Republican farmer., 1920-02-20
President Demanded
 LaIlsing's Resignation
IMPROVEMENTS BETWEEN CHIEF EXECUTIVE F AND CABINET OFFICER IMMEDIATE
 ENTRY OF U S. INTO WAR ~

1 tense and dramatic scene. Congress was full of rumors that the president was so disabled as to be constitution ally unable to discharge the functions of his office. There was talk of what might be done to place Vice President 1 Marshall at the head of the govern ment and how Congress might go | about doing it. Nobody knew the full extent of the presidents illness. It had not then become known that he had partly lost the use of his left arm and leg through an accumulation of blood in one of the arteries in his | brain. There were even ugly rum ors that the president might not be in possession of all his faculties Some | Senators were even contemplating some action to find out whether we have a president or not'' as one of ' their number put it. These ugly stories were of course all disposed of and shown to be unfounded gossip by the later eve1opmentds, but they were being circulated and widely credited 1 last November when the cabinet as- sembled for its first conference at the 1 call of Secretary Lansing. l The secretary of state, 1t should be stated, believed he was supported by precedent in calling the cabinet to- gether. | Looking up the historical record, he l found it had been done when Presi- dent Garfield lay i'll for weeks after hvaing been shot by an assassin and 1 that it had been done before that when President Taylor had a long ill., ness and ultimately succeeded by Vice President Fillmore.
 1 The Wilson cabinet assembled the first day with a feeling of appfehen- sion, for none of the members knew the extent of the Presidents illness, but expected to be informed of it Secretary Tumulty had informed the President that MT. Lansing had called l the cabinet together, and the Presi- dent, somewhat disturbed, gave his personal physician a message to de- 1 liver to the secretaries.
 The secretaries assembled at their
 usual places that day and MT. Ian | sing sent for Dr. Grayson. The Pres ident's chair at the head of the table was left vacant until the physician ar | rived and he was asked to occupy it. ''Dr. Grayson," Secretary Lansing is reported by those who were present
 to have said, i've wish to know the
 nature and extent of the Presidents illness and whether he is able to per form the duties of his office, so that
 we may determine what shall be done to carry on the DuS1neSS the gov ernment."
 i The Presidents physician is quoted l by some of the other secretaries as having replied in substance:
 'The President is doing as well as
 could be expected; he is in full pos
 session of all his faculties, and he has
 directed me to inquire of you by what
 authority this meeting of the cabi-
 net was called, what business is be-
 fore it, and what business it is ex-
 pected might be transacted at a cab
 inet meeting without his participa-
 tion.'
 According to the story told at the
 time, Secretary Lansing had no op-
 portunity to reply because some of
 the other members stepped into the breach and asked pr. Grayson to say to the President that the only pur-
 pose of the meeting was to inquire : the state of his health and to send
 him a message of loyalty and encour-
 agement. At that point the meeting
 broke up without having transacted any business, but it did not end the
 so-called cabinet conferences.
 IL has not been made plain whether
 President Wilson knew since then that the cabinet members had been as- sembling and talking over inter-
 departmental affairs, but the meetings have been held in the cabinet room in the executive offices and if the
 president did not know it it probably was because those surrounding him 7 did not think it wise to tell him. The best opinion of those "on the
 inside" is that the president did not know until last week of the regularity
 at which the cabinet was meeting al the call of the secretary of state be-
 
 ! 1 presidents first letter to MT. Lans- T ing is dated, the White House offices : ''let it be known that the president I had ended the cabinet conferences and
 there was an inference that he might u preside at the next one himself. There Z | was, however, no hint that the end = ing of the meetings marked a separa n ton between MT. Wilson and MT !, Lansing.
 Now that the break has come ant Q MT. Lansing has left the cabinet q much may be revealed of the exten s to which the Secretary of State anC a the President differed in matters O
 policy. Quite aside from the differ
 ences at the peace conference, thert were other differences in foreign pol = icy, and some of MT. Lansing's friend II say he would have left his Office som time ago but for the fact that h, = wished to spare the President an up Il heaval in his official family at a tim @ when Europe was watching the figh $ over the treaty in America an.
 especially when the President was il W and unable to look after the affairs 0 Is the State Department himself.
 III Mr. Lansing became head of tn le State Department when William J d. Bryan and the President had thei l. differences over the Lusitania notes |
 in which he had succeeded Joh st Bassett Moore. It has been com er mon knowledge that while MI