The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1916-02-11
PRESIDENT IN CHARGE

CONTINUED From Page One)
Secretary of the Interior Lane, and
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Why He Quit.
Garrison resigned because Presi-
dent Wilson would not "irrevocably"
support the continental army plan,
and because he opposes the admins
tration's program of setting a definite
time for Philippine independence.
President Wilson accepted the
resignation
AS mark Of loyalty to his chief
Assistant Secretary Breckenridge also
resigned. He holds the same views
as Mr.. Garrison.
1t is known that one of Secretary
Garrison's principal reasons for his
conviction that only d federal CONT
mental army, instead of a reorganized
National Guard, could be the main mil
itary dependence of the nation was his
belief that some day the United States
may be called upon to defend the Mon
roe doctrine. and in that event he fore
saw that the National Guard might
not be available for use outside of the
United States before d declaration of
war.
Upon that contention, on the one
hand, that the continental army or Ill
timately universal service was the ma
tons only reliance, and the position,
on the other. that no one plan could
be enforced upon Congress, President
Wilson and his secretary of war parted
official company.
Mr.. Garrison's resignation was
complete surprise to official Washing
on generally He made no personal
explanation. Several hours before the
official announcement he had boarded
train with his wife for New York, |
and word had been passed at the War
Department that he had gone for an
indefinite stay
Not Committed to Any One Plan.
The acute differences of opinion |
which led to the break began early |
in the year. when opposition to the !
continental army plan began deva-1I |
ing in Congress. there had been III !
definite rumors of the possibility of |
the secretary of war leaving the cab |
met, but they never were cOunte- |
nanced in official quarters. The secre- |
tary everywhere was regarded as one |
Of the strongest men of the administra |
ton upon whom the President lcaned
in the difficult situations both domes
tic and international that have marked
his administration.
The circumstances which led up to
the resignation are detailed in the sec
retary's correspondence with the Pres
ident which was mace public tonight
by the White House. The President,
the letters disclose believed that the
training, organization and the control
of a military reserve should be under
immediate federal direction, but is not
''irrevocably or dogmatically COM
mitted to any one plan" He wrote Mr..
Garrison that he could not force any
specific plan on Congress and added:
my Plan or None" Says Garrison.
81 must welcome a frank inter-
change of views and patient and
thorough comparison of all the meth
DDS proposed for obtaining the object
we all have in view"
Mr.. Garrison's contention that only |
the plans of the War Department |
could be considered seemed to the |
President wholly unjustifable." Mr. |
Garrison considered reliance upon |
the militia for national defense as un-
justifiable and imperiling of the ma
tons safety" In resigning he wrote
the President:
''It is evident that we are hopeless
~ disagreed upon what | conceive to
be fundamental principles
Mr.. Garrison characterized the
Clarke amendment to the Philippine
i