The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-01-01
WILSON STRUCTURE TOTTERS
TOW ARD IDENTIFICATION
Disafection of His Strongest Ad-
miristrative Props Seen as
POrtent of Disaster

washington tnat the bricks are rap
idly dropping out Of the tottering
structure of the Wilson administration
the fact that Secretary of the Interior
Lane is to go has caused more than
usual comment.
1t accentuates the fact that the ad-
ministration is drifting weakly from
bad to worse, that the stronger Off
Gals are quitting it, that democrats
of prominence see the handwriting of
defeat next year for their party and
that there are marked internal dis
sentions in administration circles.
The Wilson policies, it is more clear
than ever, have not had the support
or sympathy of the men about him
most competent to judge of them.
With news of the forthcoming re-
tirement of Mr.. Lane, the prospec-
tive resignation of the Secretary Lam
sing is once more figuring in the dis
patches from Washington.
MADE deep impression.
One does not have to go to repub-
licans these days to hear the Lane
resignation talked about with enter
tanning and enlightening freedom. A
dispatch from Washington in the Bal
timore Sun, leading administration
paper, is engagingly frank. 1t says:
Announcement by Franklin K Lane,
Secretary of the Interior, of his inten-
ton to resign from the Cabinet has
made profound impression in Wash
ington.
while compelling reason is one
of financial consideration, it is never
theless recognized that at the bottom
of Mr.. Lanes action lies strong
protest against some of the policies
recently adopted by the Administra-
ton and to unpleasantnesses that have
developed in the Cabinet during the
Presidents illness.
"Close friends of the Secretary de-
clare that he strongly resented the
course of the Government in dealing
with the coal strike and feels that
the settlement effected by Attorney
General Palmer involves a sacrifice
of principle. 1t is stated that Mr..
Lane strongly upheld the Garfield
proposition on the ground that it
offered the only plan whereby the
Government could bring to an end the
constant increases in the wages of
employees and the prices to consumers.
Friction In Cabinet
st is declared that in recent weeks
there has been a decided division in
the Cabinet on this and other ques-
tons, with Secretary Lane heading
one group and Secretary of the Navy
Daniels and Secretary of War Baker
the other
Democrats in Washington consider
the decisions of Mr.. Lane as serious
blow to the Administration. Regarded
as one of the ablest and best equipped
member of the Cabinet, his career in
the Administration has been such as
to inspire widespread confidence. But
for the fact that he is a Canadian by
birth, and therefore debarred by the
! Constitution from being a candidate
for President, he would undoubtedly
be in the forefront of those mentioned
for the Democratic nomination.
Influence Waned
"At one time Mr. Lane was regard
ed as one of the closest advisers of the
President in matters of public policy.
Always aggressive, he was known to
have urged the entry of the United
States into war against Germany from
the day when the Lusitania was sunk.
He was constantly at odds with for
mer Secretary of State Bryan on this
score, and since then his influence in
the Administration has more or less
waned
ellis differences with Secretary
Baker and Secretary Daniels grew
out of the actions of the heads of the
War and Navy Departments in re-
pudiating at the outset of the war
of an arrangement which Mr.. Lane,
on behalf of the Government and
through the medium of the coal COM
mittee of the Council of National
Defence, had made with the coal OPP
orators to sell their output to the Gov
eminent and to the war industries at
a fixed price at the mines of SO ton.
Both Mr.. Baker and Mr.. Daniels re-
fused to pay this price for War and
Navy Department orders, and the
President then created the Fuel Ad-
ministration to fix prices"
The Oakland business men as a rule
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