Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-06
Politics at Large
By C.. Could Lincoln.

The first shot at the Hoover adj
ministration was fired yesterday by
Senator Mcclellan of Tennessee, Demo-
GRAFT He put through the Senate
resolution requiring the judiciary COM
Nittee to report to the Senate whether
q cabinet officer could continue to hold
office after the close of the term of the
President who appointed him to that
post without having his name sent to
the Senate for confirmation by the
incoming President. and also whether
Mr.. Mellon was eligible to hold office as
Secretary of the Treasury under section
243 of the Revised Statutes, which
forbids q Secretary of the Treasury to
be engaged in trade or commerce.
Had not the administration friends
been entirely satisfied that Secretary
Melons position was impregnable the
resolution would not have been per-
mitted to pass. In the opinion of lead
ing legal lights of the Senate, there is
nothing whatever in the case which
Mr.. Melons opponents have sought to
bring against him. In the first place
there is a long list of precedents of
cabinet officers holding over into new
administrations and new presidential
terms, dating back TO the early days of
the republic. A cabinet officer serves,
after he has been confirmed by the
Senate, at the will of the President. The
only exception is the Postmaster
General, whose term of office Is fixed
by law at four years, and when that
term is completed, his name must be
resubmitted to the Senate along with
his new appointment.
X X y
The anti-Mellonites in the Senate,
however, plan to renew their attack
on the Secretary of the Treasury when
the special session of Congress meets
in April. Mr. Mellon has been under
fire from Senator Mcclellan for years.
Certain other Democratic Senator'S and
a few Republicans, including Senator
CouZens of Michigan. have had their
axes sharpened for the Secretary OF
the Treasury. The question of his eli
gibility has been raised a number of
times in the Senate. 1t appears a
safe bet, however, that Mr. Mellon
will continue to serve as head of the
Treasury Department as long as Mr..
Hoover desires to retain him, or as
long as Mr.. Mellon is willing to con-
tinue in Office. He is about Is years of
age-indeed, his birthday falls on
March 24-and he may wish to retire,
after q year or two of further service,
from job that is arduous, to say the
least.
The threats of opposition to the
confirmation, of James w. Good of
Iowa and Illinois to be Secretary of
War did not materialize when his name
was presented yesterday to the Senate
for confirmation. Secretary Goods
confirmation was promptly carried
through, and so was the confirmation
of the appointment of Attorney General
William D. Mitchell, the Minnesota
Democrat, selected by President Hoover
to head the Department of Justice.
X X y X
Both Senator Watson of Indiana, the
newly elected Republican leader of the
Senate, ard Representative Tilsen of
Connecticut, the majority leader of the
House, are agreed that bill for the
reapportionment of the membership of
the House shall be put through at the
coming special session of Congress.
The House passed such a bill in the
last session, and it was held up in the
Senate and died on the Senate calendar.
In a statement issued yesterday Sem
ator Watson said, Every effort that
the Republican leadership in the Sem
ate and the House can give to this be-
lated valuation of the Constitution
will be provided" He added that he
expected reapportionment bill to be
taken up for consideration in the Sem
ate during the first week of the coming
special session.
The predicted inclusion of the re-
apportionment bill and its companion
piece, the census bill, In the program
for the special session is the first break
In the administrations plan to hold
the special session to the consideration
merely Of two subjects--farm relief and
tariff revision. However, it had been
expected that the reapportionment bill
and the census bill could be disposed
OF IN the last session. They are matters
OF major Importance, and it is under
stood there will be no opposition on the
part of President Hoover to their in
cluslon in the special session program.
Certainly Senator Vandenberg of Michi-
gan and others who have championed
the reapportionment bill will urge that
1t be dealt with promptly.
X y X
The Republican national committee.
meeting here yesterday at the call of
DR.. Hubert Work, its chairman, has
promptly acquiesced in the plan pro-
posed by DR.. Work to keep the Re-
publican organizations, State and Ma
tional, In fighting trim for the con-
gressional elections next year and the
presidential struggle in 1882. The
executive committee of the national
committee yesterday passed upon the
Wisconsin contest, in which two sets
OF candidates claimed membership in
the national committee. George Wits
and Mrs. Mary Thomas were recognized
officially as members of the committee
from the Badger State, and Herman
Ekern and Mrs. Elizabeth Mccormack
were turned down. The latter pair
belong to the La Toilette faction In
Wisconsin, while Mr.. Wits and Mrs.
Thomas represent the "stalwarts." So
the fight goes on In Wisconsin. The
stalwarts have elected a governor and
carried the State for Herbert Hoover.
On the other hand, Senator Robert M.
La Toilette, jr., has been reelected to
the Senate. The struggle between the
two factions In the State shows no signs
of abating.
Among the thousands of visitors to
Washington for the inauguration of
President Hoover was Sol Lsvitan, treas
urer of Wisconsin. Mr.. Levitan was
strong supporter of Mr.. Hoover in the
last campaign and he himself was re-
elected by an overwhelming vote. The
veteran treasurer of the Badger State
was for many years a strong supporter
of the late Senator La Toilette, and has
supported also the junior La Toilette.
He refused to be led. away, however,
into the support of Democratic nomi-
nee for President by Senator Blaine,
during the last camnaiqn Mr.. LeYitan