The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-02-14

l sembling and talking over inter- | departmental affairs, but the meetings | have been held in the cabinet room ! in the executive offices and if the presiden did not know it it probably | was because those surrounding him | did not think it wise to tell him. The best opinion of those son the inside'' is that the president did not know until last week of the regularity l at which the cabinet was meeting at 1 the call of the Secretary of state, be- l cause at about the time at which the presidents first letter to MT. Lans- | ing is dated, the White House offices | "let it be known that the president
 had ended the cabinet conferences and
 there was an inference that he might I preside at the next one himself. There | was, however, no hint that the end- ing of the meetings marked a separa- l tion between MT. Wilson. and MT. ] Lansing.
 l Now that the break has come and | MT. Lansing has left the cabinet. ! much may be revealed of the extent to which the Secretary of State and the President differed in matters of policy. Quite aside from the differ ences at the peace conference, there were other differences in foreign pol icy, and some of MT. Lansing's friends say he would have left his office some time ago but for the fact that he l wished to spare the President an up-
 heaval in his official family at a time
 when Europe was watching the fight over the treaty in America and especially when the President was i'll
 and unable to look after the affairs of the State Department himself.
 Mir. Lansing became head of the | State Department when William J. 1 Bryan and the President had their l differences over the Lusitania notes. i MT. Lansing was counsellor, an office
 in which he had succeeded John i Bassett Moore. It has been com mon knowledge that while MT.
 Lansing's name was signed to the
 notes to Germany and the notes which l preceded the armistice, MT. Wilson wrote them himself-in fact, he prac-
 tically acted as Secretary of State in ! all important business. It was the i Presidents conception of his relation
 to the foreign policy of the nation. How much MT. Lansing and the President differed on the Mexican l policy never has been fully revealed | but officials who sympathize with | MT. Lansing's views say that they l differed a great deal. It has gener. 1 ciAS OCOlA ptllefSu III OIi1C1dI | that the sharp notes which MT Lansing sent to Carranza in connec' l tion with the Jenkins case are what the President referred to in his letter | to the Secretary when he spoke of 1 the Secretary of State having taken | action to forestal1 his judgment.
 It is known, however, that Henry Prather Fletcher former ambassador
 to Mexico, who recently resigned,
 wrote a letter to the President in
 which he excoriated the administra- tion's Mexican policy and the general i belief in, the state departm ent is that
 MT. Lansing and MT. Fletcher agreed pretty generally. MT. F1etcher's letter
 of resignation never has been given
 out at the White House. But aside from his difficulties with the Presi- dent, it has been common knowledge | in Washington that MT. Lansing has
 not been on good terms with Secre-
 tary Tumulty and from time to time
 there have been apparently we'll
 grounded reports of friction with Sec-
 retaries Baker and Daniels.
 l In the Senate Foreign Relations l Committee, where MT. Lansing was in 1 frequent touch with Senators, he is
 regarded as a. trained diplomat. Sen ators remarked when Bul1itt gave his | sensational testimony that they re- l gretted it very much on Lansing's l account.
 Secretary Lansing gave out the | correspondence between himself and l the President last night and stipulat- 1 ed that it was for publication ir
 morning papers today. Some news l agencies, however, other than The 1 Associated Press violated theil
 pledges to the State Department and 1 published the letters in some parts 1 of the country yesterday afternoon.