New-York tribune., 1915-03-17
Mr.. Wilson's Secretary of State

On Monday night, at moment wheh
the foreign relations Of this country were
reaching a crisis unparalleled in half a.
century. the Secretary of State was con-
ducting a temperance revival in the
Tabernacle Of BILLY" Sunday in the
city Of Philadelphia.
Whole volumes Of comment could not
add 70 the humiliation of such spectacle
10 every patriotic citizen of great nation
passing through a moment Of lnterna-
tional danger and menace. The revela-
ton of actual conditions contained in the
incident passes any possible amplifcation
or elaboration.
BY a convenient, If cowardly. device,
the American public has come to attribute
all the disgrace Of the Bryan affair to
Mr.. Bryan himself. On the pleasant
theory that guilt is personal" it has been
customary to blame the Secretary Of State
for continuing to be himself under all
circumstances and in the face of all re-
sponsibilities.
But the time is surely at hand when
this fiction must be dropped. This coun-
try owes it to Woodrow Wilson that at
the moment the British note was being
transmitted to the State Department, at
the precise time when a great intena-
tional problem was posed for the nation,
the Secretary Of State was on his knees
on & revival platform appending his sig
nature to total abstinence pledges.
Was there ever in American history
spectacle more shameful. more completely
illustrative Of the spirit Of the present
administration? Mr.. Bryan's influence.
made Mr.. Wilson President. Mr.. Bryan's
assistance is Of present and future politi-
cal value to Mr.. Wilson. This is conceded.
But can Mr. Wilson find no other way 10
paw MS political debts than by prostituting
the great Office of Secretary Of State to
such a service?
Again, if such prostitution could be
passed over in time of peace, when the
fidelity of subordinates could cover with
thin but pleasing veil of decency the comic
opera performances Of the successor Of
Root, Of Hay, Of Seward, Of Webster,
Of a line Of great and distinguished
American statesmen, must it be continued
now in a world crisis?
If il must be continued let no one blame
BRYAN. An empty vaudevilian, without
other virtues than those which vocal per-
fection have provided for the utterance of
platitudes, he continues to do exactly
what one Of his kind is bound TO do,
what is TO be expected Of the Bryan-like
all over the world. He is neither worse
nor better than he was in 1896, in 1900,
in 1908. The shame, the heavy, abiding
shame. belongs 70 Woodrow Wilson and
should henceforth be his TO bear.
There are abuses, there are humlia-
tions, there are scandals which neither
time nor custom can quite make nation
tolerate Mr. Bryan is one of these in his
present Office. A whole world has in this
great crisis modified its statesmen, its
leaders of thought and action. Europe has
abolished party lines to recruit its minis
tries from the best Of all political groups.
Yet in one Of the great hours of world
h history, in one of the most momentous
Operiods in the life of all nations and of
y our own nation, Woodrow Wilson main
tains IN the State Department secre-
tary whose highest possibilities sre com
pretended in the fact that on Monday
night the larger part of an audience which
came 10 see Billy" Sunday stayed 70 hear
Mr.. Wilson's Secretary Of State.