The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, NOV. 17th, 1921. A NOTABLE FIGURE.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 November 1921, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian THURSDAY, NOV. 17th, 1921. A NOTABLE FIGURE.

The outstanding figure of the Annanient Conference at Washington so far is the Secretary of State, Mr Charles E. Hughes, I’resiilwit Harding's "right hand man.” He is a New Yorker by birth and a Baptist b.v creed. He is a man of line presence bearded and dignified. Jn law, n sphere iu which he gained the highest honours nnd einoluinqpßs which America could bestow, lie not only kept his conscience dean but earned a national reputation for stern and rigid rectitude. Public (incidence in his professional uprightness was shown liv entrusting him with a large share in some of the most important judicial inquiries of his gen- I e ration. He investigated the charges A gas companies, the methods of insur-

a lie* companies, irregula uues in contracts ioj- aeroplanes.■ one of tin- greatest of America’s great war scandal- ■ and the niacbiihitioiis of lie* coal trust. 11l wncli instance lie showed himself worthy ol public trust. 111-; great abilities and wide experience "ere directed solely to tile task of extracting tlx.* truth the whole 1 1 utli nel nothing but the truth. There u.is nothing sensational in his methods, lb* hold- as

conservative a view of capital as .any man in America, but he is old-fashioned .enough to believe that even big business ought to he honest. Of course he has “played politics,” or he would not be in Mr Harding’s Cabinet. In 1900 lie heat William Randolph Hears!, of “yellow journals” fume, for the Governorship of New York and held office i for two terms. He was then appointed by President Taft to Is* AssociateJustine of the Supreme Court of the United States, resigning to eontest the Presidential election of 1910 as Republican candidate against Woodrow Wilson. He gave Wilson a tremendously j hard battle, and was defeated by a marI gin of 582. 000 votes out of a total of j over 18.1X10.000 votes. The defeat did | not damage his pie.-tige in the slightest ! ami his appointment to his present high position on the advent of his party to power was practically a foregone conclusion, though it is rumoured that his appointment was sijhtcrraneoiisly oppose,) by a certain section of the Republican Congressmen who feared that ho might, proved too strong and too honest for their entire convenience. As to his political honesty, his career is full of instances, Uut one. which is typical of the man. will suffice. The New York State Legislature in 1 hi!/, in the thick of the war-fever, expelled live Socialist members, though these were duly clot ted and again expelled them when 1 1 icy were re-elected. Hughes, tliuugli politically at* the opposite pole from Radicalism, considered the incident ail outrage on the Constit lit ion, ami In* went to Albany and made his protest a chivalrous action and one that needed courage in the atmosphere of 1919. He is a firm believer in Anglo-American friendship, though tin* filet has never been allowed to inlliienee his tariff views, and his desire for a good understanding lietween the two great Anglo-Saxon nations is exemplified, we think, in the clear-cut. straightforward,, proposals , which lie has placed before tile Con- i ereiicc at Washington. America, through Hughes, has “put her cards ( in the table,” and whatever may he i he lat 1 # nl the Hughes resolutions, it j •annot lie said that America has failed t o give a lead to the Conference, or i hut she has sunlit to temporise or v ipiivoeate. ..