Department of Justice

James Montgomery Beck, 63, officer of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), corresponding Member of La Societe de Gens de Lettres, resigned from the post of Solicitor General/- of the U. S. which he had held since July 1, 1921. Previous to that he had been head of Beck, Crawford & Harris, Manhattan law firm. Before that he had been 14 years a member of Shearman & Sterling, one of the most powerful law firms in the history of Manhattan. Previously he had been Assistant Attorney General of the U. S. (1900-03) and a District Attorney in his home state, Pennsylvania.

On Apr. 15, he wrote a letter:

Dear Mr. President:

Next month I shall have completed 41 years in the practice of my profession, of which 15 have been given to the service of the Government in the Department of Justice.

During the last four years, it has been my great privilege to be the Solicitor General of the United States. ... I have had charge for the Government of 983 cases in the Supreme Court during the last four years and have, at times, through force of circumstances, performed the double duty of Acting Attorney General and Solicitor General. . . . The work has meant a very great strain to my eyesight which has never been of the best. . . .

I am writing to tender my resignation as Solicitor General of the United States. . . .

(Signed) JAMES M. BECK.

To this the President replied, in part, last week:

With every wish for your enjoyment of happiness, health and prosperity through a long future of like usefulness, I remain,

Most sincerely yours,

(Signed) CALVIN COOLIDGE.

On the day following the receipt of this letter, Mr. Beck addressed the Five O'Clock Dinner Club in Philadelphia, city of his nativity. Without rancor he spoke of his life:

"But it is true that tonight I feel that I have not begun to climb as high as I have aspired and, as the shadows lengthen, I fear I never shall. Like most fishermen, I find the biggest fish* got away. . . .

"There have been times when opportunity was mine. When the Armstrong committee was organized to conduct the insurance investigation, I was offered the post of chief counsel to it. But I represented the Mutual Life and I felt I could not accept. Mr. Hughes accepted and he became Secretary of State.

"When Mr. Bonaparte, as Attorney General, wanted me to prosecute the Standard Oil Company, I was a member of a law firm of which Mr. Rogers was a client. I did not accept.

"Mr. Kellogg became Secretary of State.

"Then I was offered strong support as a candidate for Governor of New York in opposition to Mr. Whitman [in 1912]. I pondered the matter and then called upon Colonel Roosevelt, of whom I was a close friend. He expressed the fear that I could not beat Whitman because the organization was back of him, and he told me he thought he would be elected President of the United States and said to me: 'I shall want you to be my Secretary of State.'"

/-The office in the Department of Justice next in rank to the Attorney Generalship and charged with the duty of handling-most of the Government cases before the Supreme Court (TIME, Apr. 20). * Other fish he did not mention: London Embassy, Berlin Embassy, Attorney Generalship of the U. S., Associate Justiceship of the Supreme Court. (TIME, Apr. 20).