Evening star., 1928-12-30
BY WILLIAM HARD.

1t is going to be fine comedy that
will start in this town just as soon as
Herbert Hoover sets foot in 1t on jan
uary 2 next
A lot of politicians here seem to have
picked Hoover out to be the gaping
goof who will get his face all plastered
with custard pies.
Hoover is going to be asked to put his
countenance in between the White
House and the Congress on the subject
of whether or not farm bill should be
passed in this session. He Is going to
be asked to jay-walR in between the
colliding forces of Speaker LongWorth
and Senator Borah on the subject OF
whether or not there should be an extra
session of Congress next Summer.
A few other splendid lines already
written for him by the black maglc
crystal gazers of Washington In this
approaching masterpiece OF comic art
are as follows:
Hoover will Immediately announce q
whole cabinet chosen for him princl-
pally by political prophets who were
against his nomination at Kansas City
and who were skeptical Of his prospects
in the election.
He will also proceed in effect to alb
dicate from one of his principal func-
tions as Chief Magistrate of the Gov
ernment of the United States and will
hand over all the Federal patronage
for spontaneous distribution by Hubert
Work, chairman of the Republican ma
tional committee.
In the midst of these and other SIM
liar majestic altitudinous flights OF
dramatic motion picture politics, let us
consider for fiattening moment the
cautious pedestrian habits of our hero,
the President-elect, who being miner,
works always by preference underground
rather than up in the air. where he
can be shot at and let us additionally,
in the name of prose and In defiance of
poetry, think for calming instant
of the merely natural and automatic
tasks which actually confront him in
Washington. Hoover has to talk with
everybody OF any Importance in Re-
publican national politics in order to
find out just what has happened while
he has been away and in order to find
out Just where he himself Is at in the
center Of 1t all now.
He can talk with a statesman and
get the conversation concluded and ac-
complished In Is minutes in Washing
ton, whereas. If the statesman had to go
to Florida, the length of the trip would
make him feel that the time was wasted
unless the conversation with Hoover
lasted about three hours.
Moreover, there are some lofty states
men-such as, particularly and most
eminently William Edgar Borah-who
probably would not leave their high
duties in Washington and proceed to
Florida n
at. the demand or request of any
earthly dignitary. potentate. monarch
or monarch-elect, whatsoever
Such is the simple reason why Hoover
is coming to Washington. He is COM
ing to converse. He is coming to do
it where the conversing can be readiest
and shortest He is coming to talk
and then, and then only--to act, In his
own time and in his own way.
In most ways he has lots of time
stretching before him. In the matter of
the cabinet, for instance, he can settle
down into his famous deep low padded
chair In the study of his house OH S
street and sink his head over his chest
in his much marked meditative manner
and ponder all he likes for many weeks
to come, If he wants to. This is because
there Is certain fact about the cabinet
that Is seldom recognized or ramem-
bered
There Is just one member of the cabi-
net whose term seems necessarily to
expire in March of next year. That
member Is the Postmaster General. The
United States Code says about him:
'The term of the Postmaster General
shall be for and during the term of the
President by whom he is appointed, and
for one month thereafter, unless sooner
| removed"
Hoover, therefore, must nominate a
new Postmaster General, or renomi-
nate the present one, and send the
| nomination to the Senate, II the Senate
| Is IN session, by April 4.
With all other members of the cabi-
net the situation seems to be cutie dif-
ferent. In reference to the Secretary
OF the Treasury, for instance. the code
says simply:
There shall be at the seat of Gov
ernment an executive department to be
known as the Department of the Treas
uary, and Secretary of the Treasury,
who shall be the head thereof"
! And there the pertinent portion of
| the code seems to stop.
And what does that mean?
| The meaning is being diligently in
vestigated by competent lawyers, but
there are already many learned Sena-
tors who hold that the meaning Is as
follows:
Mr.. Mellon, by custom and courtesy,
will resign as Mr.. Hoover comes into
office. Mr.. Hoover, If he cares to do
so. may refuse to accept the resigna-
ton. Mr. Mellon then, II he so chooses,
may simply remain In office and Mr..