Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-18
LANSING BETRAYED
PRESIDENT TRUST
IS MARSHALL s VIEW
Admitted to Wilson Bullitt' s
Statement Regarding Secre-
tary's Hostility to Treaty
Was True.
WAS CAUSE OF ILLNESS
Corrcspondencc New York World.

washington, req. lt.-tNupItltc iiii-
poriauce is attached to two of the many
features that led up to and eliminated IN
the summary dismissal of Mr. Lansing
as Secretary of State by President Wilson.
These are the telegram sent by Secre-
tary Lansing to President Wilson IN
September last and the declination of
Vice President Marshall To attend the
Lansing Cabinet meetings"
Before the meetings were arranged
by Mr.. Lansing the Vice President
indicated his determination TO refrain
from participation In them, unless ex-
plicitly requested to do so by President
Wilson As a consequence, he did not
receive formal request to do so.
The Vice President said this after
noon:
IL presided over some Cabinet meet
ings while the President was abroad,
at the request of the President. | have
acted in a number of instances when the
President could not do so. but never
without a definite invitation from the
President | gave up visit TO the West
TO receive and entertain the King and
Queen of the Belgians, at the request
OF the President.
''But | never felt that the temporary
illness of the President called for the
assumption on my part of any OF his
duties. My position on this subject Is
we'll known and understood at the
Capitol I have frowned upon any
suggestion that | should act as PresI-
dent of the United States. In the matter
of our foreign relations / have followed
.he President faithfully. That was his
duty, and | have supported him loyalty.
PRESIDENT LONG IGNORANT.
Ii was not until February e that the
..ff be TOR
under which Mr. Lansing had called
the first so-called Cabinet meeting and
of his manner in inviting discussion
regarding eventualities that might COM
pei the Vice President to assume the duties
nf President The information then given
to the President concerning the details OF
that meeting revived the intensity of
his feelings against the Secretary OF
State and made him more determined
than ever according to information
that seems completely reliablel 10 dis
pense with the services of that Official
without further loss of time. MIR. Marshall
was at the White House the first day
that the Cabinet gathered on Mr.. Lansing
ings invitation, but did not enter the
Cabinet room.
According to most trustworthy m
formation the President WAS disposed
10 overlook the developments at Paris
that caused the Secretary of State
lose favor with him during the Peace
Conference. Following the return OF
the President from Paris and the assump-
tion of the duties of Secretary Of State
by Mr. Lansing q few weeks later the
relations between the Executive and his
Foreign Minister were comparatively
amicable.
Mr.. Lansing ACCOMPANIED the President
L -. l. l.
among the people of the West TO urge
their support of the League of Nations.
LANSING AND THE LEAGUE
Five days after the President left
Washington Mr.. Lansing. In q speech
before the American Bar Association,
first voiced his scepticism regarding the
availa bility and the acceptance by the
Senate of some features Of the League of
Nations The President read the news
paper accounts of Mr.. Lansingis speech,
but paid no attention TO them.
Within q week Mr.. Bullitt, who had
been an agent OF the American Peace
Missions, made before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee his amazing declar-
alton that Mr.. Lansing had told him at
Paris that the American people would
not accept the treaty and League of
Nations if they understood it.
Even then the President was inclined
10 overlook the Bullitt testimony, as the
published accounts OF 1T made it appear
that that gentleman had not only written
a discourteous letter severely criticising
the Presidents attitude regarding Russia,
but had been guilty OF the unpardonable
sin OF violating the confidence of the
Secretary of State, inasmuch as he was
q sworn agent OF the government of equal ]
responsibility to the President and Mr.
Lansing.
TIL al the President was shocked by
the Bullitt testimony was manifest to
officials who accompanied him on his
Western trip. Still he was not convinced
that Mr.. Lansing had committed so
crievous an error a. newspaper reports /,
Indicated. The Secretary of State was at /
that time at Watertown. y. Y.
AFFECTED BY REPLY.
The President wired him. through /
the State Department, asking him for
an explanation of the Bullitt testimony
The reply. sent by Mr.. Lansing, was re-
ceived by the President on September IL.
nine days before his physical collapse at
Wichita, Kan, which necessitated the
abandonment OF hls tour IL has since
developed that Mr. Lansing's telegram
affected the President most deeply, and he
showed the effects Of II in the speeches
he delivered afterward II
Of course there Is no way of securing
the Lansing telegram ar present, though