The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-01-19
SARGENT IS
AHARD0NE
TOSTIR UP
Inertia Works Both Ways
When Questioned On Con-
fidentiaI Matters
BY Charles J.. Stewart.

Washington. Jan. 10 Attorney Cen
eral John Garbaldi Sargent is vast
Of bulk and level full Of inertia
that quality Of matter by which it
tends. when at rest, to remain at rest,
and when in motion, to continue in
motion"
Bulk is hard to handle anyway.
Given plenty of inertia to go with it.
AMI you've got combination it's diff
firult to beat
II Attorney General Sargent once
gained Roadway it's safe bet he'd
be about as easy TO stop as run
away freight carload Of pig iron on a
steep down grade. But at rest. be-
levc me, he's an awful job to start
up.
lie Won't start.
For instance. suppose you want to
find out from him something he pre-
fers to keep to himself.
There's where his inertia comes in.
working both ways at once.
He'll talk all right. You cant stop
him. But it's non-essential stuff
fish stories, jokes. miscellaneous pif-
file of all sorts. When you undertake
however, to get him to discuss the
subject you're interested in, 1t just
cant De uOUe, nc Wou Stui1.
The attorney general, IN fact, is
exceptionally rcticent concerning
matters Of any Importance. He won't
tell things that might just as well DC
told, to people who have right to
know.
As to what's going on in his de-
partmcnt he's particularly sccretlve
Effectively Muzzled.
re itu xvorL ha2 tn he done on
the auiet, Of course, but Sargent evil
IDENTIFY goes on tho theory that i
nothing at all leaks out. nothing viii
leak out that oughtn't to. He won't
let his subordinatcs talk. either. The
Justice department probably never
was as cffectually muZZled as 1t Is
now.
SarCcnt's an amiable giant. J sup
pose he hates to come out flat"foot-
cd. when he's asked question. and
refuse to answer.
So he puts on a vacant expression
and says that's something an assist
ant is attending to, and he knows
nothing about it. Probably this was
trnc some of the time, in the early
DAYS of his administration. when ne
was new on the job. but it can't be
now. or else he really is dumb. :,
These Vermonters are difficult folk
ia fathom and maybe the latter guess
is correct, but my own impression Is
that the attorney general knows
heap more than he lets on.
A Suspicious Vein.
Why is Sargent SO close mouthed
cxcept with small talk? 1t isn't that
he's naturally silent. like the presi-
dent. he's not that. He likes mere
One obvious surmisc is that that's
al he's got. I doubt it. myself.
Another is that he's got vein o.
snsnicion running through his make
nn--that he's distrustful OF neari!
everybody he meets. There's hin'
~ Fl in his manner, though superf!c'
tally he's kindness and cordiaiity ~
self.
And I believe this again is some,
thing that can only be sensed, but
think Il can be that--that he stands
N decp awe of the president and ~
deadly fear Of saying something ina
zeal" won't like.
A. any rate. the senate commute.
ON the so-called aluminium trus,
}pot taste of the attorney genera
inertia. ,:,.,. ,;n,
mt from John G. Sargent concern!ns
the justice departments lnvestigatlo 70,
nf the aluminium industry wouid ~
4he Congressional Library ana quite
lot more.
an the things he had, 70 adm't ne
aidm,t know-but it was prime qua'
~ 81 inertia. for az that.