The San Francisco call., 1913-07-17

WASHINGTON. d. C., July 12.-When
started for Washington you told me
that after / had been here time
would be astonished to find how small
was the group OF men that really runs
the United States. Conditions have
changed somewhat since then, the per-
sonnel of the group possibly has al
tered somewhat, but it is still small
group that runs the nation.
And now you ask me how it is that
Wilson gets by with it.
Because the men who influence the
men who create public opinion in this
country, for the present at least, have
confidence in Wilson.
/ have about come to the conclusion
that the American public will not get
excited about anything until some one
comes along and says Here, you ought
to get excited about this
No individual or aggregation of in
dividuals save you people who run
newspapers on the Pacific coast and the
Independent New York World (the best
metropolitan paper in the country, and
possibly a few other newspapers. have
made any fuss al all about the Cami-
netti case.
If anything like that had happened
in the Taft administration one does not
have to strain his imagination to pie
ture to himself what would have hap
pened.
/ don't mean to say that the men
| who influence the lhen who create
public opinion are corrupt, for they
are not Their vision may not be
wholly clear.
Before the civil war plenty Of New
Englanders of good intentions did not
| think it at all peculiar that their fnan-
| cial interests and their moral sense
happened both to be opposed to slav-
cry
They convinced themselves that they
were preaching abolition purely on
moral grounds and that the financial
benefits TO accrue to them through
abolition were merely incidental
Today particular dozen or so men
gathered at the Aldine or some similar
club in New York can do more to in
f1uence the history of the nation for
the next decade than all the execu-
tives and legislators we have. They
start at the bottom of things.
Men like Page, the new ambassador
to Great Britain, are the kind of men
[ am talking about. Maybe they are
not all Colonel Houses, but Colonel
House is by no means unique char
acter in this country. 1t is the Colo
mel House type that runs the United
states.
Last year men of this type were
more or less split up. Taft had lost
out with most of them from a variety
Of causes. He had stepped too hard
on the toes of some of them.
Our friend Pinchot. for example has
many friends in the group.
Wilson. a scholar, a gentleman hon
est, in their view, appeals to Them.
They want to give him his chance.
They realize that politics made it
necessary for him to gather about him
cabinet that is far from being en-
tirely of his class.
They expect the individual members
to make bad breaks and their expecta-
tions are being realized.
They sympathize with Wilson in his
determination to give the appearance
of standing by his cabinet until a
succession of bad breaks or <one
atrocious one makes it necessary for
him ito change.
And so they do not tell their pub
fishing friends that McReynolds' and
lSecretary Wilson's bad break is some
thing to get excited about.
L In tire Ballinger case you will re-
member the story was followed up
by the .3veekhes. the monthlies and all
the horde of muckrackers. The tip
had gone out from the men whose
words and influence really counts
the men one does not hear of in the
He must be psH or that good man