"At Home"

P: The seat of the U. S. Government is the White House. The centre of interest of the U. S. Government was. last week. the Mayflower hotel. Here sat Herbert Hoover. President-Elect. Here came Representatives, Senators, well-wishers, job-hunters. advisers. correspondents, Cabinet members, in all some 200 callers. Twice Mr. Hoover went visiting, both calls being paid to President Coolidge. The rest of the time Mr. Hoover received.

P:The outstanding Cabinet development of the week was that Mr. Hoover made no announcement ui ; ny Cabinet appointment; that, among thousands of words, of guesses and forecasts there was no authoritative statement. Predictions, however, verged on unanimity on two Cabinet matters. In the first place Andrew Mellon was conceded probable re-appointment to the position of Treasury Secretary. A two-hour conference between Mr. Mellon and Mr. Hoover served as the basis for the story that the Treasury Secretary and the President-Elect had reached an "accord." In the second place Mr. Hoover had been widely credited with a desire to appoint Col. William J. Donovan, present Assistant Attorney General, to the Attorney General's Cabinet position. Mr. Donovan is a Catholic, is also no ardent prohibitionist, consequently Klan and other anti-Catholic influences are against him as are also prohibitionists who are vitally interested in the supposition that Mr. Hoover may shift prohibition enforcement from the Treasury Department to the Department of Justice. Thus, Mr. Donovan, desirable, is perhaps not available. Other Cabinet appointments remain much in the ''suggested for" condition.

P:Though Mr. Hoover has repeatedly announced that he will not concern himself with the legislation now before Congress, it is not unlikely that the topic of an extra Congressional session was discussed during his meetings with President Coolidge. with Senator Borah and with other Congressional leaders. At any rate it was after a conference with Mr. Hoover that Senator McNary of Oregon, Farm Relief leader, announced that he would not fight for consideration of a Farm Relief bill at the present short session. The much discussed extra session therefore, became virtually assured, will probably be called by Mr. Hoover shortly after his inauguration. . . .

P: The President-Elect had planned to leave Washington last week, was compelled to prolong his stay indefinitely. His proposed Southern vacation will probably not include a trip to the West Indies, though a visit to Havana is still scheduled. Belle Isle, Fla., is the Hoover southern base during his Washington stay.