Split in US Cabinet

SPLIT IN US CABINET

McAdoo and Redfield in Hot Row Over Insurance
For Soldiers.

_________
COMMERCE HEAD MAY RESIGN

Secretary of Treasury Accused
of Grabbing Things to Aid
Ambition.

_________
Philadelphia, August 1.

The Public Ledger prints the following today from its Washington correspondent:

A cabinet row that has been brewing for some time has broken with full force upon official Washington, and bids fair to assume such proportions that at least one resignation may result. Secretary Redfield, of the Department of Commerce, has become so aggrieved at the course pursued by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo that he is protesting vehemently, and the President may find it necessary to intervene, as he did in the Denman-Gothals row.

McAdoo will not resign. His family connections with the President, together with his well-understood political aspirations, make the suggestion unworthy of consideration. But Redfield has been the subject of numerous resignation rumors, and this contest may result in the severance of his official connection with the government.

From the beginning of the war and even before there has been friction between the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce, which culminated recently with McAdoo winning in the plan to provide insurance for the soldiers and sailors. Both departments wanted control. Carried into effect, this insurance plan, intended to take the place of the old system of pensions, will have great political potentialities. McAdoo 's friends are grooming him for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1920, and a presidential candidate could not wish for a better political asset than the disposition of millions of dollars of insurance and indemnities for disability to soldiers and their families.

The Man Who Did the Work.

Edwin F. Sweet, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, is credited with being the first man to work out a soldier's insurance plan. He went at it at the instance of the Council of National Defense, got together the data and made a report to the council. Later the President, at the suggestion of interested citizens, passed the subject over to Secretary McAdoo with the request that he take the subject in hand. This was done and a scheme worked out. Now the Department of Commerce declares the Treasury Department has appropriated Mr. Sweet's ideas, worked them over and taken not only the credit that is due the Commerce Department, but also the jurisdiction which it had hoped to have.Secretary Redfield and Assistant Secretary Sweet feel very keenly their disappointment, and while they will not be interviewed on the subject, their expressions to friends in private conversations are such as to show the tense feeling that exists between the two departments. In a bulletin just issued by the Treasury on soldiers' insurance credit is given to Mr. Sweet, along with others, for assisting in working out the plan. Aside from this brief testimonial the Treasury takes all the glory.

When Congress had before it the legislation giving the power to the President to control exports Secretary McAdoo endeavored to have it so framed that all licenses should be issued through the Treasury Department. This was fought by the Department of Commerce, for it meant virtually the transferring of the entire Bureau of Navigation from the Department of Commerce to the Treasury Department. As a consequence, the law was so framed that it specifically states that the licensing shall be done by the Department of Commerce.

When Secretary Redfield learned that an effort was being made to take away the licensing privilige from him it is understood he asked that the President use his influence to prevent this. The President did not do this, but is understood to have authorized Mr. Redfield himself to write to Congress on the matter. Senator Ransdell, of Louisiana, now has in his possession a letter from Secretary Redfield showing his reasons for wanting to keep the Bureau of Navigation, and will place this letter in the Record at the first opportunity.May Lock in Death Grip.These are some of the matters which have brought about the friction between the two departments, but there are others which enter into the controversy. Secretary Redfield thought the Shipping Board should have been placed under the jurisdiction of his department, but Mr. McAdoo prevented this. Then there has been trouble over the Bureau of Navigation, the customs agents working under the direction of both departments at times.

The two men are opposites in their personalities. McAdoo is keen, shrewd, always alert and no doubt ambitious. Redfield is of the type of the successful business man who wants to run his department with the same degree of unquestioned authority that he would have in his private business. Both have a fund of determination, so that if they become locked in a death grip it may require the President himself to part them.Officials of the Commerce Department make no secret of their suspicion that Secretary McAdoo is trying to grab things that belong to them, because he is a candidate for the presidency and wishes to gather in all the power he can. McAdoo says nothing about political ambition and cannot be induced to speak of the future. But his admirers and boosters never let an opportunity slip to keep his name before the public and tell the people of his accomplishments, and apparently the Secretary places no restraints upon them.