Evening star., 1920-01-10
MR.. BRYAN NEVER
IN FULL HARMONY
WITH Mr.. WILSON
''Break" Unlikely to Affect
Final Settlement of Treaty
Question.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

This is the story of Bryan versus
wilson.
Once upon a time Woodrow Wilson.
college president. wrote a letter eX-
pressing the profound hope that some-
body would knock the political per-
into "a cooked hat" The eommoner
had just come back from atrip around
the world and advocated what then
seemed socialistic doctrine = namely,
government ownership of railroads.
Not more than four years later Mr..
Wilson, President-elect of the United
States. was resolving that for the
benefit of party solidarity bygones
had better be bygones, and that the
man who helped swing the Baltimore
convention for progressive candi-
date COULD not be ignored. So he
made him Secretary of State.
Despite the inevitable conflict eX-
pected to arise daily between the two
men they managed to stay affiliated
for about two years. Then they broke.
Mr. Wilson wanted to send and did
send note to Germany over the
sinking of the Lusitania and plainly
implied the use of force to compel
compliance with American demands.
Mr.. Bryan abhorred the idea of war
and resigned. Nevertheless in the
campaign of 1916 Brother Bryan went
from the Mississippi river to the Pa
cific coast extolling Mr.. Wilson on the
he-kept t-us-out-of-war platform.
Tendency Toward Reunfos,.
For a little while there was a tend
ency toward reunion. Occasionally Mr.
Bryan dropped in at the White House.
left his card. expressed few thoughts
if the President happened to be in,
or wrote long memoranda If he wasn't.
Presently the answers and acknowl-
edgments got fewer and fewer and the
commoner became correspondingly
discouraged. After the armistice he
hoped to have something to do with
the peace negotiations and even made
some suggestion about the personnel
of the American peace commission
Mr.. Bryan compla ined to his friends
later that since his advice wasn't ap-
parently welcome. he wouldn't offer it
any more. And he said sundry other
things about the unwisdom of ig-
noring the republican party in the
makeup of the peace mission and the
terrible incumberance which the
democratic party was being compelled
to bear in the form of Wilson arbi-
trariness and self-sufficiency Indeed
Mr.. Bryan's observations differed very
little from what one might hear in
the republican cloakroom. only the
commoner wept as a parent over the
errant ways of the democratic child
while the republicans rejoiced over
the discomfort of their chief oppo-
nent.
Again and again Mr.. Bryan told his
friends that the President should ac-
cept reservations to the peace treaty
This conclusion he reached after a
careful examination of public opinion
He deemed it much more effective help
for; the President to say that the
! treaty should be ratified with reser-
vations than to argue for unqualified
adoption and be dismissed by the
press as mere echo of the Wilson
chorus.
Has Preached ReservntiOnx.
( Mr.. Bryans idea when he resigned
/ from the cabinet was that he could
help Mr.. Wilson outside the cabinet
| by building up public opinion
| against war that would aid Mr. Wilson
! inside the cabinet. SO Mr.. Bryan has
! been preaching reservations And now
! because Mr.. Wilson isn't willing to
ompromise-though Mr.. Bryan thinks
! the country wants compromise-the
commoner plans to go on helping the
President by building up a public
opinion that will help the President
| see how wrong he is.
| Another thing: Mr.. Bryan cam
paigned in 1912 with repeated men
tion of the single-term plank of the
| Baltimore convention. Soldier-like.
he accepted the verdict of the ST.
Louis convention in 1916. not even be-
| ing a delegate. Privately he hadn't
changed his view that one term was
enough. Anyway, ne campaigned for
democratic success.
| When Mr.. Wilson failed to say
definitely on his return from Europe
| that he wasn't a candidate for third
term, Mr.. Bryan grew restive and i'm
patient. And so he finely decided to
help the President again. this time
| by telling his fellow democrats what
| the issues should be. so that they
could pick their man to fit the issues.
AS veteran politician of the party.
as candidate for the presidency on
the democratic ticket in 1896, when
everybody being mentioned for the
presidency today had not even been
heard of in public life. Mr.. Bryan
considered himself entitled to say
| few words.
| Mr.. Wilson says he is willing to
| allow the country to decide the treaty
issue at "a solemn referendum" Mr..
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