The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-20
Does Not Agree With Far
Eastern Policy.
WAS ACTING As SECRETARY
DeclinatiOn to Serve Contained
i'm Long Letter.
Resignation Immediately Ac-
cepted by President.

1
Wilson, assistant and acting secretary
| of state, has resigned that office and
| insisted upon immediate acceptance of
| the resignation, because of his radical
difference of opinion with the admin
tstration regarding its Chinese policies
President Wilson Immediately accepted
the resignation.
| Mr.. Wilson. like all assistant secre-
taries of the various departments, tend
cred his resignation as a matter of form
to President Wilson directly upon the
| 1atter's assumption of office. Mr.. Will
son was requested to continue in his
place until it should be convenient for
the president to name his successor.
and consented to do so to accommodate
Secretary Bryan in his desire to AXE
his present visit to Lincoln, Neb.
| The issue of the statement from the
| White House defining the administra-
| ton attitude regarding the Chinese loan
negotiations is believed to have been re-
garded by Assistant Secretary Wilson
| as sufficient to justify him in request
ing to be relieved at once. After teIe-
graphic notice to Secretary Bryan of
his intentions, Mr.. Wilson late yester-
day dispatched a note to the White
House, terminating his own service,
and President Wilson Immediately
designated Second Assistant Secretary
Adee to act as secretary of state dur
ing Secretary Bryan's present absence.
A probable result of the resignation will
be the immediate appointment under a
recess commission of John Bassett
Moore, as counsellor of the department
of state, with authority to act as secre-
tary.
Tnuo letter Written
In a thousand word letter to Presi-
dent Wilson, the former secretary of
state set forth that when he consented
to continue for a time with the new
administration he did not understand
there were to be any radical changes
of policy for which he would be called
upon to act as spokesman. The letter
continued in part:
TT today becomes the duty of the
acting secretary of state, in dispatching
instructions to the representatives of
of this government abroad and as the
channel of communicat ton with the
representatives of foreign governments
at Washington, to be spokesman of the
president in regard to the new Far
Eastern policy, which is apparently de-
ducible from your statement issued to
the press last night. Inasmuch as I
find myself entirely out of harmony
with this radical change of olicy, as
understand it, trust you will sympa-
thize with the view that it is not ap
propriate that I should longer retain
the responsibility of the office which I
have now relinquished."
''I had no reason to suppose that the
officials on duty in the department of
state would learn first from the news
papers of a declaration of policy which
think shows on its face the made
ouacy of the consideration given to the
facts and theories involved and the
failure clearly to apprehend the motives
leading to and the purposes of the
policy superseded. I had no reason to
suppose that the fate of negotiations
which had so long had the studious at
tention of the foreign officers of the
six great powers would be abruptly de-
termined with such quiet, unnecessary
haste and in SO unusual a manner.
These methods, against which 1 re-
spectfully protest, are the very extraor-
dinary circumstances which 1 feel
vitiates my understanding with Mr..
Bryan and completely relieves me of
any further obligation in the premises.
1.-The repeated utterances of the last
administrat tion must have made it per-
fectly clear that the motive and pur-
pose of the policy now abandoned were
first and primarily the protection of
China's integrity and sovereignty, the
uplift of the Chinese people, morally,
materially, and governmentally, the
development of China's resources and
the maintenance of our traditional pol
icy of the open door or equality of
opportunity for American enterprise.
America Should Participate.
Precisely because of the ultimate
possibility of measure of foreign
control of China's finances. which may
be inferred from a study of other coun-
tries which have found themselves in
a similar situation, it was deemed i'm
perative that there should be American
participation in the rehabilita ton of
China's finances, in order to make sure
of the precedence of the potent, friend
ly and disinterested influence of the
method of such participation is by the
use of reliable American bankers.
I'm the consideration of the Far
Eastern policy, have felt that so much
should be promised and that the prob
lem of the government using American
bankers, while still scrupulously avoid
ing any material monopolistic feature
might now be found one of the most
difficult preoccupat tions. I have .-lways
thought that in the work of advancing
the national interests and promoting
the welfare of other nations, the finan-
cial force of the United States could
be marshalled in some manner to pre-
sent a safety united front abroad where
it would be like the apex of a triangle,
but would have at home as its base
broad equality of it's opportunity. both
for it's citizens desiring to invest and
for bankers desiring to engage in these
difficult and relatively risky ventures
President Wilson replied:
MY dear shallow me to acknowl-
edge the receipt of your letter of yes
terday, and to say that I accept your
resignation, as you suggest, as of the