Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-14
Ten Years Ago.

civil administration faced through van
fishing smoke of battle devastated and
demoralized world. an editorial COM
ment had this to say: Statesmen and
officers of our civil government at THIS
crisis must carry on, even at Sacrlnce
of their lives"
Prophecy spoke in those words.
Scarcely one is now alive of those who
as leading figures went through that
strain of political combat which ragged
both before and after the World War.
In war one thinks in terms of the
military, bugle blast and roll of drum.
But for that less obvious and less IN
spring conflict which goes on behind
closed doors to avoid giving information
to the enemy, the public has less re-
gard and more cenSure. So as the
tenth anniversary of Armistice day ap-
breaches one may think of those po-
litical leaders who laid down their lives
thinking in terms not of politics, but
of comprehension.
On the day when Warren Harding
was inaugurated a small group left the
White House bearing in their midst
man with Snow-white hair, emaclated
frame and distorted features, woodrow
Wilson, broken by the conflict. Ana
after little more than two years PreSl-
dent Harding of the Stalwart frame
President was dead.
Harding had taken his place as head
of the Republican administration facing
conditions of such chaos and de-
moralization as probably man had
never faced before, for never before
had the whole world turned upsldedoWn
So there is no precedent for measuring
his task But just before his fatal
Western trip he said to friend: This
As the worst job ever wished on man.
In his acceptance speech ne hao
made a plea for normally" He Crap
pled with postwar conditions OF world
magnitude. His predecessor in his con-
ferences in Europe had established po-
litical contacts. And Harding must face
the world. And the abnormal condl-
tons of the time gave political SELL
seekers undue advantages.
Wilson had tried to carry the world
on his shoulders with an American
gesture, but as leader aloot ana oe-
tached Harding tried to carry on as
''iust folks" But the provincial souls
of both Wilson and Harding cracked
under the strain.
The wife of William Jennings Bryan,
IN her memoirs of her husband, says:
will slept better last night" thereby
telling the tale. This was during his
brief service as Secretary of State I'M
der Wilson, in constant conflict with
his chief. Their rupture, which
seemed to the public sudden, was
really a elimination of long-contlnued
strain and friction. So the wife tells
how IN the night Bryan would rise,
aotting down notes for use next Gay.
This is the civil combat which Kills
men. One Sunday, with the con-
'nivance of Mrs. Bryan and friend,
he managed to slip away to country
estate. Twilight found us listening
to the song of the birds" says MRS.
BRYAN. land Will slept better that
night" Always this undercurrent OF
anxiety. He made President, put
could never himself attain the helgnC.
And one day in the Fall of the year,
his last year on earth, the writer met
him in the White House grounds, amid
the fall of yellow leaves, In his long,
black cloak and SLOUGH hat, waking
alone, his face set toward the WniCe
House. But I never saw a man VINO
looked so wistfully on the day..
The sunrise conference, so-called, OF
a6av. 1916, at the White House. when
khree were summoned at break OF day
Champ Clark, Speaker of the House;
claude Kitchin, Democratic floor leader,
and Henry Flood of the foreign rela-
tions committee-waS conference OF
diving men. Champ Clark died soon
after. then Flood and Kitchin. Ana no
man now lives to tell the tale OF tnaC
assemblage, when, as is now oeneVeo' Iile
United States was on the verge OF war
with Germany year before IL can't me-
Some message had gone through Clle
cable under the sea to call these 1our
men together in the gray dawn.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Republican leader
of the Senate, is another OF the van
4shed figures that doomed large In the
var crisis Cold and undramatlc as the
President. he was fitted for that +ntel-
SectlIaI duel when rapiers played be-
tween them.
Rut the Iion-like Roosevelt, who roar
ed in captivity, no doubt consumed MN
self inwardly. His ambition to lead
regiment in France a passion, he raged
IN vain against the cold barrier OF
blank refusal He turned his back al
most at the dock to fret upon the slae
lines Roosevelt's subsequent decline OF
health has been traced back to the bull
aet that struck him during his last cam
paign. But Roosevelt, the dramatic ana
positive, was not one for the negative
position of audience.
Robert La Toilette is also one OF the
vanished figures. His German consult
uency made his part trying during the
war. But although he probably MADE
the same distinction as President wilson
between the German government and
the German people, the distinction was
not appreciated in war times. So he
made his last public speech in defense OF
his position and in defiance OF the laws
of Nature. In fast-failing health, he
shook his name and roared as OF yore,
the fiery La Toilette.
Vol, IF 10 HnIicn
kary committee made a figure. He led
the fight for the draft law asked by
President Wilson. In one respect he
and La Toilette compared-both ambi-
tious in youth for a ShakeSpearean ca
Yeer. the study afterward aiding them
In the forum.
Thomas Marshall, Vice President with
Wilson had more of responsibility than
Is usual with the second place during
the long months of the Presidents i'll
ness. 1t was during the aftermath OF
war when foreign missions from over
the sea tried the Hoosier soul Of the Vice
President. And although his never-fail-
ing sense of humor lent a tinge of the
tocose even to tragedy, he felt the strain.
Meeting a Washington correspondent
from his own State of Indiana in the
halls of the Capitol, he advised in visit
full tones: Better go back home" And
he is now of the vanished cohorts.
However. it will brighten this somber
story to recall experiences as related by
him in his characteristic manner of his
foreign language embarraSsments in
dealing, with aforesaid missions Com
f11enting on how the concept of word
in the mind of the man using it may
be radically different from that of the
man hearing it-even i'll case where
both speak the same language-he indi-
Gates the vastly greater possibility of
trouble when a foreign tongue makes a
barrier between the two souls. So on
one occasion when Nine. Jusserand act
ed as interpreter between him and Gen.
Joffre, it seems Marshall suspected that
che Snftanod dnu1n ce1.ta aStNnritins Ii,