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Show NEWS REVIEW OF CURRENT EVENTS W. H. Tafi, 111, Quits as Chief Justice and Hughes Named to Succeed Him. By EDWARD W. PICKARD WILLIAM HOWABD TAFT, returning re-turning to Washington from Asheville a very sick man, sent In his resignation as chief justice of the Supreme Su-preme Court of the United States. It -was at once'accepted by President Hoover with expressions of deep regret re-gret and of sympathy for Mr. Taft's condition, and Charles Evans Hughes was appointed his successor. Though the entire matter seemed sudden, It was learned that the President Presi-dent had been Informed of Mr. Taft's Intention several weeks before and that Mr. Hughes had conferred with Mr. Hoover several times before accepting ac-cepting the appointment. Mr. Taft's physicians admitted that he was seriously 111, and though toward the close of the week his condition con-dition appeared to have Improved, they held out little hope for his recovery. recov-ery. They said that for some years he had had very high blood pressure associated with general arterioscle-, arterioscle-, rosis and myoearditis and also had a chronic cystitis. President and Mrs. Hoover called on him the day after his return from the South, and so did several of the Supreme court Justices. There was a constant stream of other callers at the Taft residence but of course most of them merely left messages mes-sages of greeting and cheer. Mr. Taft's retirement closed a public career unparolleled in this country. For nearly fifty years he served the people, in otllces ranging from an assistant as-sistant prosecuting attorney to President Presi-dent of the republic and head of Its highest tribunal. He was the first civil governor general of the Philip-- Philip-- pine Islands and was secretary of war under President Roosevelt. lie was appointed by President Wilson as chief justice In 1921. In accordance with a law passed at the last session of congress, he retires with his full salary of $'-'0,r,00 a year. Mr. Hughes presumably will take oflire when the Supreme court reconvenes recon-venes on February 21. His appointment appoint-ment Is the climax of a record in the public service almost as remarkable as that of bis predecessor, lie has held some of the highest ollices within A. the read of an American citizen, having hav-ing fallen short only of the Presidency, Presi-dency, for which he was the unsuccessful unsuc-cessful Republican candidate in 1010 against Woodrow Wilson. To make that campaign he resigned as associate asso-ciate justice of the Supreme court, to which position he had been appointed by President Roosevelt In 1P10. About a year ago be was selected as a Judge of the- world court and spent last summer sitting at The Hague. From March 4, V.VJl, to March 4. 1!VJ.-,, he was secretary of state In the Harding and Coolidge cabinets, retiring voluntarily. volun-tarily. As a matter of propriety, Charles E. Hughes. Jr., will now resign as solicitor general of the United States, and It has been suggested thai President Presi-dent Hoover may select its his successor suc-cessor Mr. Taft's sen. Ruben A. Taft. who Is now district attorney at Cincinnati. Cin-cinnati. PASCUAL ORTIZ RUPIO was Inaugurated In-augurated president of Mexico Wednesday with simple ceremonies, and as be was leaving the national " stadium an attempt was made to assassinate as-sassinate him, wbich was quite in accord ac-cord with Mexican tradition. A young man standing behind a file of soldiers at the gate of honor emptied his revolver re-volver into the presidential car Ortiz Ruhio was shot through the cheek, the bullet lodging In the left Jaw. His wife and niece and his military aide were slightly wounded, as was the chauffeur who nevertheless stepped on the accelerator and carried his . passencers swiftly to a Red Cross hospital. A few hours later the surgeons sur-geons announced that the president was out of danger. The assassin was seized by the police po-lice and said he was Daniel Flores of E-an Luis Potosi state and wai i fol- lower of Jose V'asconcelos, defeated candidate for the presidency. He refused re-fused to say why he had tried to kill Ortiz Rubio, but the authorities were satisfied that It was a plot of the "Vaseoncelistas." This was the view, also, of Portes Gil, retiring president, who told newspaper men that Senora de Oritz had received an unsigned letter a few days ago which said her husband would not live to be inaugurated. inaugu-rated. Only a week before the shooting the federal district authorities announced they had frustrated one such Vascon-celista Vascon-celista plot with the arrest of nineteen nine-teen persons who allegedly planned to assassinate both Senor Ortiz Rublo and Senor Portes Gil and seize the government. If that was the plan in this Instance, events did not develop as was hoped, for Mexico City, except for an air of anxiety for the president's presi-dent's safety, was quiet with little or no indication that anything unusual had happened. PRELIMINARY negotiations among the naval conferees In London did not proceed very smoothly. Prime Minister Min-ister Mac-Donald announced that Great Britain sought the abolition of submarines, sub-marines, and Immediately thereafter Henry L. Stimson, head of the American Ameri-can delegation, made it known that this position was supported by the United States and that he would propose pro-pose the abolition of underwater war craft at the plenary session set for February 11. The French delegation at once met and examined the question ques-tion and then declared flatly that they would not consider the proposal. It was understood that Premier Tardieu at the plenary session would meet It with a speech in which he would say that France considers the submarine as most necessary for the defense of the French coast though France does not want it as an offensive weapon and believes that submarine warfare should be "humanized." Italy is willing to abolish submarines sub-marines if France will do so, but It insists in-sists that Italians must have submers-ibles submers-ibles If her northern neighbors have them. Thus the Italian action will be governed by the French attitude. The American delegation made public pub-lic Its plan for reduction and limitation, limita-tion, stating that it provided for Immediate Imme-diate