The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1930-02-05
Midweek NewsReview
A Tabloid Survey Of the Important News of the
World, Interpreted for the Convenience
Of Those Who Want to Keep
Up With the Times

One of those swift, sharp, stir
ring shifts of scene which occur
in Washington once in a blue
moon made this week notable in
the annals of the Capital.
A great statesman-one who
has been President as well as
Chief Justice of the highest tri-
bunal in the land-passed from
the national picture. He is
gravely ills the well-loved Will
lam Howard Taft, and none can
tell how long he may survive the
long strain which three decades
Of work for his country have
placed upon him.
AS Taft fades from the picture
another one of the elder states
men, one whom many thought
had retired for all time In 1925,
again enters the panorama Of ma
tional life. Charles Evans Hughes
has had q long and distinguished
career as Governor of New York
State, member of the Supreme
Court, and Secretary of State in
the Harding and Coolidge ad-
ministrationS.
He missed the Presidency in
1916 only by an eye-laSh. He
swallowed his disappointment and
came back" five years later to
achieve a brilliant record as Sec
rotary of State. He was the
dominant force in the memorable
Conference for the Limitation OF
Armaments held in Washington
in 1921; the conference which is
the forerunner of the present
parley being held in London.
It. was a surprise to the nation
that Mr.. Hughes was willing to
assume official duties again, as
he declined further service in the
Coolidge Cabinet on the ground
that his private fortune had been
depleted, and that he intended to
remain his remaining years OF
activity to his law practice.
The Senate had not yet con
firmed Mr.. Hughes as Chief jus
tice. It is possible that fight
upon him will be made by va
rious progressiveS, including Sen
ator Norris, chairman of the Sen
ate Judiciary Committee. 1t Is al
legged that Mr.. Hughes has shawn
reactionary tendencies in his
career as q lawyer, and has had
a share in much litigation which
will come before the United
States Supreme Court in the next
few years for final adjudication
Another week of jockeying for
position leaves the London arms
conference in notably better shape
than it was at the hour of the
last report. There now appears
to be an Anglo-American agree.
ment in the offing as an offset to
the pickering between France and
Italy. Slowly but surely the, fact
emerges that Great Britain and
the United States are really
aligned on economic and political
policies, and that their interpre'
tation of naval needs" is not far
apart.
It is clear, also, that while
France does not desire to acknowl
edge formally q position of naval
inferiority, she does not intend to
push her claims to the point
where she will break up the pros
poets Of an agreement or weld
America and Britain into some
sort of an informal alliance
Rather than bear upon her shout.
derS the responsibility for wreck
ing naval limitation she will make
substantial concessions, it is felt
All of this is dependent upon
similar concessions from Italy.
In other words, the conference
in getting down to brass tackS, -
shows signs of a conciliatory
spirit; and there is evidence, also,
that the lonE-awaited American