The Washington herald., 1921-03-14
BY EYEWITNESS.

Iistened to Charles Evans
Hughes not as a reporter but as a
citizen of the republic. and all the
! time i listened I wished-how l
wished-that you were there.
From that room of state. where
the wary Cass and the Jovian Web
ster enveloped in white stock looked
down from the walls on their sue
cessor, / went with a light step
and a confident heart. i had lis
tened to six feet of sense and
statesmanship and untheatrical
Americanism - strangely exhilarat-
ing, strangely SOLDERING. altogether
reassuring-and there sang in my
thoughts out of the forgetfulness
of twenty years the line of a play,
Of which the name is gone from
me:
1T was like banners waving in
my heart
Position Made Very Clear.
There is a rule here that what
the President and the Secretary of
State say in their conferences with
Journalism on state matters may not
be quoted. 1t is for background
and guidance.
Charles Evans Hughes emphasized
that rule, saying in the course of
\ his talk:
81 don't want to keep repeating
don't quote me- That is under
stood. l am talking just to advise
you SO that you con see the road as
far as l can make it clear. 1 want
to be perfectly frank and candid
with you but l have difficult tasks
before me and l don't want you to
treat that the was referring to
specific matter) in a way to en-
\ barrass our negotiations"
In the case of the new Secretary
4 of State utterances. application OF
the rule is peculiarly exasperating
and wooden, because nothing would
SO hearten and so steady his coun-
trymen as the far and wide distri-
button of what he said In just the
sober, vigorous definite way ne
said it.
| Prime Minister OF U. 8. A.
| But 1 must be content with back
| ground, and that Is why l say again.
how 1 wish you had been there.
| And can tell you first of all that,
dominating background and tore-
| ground of the difficult tasks" be-
fore him and you and all of US, his
| countrymen, is a man who Is going
| to be prime minister OF the uniteo
| States of America and not prime
minister in an international con-
| gress of bickerdom.
| Fastidious though Mr.. Hughes
taste in English is, he is not afraid
| of a rough and ready way OF put
| ting things. for when he was run
| ming for President he once said,
I'VE won't have any more, II l can
| stop IL, of these kiss me and III
kiss you appropriations In Con-
| gress-"
| roughly into the fewest possible
words the text of talk that Is go
| ing TO mean so much to his anxious
countrymen facing distracted
| world.
| That text, as I shape IL, was:
"Be7 OF good cheer and keep your
| shirt on"
America Retains Rights.
| There is not going to be any
| skuilduggery on the one hand, nor
| any wabbting on the other in our
| adjustment of the multitude OF diff
ficuh questions left unadjusted by
| the war. Ess
MeanwhiIe-and hug this to your
worried heart, for six feet Of sense
stands behind it--nothing has been
Lei St No American rights or inter-
ests have been given up. Nobody
ever was authorized to give them
up. And none will be given up.
They cannot be surrendered except
hv fraafv and no treaty. surrender-
ing them has been made. American
rights and interests stand today as
they stood on the day of the armis-
h tice.
American rights and interests
growing out of the war. and fought
for by America in the war, we have
right here and now just as they
were in autumn, 1913. What Amer
lea went into the war for will not
be sacrificed.
All we need is to have this situa-
tion understood and worked out in
a courteous and friendly way. It
will be handled without bluster, not
In namboyant way. but through
diplomatic channels.
His Jaw Set Hard.
But directing the channels will
be q statesman and jurist who has
Ia way-some might call II a nasty
way-of pushing out that white
tuft Of close cropped whiskers
when he talks. II you could see the
chin behind the beard you would
probably see tat. II Is projected ana
the jaws set vard.
A. = yhsf impendH ! Asys ths