parity with Great Britain In every ev-ery class of ship In the navy. Equality Equal-ity In battleships would be secured by abandonment of five by the British and three by the Americans. The cruisers would be so apportioned that the British Brit-ish would have an apparent advantage of 12.000 tons, which the Americans could equalize by Including the number num-ber of their smaller cruisers. Critics of this plan declared It was a surrender surren-der to the demands of the British. Delegates from the British dominions domin-ions protested to Mr. MacDonald that the conference was making unnecessarily unneces-sarily slow progress, and he therefore conferred with the other heads of delegations and they decided to speed tilings up The first committee, which includes all the delegates, took up on Thursday the matter of the method of limitation, seeking a solution for the controversy between the global and categorical methods. London correspondents, cor-respondents, however, said it was not likely any real progress would be made toward fixing tonnage figures until near the end of the month. This is due to the fact that the Japanese have a general election on February 20, and the Japanese are stalling vigorously vig-orously on tlie figures until the present government can cet settled in the saddle or a new government formed. WHEN MaJ. Gen. Herbert Crosby, chief of cavalry of the United States army, retires on March 21 next, he will undertake the task of making the city of Washington a model for the rest of the country so far as liquor and crime are concerned. He has been selected hy President Hoover to direct the police, fire and trat'.ic departments of the District of Columbia, Colum-bia, and Mr. Hoover said the appointment appoint-ment "will be a guaranty to both the otlicinl and unofficial residents of the district, and especially to the nation at large, that the Capital shall be free of organized crime." The police affairs of the District of Columbia have been nnder fire from members of congress for the last year or so. During that time there have been a wide variety of charges, Including Includ-ing lax enforcement of the prohibition laws. General Crosby will succeed Proctor L. Dougherty as commissioner. SAMUEL H. CHUItCH, president of the Carnegie Institute, proposed j at a dinner of the eastern directors of J the Association Against the Prohlbl- tion Amendment that a new "liberal" party be formed by the wets, and while the Idea was not Indorsed at the meeting, It was decided that a nationwide nation-wide convention should be held In Baltimore In the spring. Leaders of the old parties and many prominent wets as well said the foes of prohibition prohibi-tion would gain little or nothing by forming a new party. Those wets who are practical politicians believe they can accomplish much more by placing wet candidates in the field in three-cornered contests for the senate or the house. They think this might result in the election of wet Democrats Demo-crats and bring about a change In the policies of the Republican party. REPRESENTATIVE C. L. BEEDT of Maine offered In the house an amendment to the Volstead act which would make possible the padlocking of places of business by public prosecutors prose-cutors in the absence of their owners, and it was generally accepted as an administration measure. Eeedy's bill provides that a district, state, county, or city attorney, falling to locate the owner of premises alleged al-leged to be- a nuisance, may Issue a "substitute" or dummy subpoena and, without serving it on the owner, may go into court and have his place padlocked. pad-locked. It also provides that the Judge may speed up the case If his docket is congested by referring It to a master for proceedings under equity rules. DY A vote of 48 to 6 the German reichsrath or national council of I the states approved the Young plan, which has now gone to the reichstag for final discussions and disposition. The council also gave Its approval to the separate German and American debt agreement. Bavaria's premier, Doctor Held, tried everything in his power to prevent the reichsrath from accepting the Young plan. He declared that the Young plan was based on the assumption that Germany was responsible re-sponsible for the war. Foreign Minister Min-ister Julius Curtius countered by saying say-ing that Germany never has and never will sign a pact admitting war guilt. ITALY greatly strengthened Its position posi-tion in central Europe last week by the signing of a treaty "of friendship, friend-ship, conciliation and Judiciary regulation" regu-lation" with Austria. This, as a Rome correspondent says, means that postwar post-war Austria's 7,000,000 inhabitants will be added to the circle of friends Italy has been cultivating in the Danubian states, and which, at present, includes in-cludes Hungary and Bulgaria, plus the diminutive Adriatic monarchy of Albania. Al-bania. It means likewise that, besides burying the hatchet in South Tyrol, Italy extends her range of influence to the border lines of the little entente. Austria, on the other hand, makes a noteworthy advance from her previous pre-vious status of a political zero through this Italian alliance. THROUGH Riga, Latvia, the world has learned that recently nearly live hundred former oiheers of the old Russian Imperial navy have been put to death by the cheka or secret police. This massacre was ordered by Commissar Com-missar Menshinski, chief of the cheka, and no reasons for his aclion have been given. Reeuuse of the crisis in diplomatic relations between Moscow and Berlin and Paris, the Soviet foreign trado monopoly is contemplating a trade boycott of Europe and concentrating its European purchases in the United States, according to the Soviet trade delegate in Riga. CONGRESS authorized the President Presi-dent to send a commission to Haiti to study conditions there, and Mr. Hoover last week was considering the make up of tli.it body. The commission, com-mission, the President said, will be charged with the responsibility of recommending when and how the United States is to withdraw Its military mili-tary forces from tiie n'gro republic. It will also recommend the- policy which this cpuntry should follow during dur-ing the years that will elapse beore American occupation ends. (St. ISSi), Western Neepapr L'akn) |