Shortest Session

The special session of the Senate called by President Hoover to confirm his Cabinet appointments was the shortest on record. It lasted only an hour and a half. During that time the nominations of eight members of the new Cabinet were confirmed. The names of the two holdover officers--Andrew William Mellon and James John Davis--had not been submitted by President Hoover. These omissions, and an ancient rancor, caused the Senate to adopt a resolution by Tennessee's loquacious McKellar directing the Judiciary Committee to report: 1) whether any Cabinet member may legally hold office after the expiration of the term of the President who appointed him; 2) whether Andrew W. Mellon is disqualified as Secretary of the Treasury by reason of the law which forbids that officer to engage in business or commerce, etc., or the law which forbids Internal Revenue officers engaging in the tobacco or liquor business. The first part of this resolution was perfunctorily absurd* and would not have been urged if only Secretary Davis had been involved. The second part was designed simply to embarrass Mr. Mellon, though its proponents knew the odds were all against their ousting him. The "liquor business" charge has so often been brought against Mr. Mellon and so often answered/- that there is little legislative health in it. And the "business or commerce" charge-- Mr. Mellon's proximity to oil, steel, aluminum and other corporations--has repeatedly--failed to arouse major excitement for the simple reason that only alarmists have bothered to question Mr. Mellon's integrity. Mr. Mellon's spokesmen in the Senate let the McKellar resolution go through with patient annoyance. They expected the ouster movement would die a quiet death when the Judiciary Committee reports. For ten minutes during this brief session of the Senate, Vice President Curtis presided for the first time in his new capacity. He rapped with his gavel so often and so lustily that Senators began to grumble, to wonder whether he might prove to be other than the meek & mild presiding officer that he was expected to be. He had promised not to criticize the rules of the Senate but he made it look as though he intended to enforce them.

*All appointive officials hold office until their successor is appointed and qualifies by taking the oath of office, unless there is a specific law to the contrary. In the case of the Postmaster General there is such a law--he must be reappointed and confirmed every four years even if the same administration continues in office. /-As late as last September (TIME, Sept. 17) Mr. Mellon declared that although he had once owned stock in a distillery, the company had ceased manufacturing three years before prohibition came into effect and he had disposed of the stock before becoming Secretary of the Treasury. He stated bluntly: "At no time was I ever actively engaged in the distilling business. I have no interest in or connection with the distillation of liquor or any liquor business."