Volume II Part 1 (2/2)

Page wrote to Colonel House, September 15, 1914; ”it's too dangerous.

Time and time again now the Department has leaked. Last week, I sent a dispatch and I said in the body of it, '_this is confidential and under no condition to be given out or made public, but to be regarded as inviolably secret_.' The very next morning it was telegraphed from Was.h.i.+ngton to the London newspapers. Bryan telegraphed me that he was sure it didn't get out from the Department and that he now had so fixed it that there could be no leak. He's said that at least four times before. The Department swarms with newspaper men, I hear. But whether it does or not the leak continues. I have to go with my tail between my legs and apologize to Sir Edward Grey and to do myself that shame and to do my very best to keep his confidence--against these unnecessary odds.

The only way to be safe is to do the job perfunctorily, to answer the questions the Department sends and to do nothing on your own account.

That's the reason so many of our men do their jobs in that way--or _one_ reason and a strong one. We can never have an alert and energetic and powerful service until men can trust the Department and until they can get necessary information from it. I wrote the President that of course I'd go on till the war ended and all the questions growing out of it were settled, and that then he must excuse me, if I must continue to be exposed to this danger and humiliation. In the meantime, I shall send all my confidential matter in private letters to him.”

Page did not regard Mr. Bryan's opinions and att.i.tudes as a joke: to him they were a serious matter and, in his eyes, Bryan was most interesting as a national menace. He regarded the Secretary as the extreme expression of an irrational sentimentalism that was in danger of undermining the American character, especially as the kind of thought he represented was manifest in many phases of American life. In a moment of exasperation, Page gave expression to this feeling in a letter to his son:

_To Arthur W. Page_

London, June 6, 1915.

DEAR ARTHUR:

... We're in danger of being feminized and fad-ridden--grape juice (G.o.d knows water's good enough: why grape juice?); pensions; Christian Science; peace cranks; efficiency-correspondence schools; aid-your-memory; women's clubs; co-this and co-t'other and coddling in general; Billy Sunday; petticoats where breeches ought to be and breeches where petticoats ought to be; white livers and soft heads and milk-and-water;--I don't want war: n.o.body knows its horrors or its degradations or its cost. But to get rid of hyphenated degenerates perhaps it's worth while, and to free us from 'isms and soft folk. That's the domestic view of it. As for being kicked by a sauerkraut caste--O Lord, give us backbone!

Heartily yours, W.H.P.

In the bottom of this note, Page has cut a notch in the paper and against it he has written: ”This notch is the place to apply a match to this letter.”

”Again and ever I am reminded,” Page also wrote in reference to Bryan's resignation, ”of the danger of having to do with cranks. A certain orderliness of mind and conduct seems essential for safety in this short life. Spiritualists, bone-rubbers, anti-vivisectionists, all sort of anti's in fact, those who have fads about education or fads against it, Perfectionists, Daughters of the Dove of Peace, Sons of the Roaring Torrent, itinerant peace-mongers--all these may have a real genius among them once in forty years; but to look for an exception to the common run of yellow dogs and damfools among them is like opening oysters with the hope of finding pearls. It's the common man we want and the uncommon common man when we can find him--never the crank. This is the lesson of Bryan.”

At one time, however, Mr. Bryan's departure seemed likely to have important consequences for Page. Colonel House and others strongly urged the President to call him home from London and make him Secretary of State. This was the third position in President Wilson's Cabinet for which Page had been considered. The early plans to make him Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Agriculture have already been described. Of all cabinet posts, however, the one that would have especially attracted him would have been the Department of State. But President Wilson believed that the appointment of an Amba.s.sador at one of the belligerent capitals, especially of an Amba.s.sador whose sympathies for the Allies were so p.r.o.nounced as were Page's, would have been an ”un-neutral” act, and, therefore, Colonel House's recommendation was not approved.

_From Edward M. House_

Roslyn, Long Island, June 25th, 1915.

DEAR PAGE:

The President finally decided to appoint Lansing to succeed Mr.

Bryan. In my opinion, he did wisely, though I would have preferred his appointing you.

The argument against your appointment was the fact that you are an Amba.s.sador at one of the belligerent capitals. The President did not think it would do, and from what I read, when your name was suggested I take it there would have been much criticism. I am sorry--sorrier than I can tell you, for it would have worked admirably in the general scheme of things.

However, I feel sure that Lansing will do the job, and that you will find your relations with him in every way satisfactory.

The President spent yesterday with me and we talked much of you. He is looking well and feeling so. I read the President your letter and he enjoyed it as much as I did.

I am writing hastily, for I am leaving for Manchester, Ma.s.sachusetts, where I shall be during July and August.

Your sincere friend, E.M. HOUSE.

III

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