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
lchanged 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
lcountry, 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 few other newspapers. have
made any fuss at all about the Can't
netti case.
| If anything like that had happened
| in the Taft admins stration one does not
have to strain his imagination to pics
ture to himself what would have hap
Ipened.
! | don't mean to say that the men
/ who influence the men 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 finan-
| 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 a particular dozen or so men
gathered at the Afdine or some similar
club in New York. can do more to in
| fuence 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 amba ssador
to Great Britain, are the kind of men
am taking about. Maybe they are
not all Colonel Houses but Colonel
House is by no means a unique char
acter in this country. 1t is the Colo
mel House type that sans 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 1t
necessary for him to gather about him
a 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
succession of bad breaks or one
him to change
And so they do not tell their pub
Fishing friends that McReynolds' and
Secretary Wilson's bad break is some-
Thing to get excited about
In the Ballinger case you will re-
member the story was followed up
by the weeklies. 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
public printS-that Ballin@er was bad
lie must abe bad OF that good man