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Show MANY SEEKING LANDIS' PLACE Flood of Speculation Is Loosed By Resignation of Jurist BY lATin-R A. HI sroN (International News Service) CHICAGO. K-1. 1 Resignation from the bench of the United State3 district court of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Moun-tain Landis announced by the Jurist today, unloosed a flood of speculation that was still eddying unchecked tonight. to-night. Outstanding among the queries that were being asked on every side wen- 1 ) Who will succeed Judge Landl.s on the federal bench? (2) What are Judge Iandls" plan for the futuro and 3 What was the real reason back of his resignation from his Judiciary0 The answer to these and uny other questions thiil may arise lies Wholl) In the future Judge fandls maintained maintain-ed a tight-lipped silence and refused to comment on his action or to dLscusa i his plans beyond this: "I feel aa If for me the law of gravitation gravi-tation had been suspended. It Is not possible for any man ever to have a more agreeablG life than the 17 years I have been on the federal bench. 1 can't walk out of here without re- gret." SCORES OF APPLICANTS The Judgo announced his resignation Shortly after IO o'clock this morning , Ho akcd to be relieved of his Judical ! duties on March 1 . Conjecture as to his successor i brought forward several names. Among them wore Elmer Schlesslngi-r. a well known Chicago lawyer. Charles i II Wilkerson. former assistant district j attornev and now assistant attorney I general of Illinois; nnd Col. George T. Buckingham, a local attorney. When rumors that the Judge would resign arose several months ago. it wa.s common knowledge that there were about fortv Illinois attorneys anxious anx-ious to succeed him In announcing his resignation Jud;. landls announced he was leaving the bench because he could not give at-! tention both to the bench and as high commissioner of organized bnseball. So far as has been publicly announced It Is his intention to retire from public' life except In his capacity of baseball I 'hlertaln. POLITICS RUMOIUA) There were strong rumors current tonight however, that Judge L&ndls would find his way Into politics Attorneys At-torneys and other friends of the Jurist it wan reported, are planning to launch a movement to elict him mayor of Chicago. These reports could not be confirmed howecr. from any authentic authen-tic source Judge Landis confined the announcement an-nouncement of his resignation to the brief statement that There are not I enough hours in the day for all these activities-" Up to a lato hour tonight be had declined de-clined to amplify this statement. General rVtrret wns expressed throughout Chicago today over the retirement of Iandls from the post as federal judge he has held since his appointment ap-pointment n 100f bv the lute President Presi-dent Roosevelt. Leaders of the Chicago Chi-cago bar officials of the city government govern-ment and a host of private citizens ex- pressed sorrow at his retirement PAID HIGH SALARY In baseball circles, however, there was considerable Jubilation. Ben Johnson, John-son, president of the American league declined to comment at this time but I John Heydler. president of the National Na-tional league, expressed keen satisfaction satisfac-tion that the. lurLst would now be able 1 te give all of his time to baseball j Heydler declared that th- sala-v paid I Tudge Lsindia would remain at $-12 -BOO per year although It hn.l been understood un-derstood that the alnrv w.nild lr $r.O -000 as first proposed Tho original offer of-fer of 150.000 was cut to 500 at Judge Landis' suggestion that the amount of his salary as Judge be deducted de-ducted from It. Judge Iandls became baseball commissioner com-missioner a few months after the investigation in-vestigation Of the 1919 world's scries scandal when the clamor for a cleanup clean-up of baseball was at its height He was granted powers far mor- extensive for the regulation of the national gapif I than ver had been vested In one man ' It was stipulated as i Ofl ii'ion of ac-j ac-j ceptsnce by Judge Landis ttat hi should have supreme authority and! that there should be no appeal from his decisions STORM r CONGRESS After his acceptance of the post of baseball commissioner tho Judge was the storm corner of a move In congress con-gress to make It Illegal for a federal! i Judge to accept outside employment I : He also engaged in a controversy with Senator Dial of South Carolina that1 ; grew out of his Itdlsney to a 19-year-1 I old defaultlnr bank teller. JudKe' Landis publicly scored the bankers fori the small wage paid an emplove entrusted en-trusted with handling large sums ofi money and released the prisoner on' his own recognizance. subsequent, sending him to s reformatory for one year. Senator Plal took umbrage at Judge Landis' action and Introduced a mess- ure f r hN Impeachment but the issue never was brought to a conclusion. Judre Landis was born Nov. JO. 1866 at Mlllvllle. Ohio. i i i n w iri:i) WASHINGTON. Feb. 18 President Harding tonight was awai'.lnc recelptl of Judg Isn-tld' formal letter of reslg- nation before announcing his accep-tanba accep-tanba Ot th" Chicago Jurist s request that he he permitted to retlro from tho federal bench to devote his time exclusively to organized baseball. Despite the fact Landll will remain on the Job until March. It wns reanled as likely In official circles that the resignation would be accepted prompt -1 thut lh. might ! n, ; l-ar for the appointment of a successor. Senators ICcKlnloy and licCormlok, Of Illinois, to whom President Harding v.111 turn for advice when lie gets ready to appoint a new federal judge for Chicago, tonight said th4 they were gre ulv surprised at lindlo' resignation res-ignation ami thnt thy anticipated that there would be many candidate for the Chicago Job. which is one of the most important In the federal Judiciary. Judic-iary. HEYDLER DELIGHTED NEW YORK, Feb. 18. Preni.jent John Heydler of the National bagije expre.Hed gratification today when In-formed In-formed bv 'he Associated Pres. thnt M.dge I,andls had resigned from the bench to devote his entire tlms to the technical control of professional baseball base-ball "The Major and Minor leagues nnd the baseball public at large are to be1 congratulated." he said ' Judge Lan- lis' decision means everything to the sport. ' j nave always leu inn', wnen .jourc Iandls fully realized the mas of d-1 (h!1 and the varying technical and con tractural matters which must come to him for final decision ho would have to decldo to give up either the position of baseball commJssloner or the fed- eral bench. The work Incidental to both ponltions 1m absolutely beyond thl powera of any one man. Of course I I need not Bay that I am extremely gratified grati-fied thnt Judge Iandla saw hlg w. clear to devote his entire attention to I'nder ths terms of his contract signed In 1 920, Judae I-andls will con tlnue to receive the same renumera- H tion as In the past. His contract run-nlng run-nlng for a period of sev-ii pears, called v. for an annual salary of 150.000 with , J deduction equivalent to his salary 1 pidgc." (H n tt |
