Norwich bulletin., 1918-12-25
FACTS AND COMMENT

. government was by no means asleep during the days when Bernstorff, Boy Ed and yon Papen were abusing their right of embassy and our hospitality l Exact information of place. time and members present shows what tight
 grip American authorities held on the I meetings of these tteacherous propa- l gandists. Letters seized and mes ] sages caught and decided show clear l ly what Ans rican citizens were l thought important and useful to the 1 German cause. Attempts to buy up l American papers were made in most 1 determined fashion, usually however l without success, although the atti- l tude of the ten Hearst papers is char 1 a"terized in the German correspond l cnce as Friendly from the beginning" 1 Confirming the results of these in- 1 yestfgatioTls by the department of l justice, the department Of state has l published number of Bernstorfrs 1 cables to Berlin via Buenos Aires and ! Stockholm This was the secret l channel by which Rernstorff main tained intercourse with his own sov- ernrnent at the very time flat he was complaining to our state department that he was not permitted to discuss l matters with Berlin. It was by this l channel also that Lixburg's sink ] withoIlt-a trace advice WAS sent to
 the German admiralty. What other Information is in the possession of l the United States will furnish room for conjecture for many days to come. \ The president of Portugal who was shot and killed recently in the rail- way station at Lisbon came to office
 by means quite as violent as those by
 which he left it. Dr. Paes had been professor 5f mathematics at the an- cient university of Coimbra in earlier
 years, then he served the republic for q time as minister of pubic works, and at the opening of the war he was Portugals minister planipotentjary in , Germany. When Portugal entered the war he returned home and took to , the military career. obtaining a com , mission as major in the artillery. IT 1 December 1917 he stirred up g iNsyo- .. lptioh during the absence of President l sMachado and his most powerful min ister, The struggle wG3s sisort, sharf l 1 and final. Seventy were killed, sev- al eral hundred hurt and Lisbon was ? damaged to so%le extent in the fight t 1 ing. As was to be expected the in stigator of the revolution became tit i provisional president of the new gov 3 ernmept. By reason of his recent SO | iourn in the German capital, Dr. Pae; [ WaS suspected fsk pro German tenden l ] cies and the allies had some disquiet a. ing days until the new president show :, ed his hand, Then it appeared tha Portugal was to wage war even nor 5 eagerly than under the old regime. So 2 eialistic outbreaks were also feared b, 9 reason of the prepa gantia that Ina. - l preceded the revolution, but none 0
 l these naterialized. Instead of tha
 the president led the goyernmen
 1 along the lines Of needed reforms il
 industrial educational ard religion a conditions. When the resular election 1 1 were held in June 1918. the provisiona :" president was formally elected to th ( presidency by a large majority in = universal and direct suffrage election = Clothed now with de jure as well a 2 6e facto powers, President Paes wa continuing his useful work when h IF met the unfortunate hut natural fat : of these who through violence an II unlawful means climb to high posi- tions.
 # Dr. Walksr Hines Page who only re
 gently resigned his post as amhassa
 dor to Great Britain. gave his life fc Is his country as truly as if fie had die
 on the field of battle Sadly fin nee Id Of a rest from his exacting labors. IS had taken a two months vacation
 the spring, but on reSuming his pos , his health would no longer stand th ', strain and he was forced to resign i N August. Or his arrival in New Tor
 he was carried from the ship directl m to a hospital where at first he scene 1r to improve Later, however, a Felaps D. set in and as a last hope he was take
 to the south where he died last Sat IS urday at Pinehurst, N C.
 The nomination of Dr Page as an
 bassador to the Court of St. Jant Di 1 was one of the first acts of the pres It cnt administration and it showed thu
 early in his term that President Wi le son was not to be bound by precedei Je in making appointments. Dr. Page,
 North Carolinian by birth had enjos "a cd thorough classical education ~ Randolph Macon College and later 'n Johns Hopkins University during tf It. presidency of Daniel Colt Gilma t Choosing Journalism as his field. Pa, nt worked on several papers west al eh south, ending this stage of his care ad with a none too successful manae, +o 1 nent of the State Chronicle of Raleis
 and the sale Of the paper to Joseph ~ 1 Daniels. Then Page turned to the S u' cial and economic problems of il m south, roads, crops. manufactures al th schools. To spread his ideas as wid
 ly as possible he organized the fir
 l F.
 ing now better known throughout t
 country he re-entered the newspap nd field, was later editor of the Forul
 then of the Atlantic, with which wo he acted as literary adviser to Houe t ton, Mifflin (, Co. The experien IT, gained In all these positions join
 with great natural ability akd fine I to erary taste he now turned to aceou D. by forming with Frank N. Doubled
 the publishing firm of Doubledl ba Page & Go.
 n- So to this man with no experier
 whatever in politics or diploma. to there came the offer of the most il ,i- portant post in tfN diplomatic serv -' of the United States. People wt
 ponplussed at the unusual characr lal Of the selection and wondered h ng the new anpassaGor could possibly
 the position, but the thinker. schoI ,ne philanthropist and gentleman mt zen than made good. Through all the q ro ferent crises between the Uni ss States and Great Britain during 1 -H days when the administration V 'n- ''too proud to fight" Dr. Page patio, sst. W and tactfully sfneothed ont oae q oes f>Eilty after another Particularly Lny ritating was Britain's search of Am ,li ican ships even to the mail bags 3 tAiS OSldyS tIiG 4OSSCS lI1StelfHt 10 ,o. proeeedure. The British aoverbn
 ss departments themselves were not
 tifely in accord. Lord Cecil as m I ister of blockade must nseds insist
 exerting this power to the utnt eet while Earl Grey as foreign secret as had to see that he did not so
 so enough to cause break with the
 tended powers. Dr. Pa ge's abil
 learning and tact enabled him to IS and keep the warm friendship of b