The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1938-03-29
COLONEL HOUSE
DIED YESTERDAY

/ friends from the moment they
shook hands.
Remained Wilson's Friend
To the end, Edward Mandell
House treasured the memory of
his friendship with Woodrow Viii
son.
The sudden Iapsing of the ex-
traordinary comradeship of the
wartime president and "the little
gray man from Texas" which had
carried them through national
and world crises together, was TO
Colonel House himself a tragic
mystery.
A letter written by the colonel
TO his friend. Professor Charles
Seymour of Yale University who
had compiled his papers. reveals
the steadfastneSS of his devotion
to the man he had served as chief
counselor and "super-ambassa-
dor.
There were many doors in the
temples that men of old reared
to their gods. to the sun and to
the moon, he wrote. Behind the
innermost door dwelt the mys-
tefieS.
"And now you who have had
access to my most intimate papers
ask me to unlock the innermost
door. door to which I have no
key Ny separation from Wood
row Wilson was. and IS, to me a
tragic mystery. mystery that
now can never be dispelled, for
us explanation lies buried with
him.
~ Theories I have and theories
they must remain Never during
the years We worked together was
there an unkind or impatient
word written or spoken, and this
to me is an abiding consolation
While our friendship was not of
long duration it was as close as
human friendship can grow to be.
To this, his letters and mine bear
silent testimony.
'UntIl a shadow fell between
US I never had a more consider
ate friend and my devotion to his
memory remains and will remain
unchanged.
To the general public Colonel
House was a man of mystery.
holding international secrets and
and welding tremendous power
as the counselor of President Viii
son in the world war days and
through the peace negotiations.
A native of frontier Texas who
as a boy saw shooting affrays in
the streets Of Houston, he became
the intimate Of the worlds great
personages in the momentous pc
riod from 1914 TO 1919. A IA
miliar but unobtrusiye figure in
the capitals Of the warning ma
tons, he had on his calling list
such names as Kaiser Wilhelm.
Clemenceau. Lloyd George and
King Albert of Belgium
The quiet, self-effacing man
who went about his important
missions abroad so unostenta-
tiously had been President Viii
sons confidential adviser and
friend since his first election.
position novel in American pOlit-
ical affairs II was said by friends
that the President relied upon his
judgment and foresight more than
he did upon those of anyone else.
He is q man., said the PreSi-
dent. "of remarkable ability. He
can hold things off at arms
length and consider them and dis
cuss them without being mixed
up.
Wilson did not know House UNI
III the beginning of the canvass
for his presidential nomination.
Wilson then was governor of New
Jersey and House was a power in
Texas state politics. He was not
yet in the public spotlight but his
work in Texas had made him
known to national leaders of the
democratic party.
His father had left him an in
heritance of $4,000 a year which
enabled him to pursue unhamper-
ed his interest IN politics State
politics began to pail on him aft
er he had helped bring about the
election Of four governors in sue
eesSion and at least one United
States senator. From his college
days he had been keenly interest
ed in national and international
affairs He was an avid reader of
books on politics and economies
Behind his studies was the idea
Of working out a distribution of
national boundaries that would
make civilization safe from war.
Later he was 10 have an undream-
ed-of opportunity to expound his
theories before the worlds lead
ing statesmen az Versailles and 70
embody some OF them in the
Covenant of the League OF Ma
tons.