Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-06
LANSLNG HAS 'ALIBI"
IN PEACE DEALINGS
Little Responsibility Placed Secretary Of State for
Compromise Made by Wilson in
Paris Negotiations

Washington, Aug. EN- the back
ground Of the questioning Of Secretary
\ Lansing by the Senate foreign rela-
tions committee today lies the fact
that he has many warm friends In the
committee. which the capital plcases
to say is hazing him. .
President Wilson called the head Of
his State Department home in the firm
belief that the Senate foreign relations
committee would not treat him
trough" He did not call Colonel House
home.
Mr.. Lodge is Lansing's friend.
Mr.. Knox is his friend. Mr.. Lans-
ing is the State Department. He
\ married into the State Department. He
thinks in harmony with State Depart
ment traditions. lie is loyal to his
fsubordinates. He is thus a Democrat
with tincture of John Hay and Elihu
a Root. He is mentally more akin. so
far as diplomacy is concerned. to Lodge
and Knox than he is to Woodrow VIII
-on.
The leading Republicans on tho com
lnittee like and respect him. 1t does
| Alnot diminish their liking for him, that
Eanother man is closer to Wilson In
4 Diplomatic affairs than is his own secre-
\ tary of state. Therefore, 1t may not
be hazing.
Has an Alibi
Moreover, Mr.. Lansing has an excel
t1ent alibi. For all this mess of com :
E}promises Woodrow Wilson signed in his
AL, tn hnfprn
social revolution which he saw in Eu-
n rope could reach this country Mr. Lans-
ing has little responsibility. His name
it attached to It. That is all. Prcsum
ably he accepted it much as people talk
of accepting It now because it is either
that or no peace at all.
Mr.. Lansing is statesman with
permanent alibi. The trouble with his
alibi is that he cannot avoid 1t. He
always has to act as if he had no alibi
Like the "jail editor" of a German
newspaper. he always has to take re
sponsibility for the acts of another. Mr.
Wilson is his own secretary of state
Colonel House is Mr.. Wilson's secre
tary of state and Mr.. Lansing, publicl!
and officially, is the only secretary. III
cannot say, "I was not secretary o
state in that instance: Colonel Hous
was" without destroying fiction whicl
he has, for reasons never publicl!
| stated, chosen to maintain.
The result Is that Mr.. Lansing i
always on his guard. When Joe David
son was making the busts of the grea
men of the Peace Conference at Pari
a newspaper man said to him: MAX
- ln hi a ~
against somehow giving himself away
and you will have Lansing to the life.
High Regard for Him
II Davidson made an excellent Lansing
You feel sure that the statue has al
alibi and that alibi will never slip out
The slightly drawn back posture of th'
head, as if there had just taken place al
avoidance of somebody's verbal righ
hook emphasizes the characteristic.
Washington has always respected th
secretary's alibi.
Washington has the highest regart
for the secretary's abilities and char
acter. He is, if you take the Washing
ton view, an excellent secretary o
state, the errors of our foreign polio.
being Mr.. Wilson'S, the virtues beinl
due to Mr.. Lansing himself. The per
manent element in the State Department
contributes to this view. And the per
manent element in any department
here is a powerful factor in formin
opinion, especially congressional com
mittee opinion.
A friendly view of Mr.. Lansing i
that he is now in a. good position. ii