Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-13

the most important processes OF
the Government of the United
States cabinet making. Besides
being important. 1t is humanity
interesting. in that the selection Is mace
wholly by one man. It reflects one man
intently and sometimes anxiously survey
ing the United States to ma ten men
best able to administer the Government
The ten men chosen by President as
his cabinet to large extent make the
record he himself will have in history.
To say a President seeks the nese
ten men" is of course subject TO some
Qualifications The men, or most OF
them. must be sufficiently Identified with
orthodox Republicanism when the ad-
ADMINISTRATION is Republican,. and the re-
verse of course, when the adminlstra-
tim is Democratic Another quallf1ca-
tion lies in the capacity of men for team
work A man might be the one best IN
l1is field but unavailable for a cabinet.
All in all, cabinet picking Is delicate
business for the man who has the re-
sponsibility.
Leeway for President.
Tr,e the cabinet must be chosen in
the manner prescribed by Inc CONSUME
tion-that is. selection by the President,
followed by confirmation on the part OF
the Senate. But by kind of common
consent the senatorial prerogatlve OF
confirmation. of looking into the
character and fitness of nominees pro-
posed by the President for various offices,
is exercised less vigorously In the case
of nominees for the cabinet than In any
other class of appointments. There Is a
feeling that the President Is entitled TO
anpolnt these ten members OF his per-
sonal official family with minimum OF
interference.
Confirmation by the Senate is required
bv the Constitution. But the process
of confirmation is almost always per-
functory. Only once in SO years so far
as I can recall from memory and nasty
examination of records, has the Senate
refused confirmation to a man proposed
as a cabinet member by the President,
This case occurred under President
Coolidge. He proposed to fill vacancy
occurring in the office of Attorney Gem
eral by appointing Charles B. Warren OF
Michigan. The appointment was re-
iected by the Senate, chiefly on the
ground that one of the most important
official functions of the Attorney Gen.
eral is to enforce the antitrust act, and
that Warren, some years ago, nad
rather conspicuous record as legal oe-
fender OF q trust winch al lildt tiIlic
was looked upon ais fragrant offender
against antitrust law and sentiment.
Process is Varied.
The process of cabinet making Is as
| varied as the temperaments and the
peculiar circumstances Of the Presidents.
| Probably when Mr. Hoover's cabinet Is
finally made public it will be apparent
that Mr.. Hoover's method of choice
| differed from that of any of his pre-
decessors. The method followed by
every President is unique, for each of
| them has his own conception of the
| duties of the cabinet departments, his
own body of acquaintance among pub
| lie men and his own slant" about In
dividuals. The late President Wilson
was peculiarly law unto himself in the
method he adopted for seeking out cabi-
net material.
Some idea of the considerations in
f1uencing the choice of cabinet men,
bers may be had by recalling and sur
yeying the latest cabinet that was
chosen as a whole and all at one time
This was the cabinet selected by the
late President Harding in 1921. The
cabinet chosen by Harding has not been
changed as a whole: that Is, there has
been no naming of 10 men to compose
new cabinet. AS individuals resigned
from Harding's cabinet he named their
successors. When Mr. Coolidge became
President, as the result OF Harding