Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-06
MYSTERY OF SUDDEN ENDING
OF RELATIONS WITH HOUSE
NEVER CLEARED BY WILSON


which had appeared in newspaper
edited by his friend. Her Inquiry IN
ferred he had inspired the article,
the inference being that ne had eX
plotted himself instead of the presi-
dent. The colonel is not given to
outbursts Of indignation, but took
the accusation quietly. Just then
the president asked for tie colonel
and their conference began.
After that episode the Colonel did
not return to the Wilson home but
conducted all his conferences with
the president at the Hotel Crillon.
Gossip had it that he never eX-
! planned the newspaper article to Mrs.
Wilson. Nor was there anything to
explain. He was not responsible for
the speculative comments of the
newspapers. The Colonel was cut to
the quick by the GOODNESS which Mrs.
Wilson had shown and which the
president himself deVelo immedi-
ately afterWard. Inside the Ameri-
can peace mission it became known
that there had been a separation
The relations between the president
and Colonel House were formal
thereafter. They were simply those
conferences which official business
| required. Undoubtedly the president
absorbed Mrs. Wilson's viewpoint
which, together with the attacks
that had been made on Colonel
House for his alleged compromises,
! served to end the warmth of the
| relationship between these two
| statesmen.
Adviser Cast Off
There is another phase of the cpl
sode which played an important part.
! Colonel House was naturally of a
conciiatory disposition. He was al
ways trying to keep the allied states
men in good humor and while ne
| had no power to commit the Ameri-
can peace mission to concessions he
! was trying constantly to bring about
an early peace and series of agree
ments which would make all the
! powers feel more kindly toward the
treaty itself as we'll as the Lea que
! of Nations. His policy may have
been a mistaken one, his concessions
may have been too numerous. but
certain it is they did not commit MI.
Wilson to any acceptance of the sug.
gestions the Colonel was making.
Mr.. Wilson was warned shortly
after he arrived in Paris that Colo
mel House had made arrangements
with the various allied statesmen
which would make it difficult for the
president to make peace. The criti-
| cism came in the form of q letter
from a prominent New York editor
who had been in Paris, an editor
whom Mr.. Wilson held in high es.
TEEN. Thus the campaign against
Colonel House began almost imme-
diately after the armistice. ] sue
ceeded in the early spring of the fol
lowing year. The man who for SO
many years had worked tirelessly and
without compensation of any sort
for tn United States government
was cast adrift by Mr.. Wilson. The
defenders of President Wilson IN this
COZ troversy will say no doubt that
the activities of Colonel House were
deserving Of the rebuke that they
| received. 1t was natural that the
| Colonel who had been given so much
power should be the victim of his
own efforts to please Woodrow VIII
son and at the same time make q
practical peace. The documents in
the records may prove that had
/ President Wilson followed Colonel
5
ed more prestige for the Versailles
Treaty, but this will always be a moot
point Because it involves the hypo.
thetical and there were so many cir.
cumstances interrelated in Paris that
no clear Judgment as to the merits
of this particular phase of the con
| troversy will ever be formed. For
! Mr.. Wilson carried to his grave the
secret of his separation from Colo
! mel House. Mesa es We're eXchang
| ed of a courteous nature after the
| president became an invalid but the
/ old association was never re-establish
/ ed Indeed a the funeral of Wood
row Wilson. Colonel House was not
! even invited to sit in mourning ir
1 the home on IS street where his
/ chieftain lay dead.
thursdays chapter tells why vii
son broke with Lansing and how the
government functi0ned without al
/ active nrpSidPut)