Evening star., 1925-01-20
Resignation of Hughes Stirs
Speculation Among Editors

Speculation as to the real reason"
for the resignation Of Secretary of
State Charles Evans Hughes seems to
have overshadowed even the surprise
of the editors of the country to the
announcement which fell on political
America like a bolt from the blue. The
many guesses as to those reasons"
are summed up by the Memphis News
Scimitar independently as follows:
Selection of Borah as chairman of
the Senate committee on foreign re-
lationS; disagreement with the solu-
ton reached on the question Of war
damage claims; failure of President
Coolidge to indicate a desire for his
continuance in the cabinet four years
longer; inability to adjust himself to
the slowly materialiZing foreign pol
icy of the President: a strong and ro
bust character, which makes it i'm
possible TO adjust himself 20 the pol
icies of his chief in matters on which
he himself has a fixed opinion; desire
to recoup his personal fortunes from
the private practice OF law and pur-
pose to seek the presidential nominal
tion four years hence, to say nothing
of various reasons that an original
mentality can easily supply" The
only obvious and outstanding fact"
the News -Scimitar continues, lis that
the cabinet has lost it's strongest
member and that Mr.. Hughes will go
down in history as one of the ablest
and most popular statesmen that have
ever held the most important port
folio in the American Government
Since Mr.. Hughes accepted the
portfolfo as Secretary of State in the
Harding cabinet observes the Sc
attic Times independent Republic
CAM, "a partisan press has conducted
q steady campaign of criticism. There
is no evidence that Mr.. Hughes is un-
duIv sensitive to these filings from
the opposition party, yet the injustice
of it might have caused him pain. AT
times when the burden of his heaVy
duties weighed upon him, the quiet or
private life must have seemed at
tractive 1t would not be surprising
if he wearied of the whole thing and
vearned to step out of public life and
return to the practice of his profess
sion" In the opinion of the Los An
geles Times independent Republi-
CAM, "Whatever the cumulative rea-
sons that decided Mr.. Hughes to re-
linouish the cabinet post he has held
for four years with consummate sue
cess and worldwide recognized abil-
ity, there is no hint OF any disagree
ment between the Secretary of State
ana any VI IiiS ~~AAA~N'
X =
The Philadelphia Public Ledger
dndependent Republican, declares
"To him is due the credit for the
greatest single contribution to the
neace of the world since the guns
were silenced in November, 1918.
Those who heard will not forget the
force and sweep of the Hughes ad-
dress on that November day in 1921
when he sounded the doom of the
mighty fleets in being and the great
ships of the future. There was his
greatest effort and his greatest day
He made mistakes on other issues,
but not on this"
I'm every way the affairs Of the
State Department under Mr.. Hughes
have been ably and effectively han
died" thinks the Cincinnati Times
Star (Republican), which adds: He
has been a Secretary of State of the
old heroic mold, following a period
| when the Bryans and the Lansings
| had shown the people that there need
not be anything very heroic about ar
| American Secretary of State" Ac-
| cording to the Minneapolis Tribune
| (Republican): when Mr.. Hughes
| steps down from his high place of his
own choice, he will step down as 9
broad-minded. warm-hearteds cour'