Norwich bulletin., 1922-10-25

see either side win-for both had been equally indifferent to the rights of neu- trals, Mr. Lane wrote to his brother on Feb 17, 1917. commenting on a particu- larly animated cabinet discussion.
 On the subject Of preparedness, even a, few months before the United States entered the war, MT. Lane quoted Pres- dent Wilson as being not in sympathy" Writing again to his brother, Feb. Is, 1917, Mir. Lane saidi
 At our dinner to the pcesident last night he said he was not in sympathy with any great preparednes%that El1- rope would be mad and money poor by i the end of the war
 1 Continuing. MT Lane added few ob servations of his own.
 "The army and navy are so set and stereotyped and standpat that I am all most hopeless as to moving them to the wise, large and wholesome job he wrote "They are governed by red tape worse | than any unoin. The chief of staff fell ] as,een at our meeting today Mars and Morpheus in one"
 Again to his brother. Feb 25, Secre- 1 tary Lane wrote:
 "On Friday we had one of the most | animated sessions of the cabinet that I ! suppose has ever been held under th;s ol any OtleT DfeSlueIlJ. IL all arose out iof q Yccy innocent question of mine as | to whether it was true that the wives of America nconsuls on leaving Germany
 had been stripped naked. given an acid bath to detect writing on their flesh and
 subjected to other indignities.
 Lansing answered that it was tr7Ie Then I asked Houston about the bread
 riots in New York. This led to dis
 cussion of the great problem which We
 had all been afraid to raise-why
 shouldn't we send our ships out with guns and conveys? Daniels said we must not convoy-that would be dangerous
 (Think of a secretary of the navy telling
 og dangerD The president said the
 country was not willing that we should
 take any risks of war I said that I got
 no such sentiment out of the country
 This the president took as a suggestion
 that we should work up a propagands
 of hatred against Germany Of course said had no such idea but felt tha 1, in democracy the peonle were entitled i, to know the facts. McAdoo, Houston
 and Redfeld joined me The presiden turned on them bitterly especially or McAdoo, and reproached all of us wit s appealing to the spirit of the code duel ! lo.' We couldn't get the idea out of hi
 head that we were bent on rushing tn
 ] country into war. Houston talked of re
 signing after the meeting. McAdoo wi ' within a year, I believe 1 tried | P smooth them down by recalling our pas . experiences with the president. We hay
 had to push and push to get him to talk |, any forward etep. He comes out righ < but he is slower than glacier-an s things are mighty dfsagreeable wheneve : anything has to be done''
 In addition to his voluminous core i snondence, which included letters to vii T tlIally every person of importance in tn
 United States. Mir. Lane made man 4 notes on incidents occurring in his dafl ' Fife. Among these were copious con ments on the cabinet meetings. t' Tn one of these notes. dated March l. 1918, he said:
 B. '.Yesterday. at cabinet meeting. W ;s had had the first real talk on the war
 weeks, yes, in months. Burleson brougl ' up the matter of Russia-would we SUI III port Japan actively in taking Siberia. ( le even VIadivostocl1? Should we join Japa -o actively-in force?
 y "The president said No for the vel Ia practical reason that we had no ship n We had difficulty in providing for ol le men in France and for our allies (tl
 president never uses this word, sayiI lg that we are not allies)."
 l. In note dated March 12, 1918. Sc IS retary Lane wrote
 at Nothing talked of at cabinet tn m would interest a nation. a family, or ed child. No talk of war. No talk of Ru sn sia or Japan. Talk by McAdoo abo
 some bills in congress, by the preside T. about giving the veterans of the Spanl e war leave, with pay. to attend their a w nual eneampment. And he treated th r. seriously, as if it were matter of fir to importance
 D. Yesterday we had cabinet mee es ing" he wrote under date of Oct. S 1918. "All were present The preside w was manifestly disturbed. For sor of weeks we have spent our time at cabin lis meetings largely in telling stories Ev ns at the meeting of q week ago the day
 which the president sent his reply to Germany his second note of tho Pa