. Weeks fond of Washington, ana
it is to be his future home
Accession of Dwight +. Davis OF
Missouri to the. SecretarySlp OF war
gives the West still another caolnet
post. That region now has the state
War, Navy, Interior, Agriculture
Post Office and Commerce portfollosT
seven out of the ten cabinet onlces.
Counting James J. Davis, secretary
of Labor. who sometimes admits to
an Illinois or Indiana allegiance
there are no fewer than eight MID
western and Western men in the
Executive household. The East, which
once dominated the cabinet as q vest
ed interest, is now left with only the
Treasury Department and the Depart
mont Of Justice. President Coolidge
is seemingly tireless in making politl-
cal gestures toward the great open
spaces. There's a reason, ana 1ts
name doesn't sound unlike ls26-or
even 1928.
Another Henry Cabot Lodge has
come to Washington. He is the
grandson Of the late Senator from
| Massachusetts and is the newest
member Of the corps of Capital cor
respondents. A tall, handsome, fair:
haired chap, not long out of Harvard
and with a reportorial apprenticeship
on the Boston Transcript to his
credit. young Lodge has Joined the
washington staff Of a New York
newspaper. His father was George
Cabot Lodge, a deceased son OF SEN
ator Lodge. Young Lodge, who looks
as if he had in him the making OF
either a journalist or a politician, had
a period of foreign newspaper service
before coming to Washington. Sen
ator Lodge himself began life as
oI{ nf
American Review at %.
This is the open season in Wash
ington for European finance minis
| ters. After Caillaux of France comes
Schacht of Germany, and soon there
will be Volpi of Italy. DR.. Hjalmar
Schacht is not the head of the Ger
man treasury, but he is president of
the Reichsbsnk. which is an institu-
ton of almost coordinate power
Schacht was brought up at Berlin
in an American atmosphere. His IA
ther was for many years the German
actuary of the Equitable Life Assur.
ance Society of the United States and
managed its vast affairs in the IA
therland. Few young financiers, even
| in America, have had so meteoric q
career as. HJalmar Schacht. When
the war broke out he was in charge
of the archives Of the Dresdner Bank.
Now he is the executive of Germany s
bank of issue and primary factor
in the working out of the reich's sal
walton under the Dawes plan.
* y
More than 1000 men and women
from all e over the country are il,
Washington for the annual meeting