New-York tribune., 1919-03-05
Wilson Refuses
To SecCOllala,,
I'm Irish Cause
Asked if Hc Will Espouse
Er;n's Cause, He Replies
That Question Is Unfair

President Wilson last night declined
to keep his appointment with the Irish
committee which waited on him at the
Metropolitan Opera House until he
wos assured that Supreme Court jus
tlce Daniel +. Cohalan would not be
present at the conference
The President and Secretary 1umul-
~ paced the Thirty ninth Street lobby
Of tho building for half al hour after
Mr.. Wilson WAS heard to say to Secret
Service Chief ". II. Moran:
81 Will not meet them if Cohalan is
with thcm'
Finally Miles McCahill, of the Sc
crct Service, came down from the up
per floor, where the committee was
waiting, and spoke to the President,
give them five minutes more" Mr..
Wilson then went up to the conference,
TO which the press was not admitted
Bcrnstorff Exposure Recalled
Justice Cohalan's name figured in
the revelations OF Count Won Bern
storG's activities, made after tho
United States entered tho Var against
the Central Empires. 1t was also
charged that he had met in confer
cnce some of the men accused of plot
ting in America Sim Fein troubles
in Ireland. These charges he has
vigorously denied
Former Justice John ". Cot, a
mcmbcr Of the Irish committee, said
at 1880 last night, that the Cohalan
incident was not mentioned during
the "forum" with the President, but
that the committee, rs soon as Mr..
Wilson had left, adjourned to the
Hotel McAlpin and discussed The affair
At length.
Mr.. Gofr made the following state
ment:
"At the request of the committee
Justice Cohalan declined to say any
thing at the present time.
"The committee waited in the club
room Of tho opera house, on the grand
tier floor, from II until HIPS o'clock
Then We were Informed from an au-
thoritativc source that the President
would not enter the room where w
we're if Justice Cohalan was present.
Committee Upholds Cohalan
"The members of the committee. with
/ spontaneous unanimity, said that the
committee would leave sooner than
/ have Justice Cohalan leave alone Then
Justice Cohalan entered the discussion
He said:
"'Thc cause is bigger than any one
man; the cause is bigger than ! am
For its sake | will leave the room with
out question:.
"a number of the members imme-
diatcly protested and said again they
would leave rather than permit Justice
/ Cohaan to go alone.
ole persisted in saying that we were
there to discharge a duty and that, no
matter what personal esteem we felt
for him, We should not let those feel
ings operate for one moment toward a
possibility of doing the cause harm. He
therefore left the room.
Cohaan Named Committee
II want to call attention to tho fact
that, as chairman of the Irish Race
convention which met in Philadelphia
i February % and had over 5 1000 dele
gates from the country at large, Justice
Cohalan appointed the committee which
President Wilson met with last night
We presented the President with a copy
of the resolutions passed at that con-
vcntion, drawn up by Cardinal Glib
bons"
While President Wilson waited in
the lobby Of the opera house he stood
by chance under a plaque of himself
designed by Max Bachman and bearing
besides the Presidents profile, the
words, "The World Made Safe for
Democracy" He stood during most of
the half hour, but was spied by an at
tondant a chair was then brought for
, him.
Committee Describes Meeting
The committee at | o'clock this
morning issued the following state
mcnt:
Upon the arrival of the President
Justice Gof presented the resolution.
He skctchcd briefly the struggle Of the
Irish race in the fight for sclf-govcrn-
mcnt and called attention to the words
Of President Wilson tonight $ well
as his expressions for many months
| past.
He argued vigorously that Ireland
came we'll within all descriptions Of
sclf-dctermining nation as laid
Continued on page three
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