Omaha daily bee., 1920-02-14

perfect candor, where personal feel
ing is as much as possible left out
of the reckoning.
Very sincerely yours,
WOODROW WILSON.
Action Was Contemplated.
Washington, Feb. II. 1920.
My Dear Mr.. President: | wish to
thank you sincerely for your candid
letter of the llth in which you state
that my resignation would be accept
able to you since it relieves me OF
the responsibility for action which
have been contemplating and
which l can now take without hest
tation as it meets your wishes.
II have the honor, therefore to
tender you my resignation as sec
retary of state, the same to take eff
feet at your convenience.
In thus severing our official asso-
citation, feel, Mr.. President, that |
should make the following statement
which | had prepared recently and
which will show you that | have not
been unmindful that the continuance
of our present relations was impos-
sible and that | realized that it was
clearly my duty to bring them to an
end at the earliest moment compat-
ible with the public interest.
Ever since January, 1919, | have
been conscious of the fact that you
no longer were disposed to welcome
my advice in matters pertaining to
the negotiations in Paris, to our for
eign service or to international af
fairs in general, Holding these
views, / would, if | had consulted
my personal inclination alone, have
resigned as secretary of state and
as commissioner to negotiate peace.
felt, however, that such step
might have been misinterpreted
both at home and abroad, and that
it was my duty to cause you no EN-
barrassment in carrying forward the
great task in which you were then
engaged. Possibly | erred in this,
but if l did it was with the best of
| motives.
Loyalty Stopped Action
When | returned to Washington
in the latter part of July, 1919, MY
personal wish to resign had not
changed, but again | felt that loyalty
to you and my duty to the admins
tration compelled me to defer,>ac-
ton as MY resignation might have
been mlsconstrued into hostility tG
the ratification of the treaty of
peace or at least into diSapproval OF
your views as to the form of ratitl-
cation. | therefore remained silent,
avoiding any comment on the fire.
quent reports that we were not in
full agreement. Subsequently your
serious illness, during which | have
never seen you, imposed upon me
the duty, at least / construed it to be
my duty, to remain in charge of the
Department Of State until your
health permitted you to assume
again full direction of foreign al
fairs.
Believing that that time had ar
rived, | had prepared my reSigna-
ton when my only doubt as to the
propriety of placing it in your hands
was removed by your letter ihdicat-
ing that it would be entirely accept
able to you.
| think. Mr.. President, iii accord
ance with the frankness which has
marked this correspondence and for
which [ am grateful to you, that |
cannot permit to pass unchalenged
the imputation that in calling
into formal conference the heads of
the executive departments, | sought !
to usurp your presidential authority.
| had no such intention, no such |
thought. I believed then, and l be-
lieve now, that the conferences,
which were held, were for the best
interests of your administration and |
of the republic and that belief was
shared by others whom | consulted. |
I further believe that the conferences
were proper and necessary in the |
circumstances and that l would have
been dereliet in my duty if I had |
failed to act as did.
Says Action Necessary.
I also feel Mr.. President, that |
candor compelS me to say that | |
cannot agree with your statement,
that l have tried to forestall your |
judgment in certain cases by formu-
lating action and merely asking your
approval when it was impossible |
for you to form an independent |
judgment because you had not had
an opportunity to examine the CIR !
cumstances with any degree of indie
pendence. l have it is true, when l
thought a case demanded Immediate
action advised you what, in my
opinion, that action should be, stat
ing at the time the reasons on which |
my opinion was based. This I con-
cieved to be function of the secre-
tary of state and I have followed |
the practice for the past four years
and a half. | confess that | have
been surprised and disappointed at
the frequent disapproval OF my sug-
gestions, but l have never failed to
follow your decisions, however diff
ficult it made the conduct of our
foreign affairs.
l need hardly add that l leave the |
office of secretary of state with only
good will toward you, Mr.. Presi-
dent and with sense OF profound
relief.
Forgetting our differences and re,
memberinp only your MANY kind