To Manila, Davis

After he recalled Henry Lewis Stimson from Manila in March to be his No. 1 Cabinet member, President Hoover searched the land for a suitable Governor General of the Philippines. The job pays well, $18,000 per year. It has served as a stepping stone to higher Federal office (William Howard Taft, Statesman Stimson). There were plenty of applicants.

Usually the choice for this highest colonial post lies between two types of men: a military man like the late Leonard Wood; a civilian like Statesman Stimson. Last week President Hoover found his man, Dwight Filley Davis, in whom are neatly combined the best characteristics of both types. His appointment seemed to please every one except a group of U. S. citizens at Manila who had sought promotion for Vice Gov. Eugene A. Gilmore.

Gov. Davis, whose popular fame rests largely upon the cup he donated to international tennis, is rich, 50, a Harvard man. He began his career as Public Baths Commissioner of St. Louis. During the War he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Regular Army, won the Distinguished Service Cross "for extraordinary heroism" in operations at Baulny and Chaudron Farm, France, Sept. 29-30, 1917. He became an Assistant Secretary of War in 1923, was the first World War army veteran to be advanced to the head of that department.

When President Hoover named James William Good as Secretary of War, Mr. Davis, having no desire to retire to private life, yearned for a diplomatic post, preferably Paris. Last week he discussed his appointment almost pensively: "My duties will be far away, but they will, I believe, be interesting."

Mr. Davis at first hesitated about accepting this appointment, largely because of the Philippine climate and the health of Mrs. Davis, who is now recovering from a protracted illness at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. Washington society was ready to believe that another factor had also weighed. There is a persistent report that Alice Davis, the new Governor's oldest daughter, is informally engaged to marry Allan Hoover, the President's younger son.