Life — March 10, 1921 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

vve tye Me NTN 6 tO pd wid MARCH 10, 1921 “While there is Life there’s Hope” Published by LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY VOL. 77. No. 20H London Offices, Rolls House, Breams Bldgs. London, E, C. T this writ- ing, nine days before the fourth of March, the membership of Mr. Hard- ing’s cabinet has been announced. Mr. Hughes, he says, will be Secretary of State and “will speak for the State De- partment.” Mr. Hughes says that he re- gards it as an “imperative obligation” to accept the appointment. So there is one important thing well done. Mr. Hughes is not practiced in diplomacy, but he is practiced in law and asa judge. He isa man of first rate char- acter and everybody knows him. He has ability. He has courage. He has prin- ciples. In so far as he can see what is right he will do it, and considerations of possible expediency will not divert him from that purpose. He will not be in- fallible. He will be liable to mistakes about what is right, but to the best of his powers he will make up his mind and stand by his conclusions. It is very reassuring that Mr. Harding's cabinet is to have a cornerstone of that nature. The, impression received from what the new President said when he an- nounced Mr. Hughes’ appointment was that the direction of foreign affairs would go to the State Department. That was usually the way until Mr. Wilson came in, and owing to circumstances and for various reasons, political and personal, be- own Foreign Secretary. Of Neyer: came his course, no President can d y for the foreign policies st himself of final responsibili of his administration, but he can give his Secretary of State more rope or less as he chooses. Lincoln left the state depart- ment considerably to Seward, but in tight places he sometimes overruled him. So President Harding may sometimes over- rule Secretary Hughes, but.he has not in- vited Mr. Hughes to be Secretary of State 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York without intending to lean heavily on his judgment and to give him authority enough to make it worth while for him to undertake the job. Mr. Hoover has been invited to be Sec- retary of Commerce. If he accepts, that will mean that Mr, Harding will have an- other strong man in his official family, and a man well acquainted with difficult prob- lems both in Europe and in this country, which the new administration will have to tackle. But Mr. Hoover is a very im- portant person. He is so practiced in great public services, his mind and char- acter are so remarkable, he is so trusted and leaned upon by thousands, and indeed millions, of people in this disturbed world, that it is highly important that his power for usefulness should be employed to the very best advantage. At this writing he has not yet accepted Mr. Harding’s in- vitation and is probably turnit his mind whether he can do the most for the world within the cabinet or outside of it. We all want him to be where he can do the most good. If he concludes that the place for him is the one Mr. Harding has offered, so much better for the new administration. As for the other gentlemen, Mr. Mellon, of Pennsylvania, seems to be used to g over in money and has undoubtedly a good many qualifications to be Secretary of the Treas- Mr. Weeks, of Massachusetts, is an able and respected man and should make about the kind of Secretary of War that administration would naturally want. The feeling about Mr. Daugherty, of Ohio, who is to be Attorney General, ury. the new is that he is not enough of a lawyer to be Everybody knows that he was Mr. Harding's political manager and contributed visibly to get him the nomina- tion, Mr. Harding likes him and leans on him, and seems to have appointed him for political and personal reasons,. As far as up to the job. political reasons go, the selection is no worse than Mr. Wilson's choice of Mr, Bryan to be Secretary of State. > far as personal reasons go, the selection may be compared to Mr. Wilson’s choice of the peace commissioners who accompanied him to Par’ He wanted people who would back him and with whom he felt on easy terms. Mr. Daugherty, though of no great reputation as a lawyer, nor even as a moralist, gives an impression of being a very shrewd, active and able man. His picture looks so. Probably he will help the new President. The question who will do the job of being Attorney General is a good deal like the question who would run the State Department if Bryan were Secretary. The appointment of Will Hays, Chair- man of the Republican Committee, to be Postmaster General is natural enough when our political habits are considered Mr. Denby, of Michigan, who is to rule the Navy, is an Old Guard Republican with a first-class war record. He will do. It is no disparagement of Mr. Fall of New Mexico, to suggest that he is not likely to be an improvement on Mr. Lane, and as for Mr. Wallace of Towa, and Mr. Davis of Pennsylvania, are to care re spectively for Agriculture and Labor, we must learn to know them by their fruits as they will be in charge of two exc ingly fruitful departments. Geographically the new cabinet is very well distributed. It is not an assemblage of paragons, but there are excellent in it- No doubt it might be better, but might easily be a great deal worse... C: inets are never composed exclusivel paragons. The great thing a new Pre dent has to do is to gather some com- petent men who will work together, and to secure that there shall be enough character in the company to carry it along. Mr. Harding has done at least as much as that. who comicbooks.com