A New Secretary in the Federal Cabinet
By Editor
ACCORDING to an article in the "American Citizen" of October 12, which they publish from the Newark (New Jersey) "Evening News" of October 5, there is a demand made by Roman Catholics for a new "secretary of peace" in the cabinet of the President of the United States. The news item says: "A movement is under way to secure an addition to the cabinet of the President of the United States, of a secretary of peace. It is also proposed to have this question presented to the representatives of every world power now in session at the International Peace Congress at Geneva, Switzerland, with a view to establishing this office generally in national councils. It is reported that President Taft, Roosevelt, and Governor Woodrow Wilson are to be approached and their views on the proposition ascertained." A special committee, representing most of the peace organizations, a number of religious denominations, with no idea of sectarianism, is to present the subject to presidential candidates, it is said. "The first suggested choice for this office, it is understood, is James Cardinal Gibbons. It is urged that 'his influence would be powerful in preventing future conflicts between the United States and Catholic nations.' He has been a prominent speaker on occasions when world peace has been the subject, the dedication of the Pan-American Union building at Washington in 1910, the third National Peace Congress at Baltimore in 1911, and other occasions. The proposed office is to be advisory in character and to carry no special authority. The exact draft of this plan is not to be made public until after they have received the question." It would be well, certainly, to watch developments.