Part 10 (2/2)

department. However, it was soon ascertained that

the amba.s.sador was conferring with Counselor

Lansing.

Then it was rumored that Secretary Bryan had sent

word to President Wilson that he would not stand for

the note as framed. Inquiry at the White House

revealed the fact that Secretary Bryan had sent word

that he would be in his office, working on an

important paper, and would be late. At the state

department, Eddie Savoy, the Secretary's colored

messenger, refused to take any cards in to Bryan. He

said he did not know whether his chief actually

intended attending the meeting.

”He is very busy, and I cannot disturb him,” Eddie

stated.

At the White House a distinct air of tension was

manifested. All inquiries as to what Secretary Bryan

was going to do were ignored.

Finally, about 12 o'clock, Secretary Bryan left his

office and came across the street. His face was

flushed and his features hard set. He responded to

inquiries addressed to him with negative shakes of

the head. He swung into the cabinet room with the

set stride with which he mounted the steps of the

Baltimore platform to deliver his famous speech

attacking Charles F. Murphy and Tammany Hall, and

precipitating his break with Champ Clark, whose

nomination for the presidency up to that time seemed

a.s.sured.

For more than an hour after he reached the cabinet

room the doors were closed. Across the hall the

President's personal messenger had erected a screen

to keep the curious at a distance.

At last the door was thrown open with a bang. First

to emerge were Secretaries McAdoo and Redfield, who

brushed through the crowd of newspaper

representatives. They referred all inquiries to the

President. Secretary of War Garrison came out alone.

He refused to say a word regarding the note. There

was an interval of nearly ten minutes. Then

Secretaries Daniels and Wilson came out. Behind them

was Attorney General Gregory, and, bringing up the

rear, was Secretary Bryan. Bryan's face was still

set. His turned-down collar was damp and his face

was beaded with perspiration.

”Was the note to Germany completed?” he was asked.

”I cannot discuss what transpired at the cabinet

meeting,” was his sharp reply.

”Can you clear up the mystery and tell us when the

note will go forward to Berlin?” persisted

inquirers.

”That I would not care to discuss,” said the

Secretary, as he joined Secretary Lane. ”I am not in

a position to make any announcement of any sort now.

I will tell you when the note actually has started.”

Ordinarily, Secretary Bryan goes from a cabinet

meeting to his office, drinks a bottle of milk and

eats a sandwich. To-day he entered Secretary Lane's

carriage and, with Lane and Secretary Daniels,

proceeded to the University Club for luncheon.

It is understood that Secretary Bryan took to the

cabinet meeting a memorandum in which he justified

his views that the proposed note is not of a

character that the United States should send to

Germany. He took the position that the United

States, in executing arbitration treaties with most

of the countries of the world, took a direct

position against war. As he put it, on great

questions of national honor, the sort that make for

welfare, arbitration is the only remedy.

Secretary Bryan is understood to have urged that the

United States could stand firmly for its rights and

not close the doors to any explanation that

Germany--or any other belligerent--might make. It is

understood that Bryan pointed out that Germany had

accepted the principles of the arbitration treaties

as a general proposition, but failed to execute the

treaty because of the European War breaking out. Her

opponents enjoy the advantages under such a treaty,

and Secretary Bryan insisted that Germany should not

be denied the same rights....

Although Secretary Bryan will continue his efforts

to modify the note, persons close to the President

insist that he will fail. The President is said to

have decided, after hearing all arguments, that the

safest course is to remain firm in the demand that

American rights under international law be

preserved. And it is expected that when the note is

finally O. K.'d by Counselor Lansing, it will be

sent to Germany.

There is speculation as to whether Secretary Bryan

will sign the note as Secretary of State. He has

angrily refused to take any positive position on the

subject. If he should refuse, his retirement from

the cabinet would be certain. Bryan's friends insist

that he has been loyal to the President and has made

many concessions to meet the latter's wishes. They

believe that he will content himself with a protest

and again bow to the will of his chief. But there

was no way of getting any confirmation of this

opinion from Bryan.

This is the first serious friction that has

developed in President Wilson's cabinet. Politicians

declare it will have far-reaching effect. Bryan has

fought consistently for arbitration principles. And

he now considers, some of his friends think, that

they have been ridden over rough-shod.[19]...

[19] John Edwin Nevin in _The Omaha News_, June 8, 1915.

The next morning President Wilson announced his acceptance of Mr.

Bryan's resignation as Secretary of State.

=189. Value of Inference in the Foiled Interview.=--The reporter who would attain success in his profession should not fail to study with care this story by Mr. Nevin, to learn not so much what the story contains as what the person who wrote it had to know and had to be able to do before he could turn out such a piece of work. One should a.n.a.lyze it to see how startlingly few new facts the correspondent had in his possession at the time he was writing, and how he played up those lonesome details with a premonition of coming events that was uncanny.

Above all, the prospective reporter should observe with what rare judgment and accuracy the writer noted in Mr. Bryan's demeanor a few distinctive incidents which were at once both trivial and yet laden with suggestions of events to come. To produce this story the writer had to know not only a man, but men. A cub would have got nothing; this man scooped the best correspondents of the nation.

=190. Series of Interviews.=--In a story containing a number of interviews, let the lead feature the consensus of opinion expressed in the interviews. Then follow in the body with the individual quotations, each man's name being placed prominently at the beginning of the paragraph containing his interview, so that in a rapid reading of the story the eye may catch readily the change from the words of one man to another. When there is a large number of such interviews, the name may even be set in display type at the beginning of the paragraph. If, however, the persons interviewed are not at all prominent, but their statements are worth while, the quotations may be given successively and the names buried within the paragraph.

=191. Leads for Speeches.=--In comparison with handling an interview, a report of a speech is an easy task. In the case of the sermon or the lecture, typewritten copies are almost always available and the thoughts are presented in orderly sequence. So if the reporter has followed the advice given in Part II, Chapter VII, and taken longhand notes of a speech, or has not been so engrossed in mere note-taking that he has been unable to follow the trend of the speaker's thought, he will experience comparatively little trouble in writing up the speech. He may begin in any one of a half-dozen or more ways. He may feature: (1) the speaker's theme; (2) the t.i.tle of the address, which may or may not be the theme; (3) a sentence or a paragraph of forceful direct quotation; (4) an indirect quotation of one or more dynamic statements; (5) the speaker's name; (6) the occasion of the speech; or (7) the time or the place of delivery. Any one of these may be played up according to its importance in the address.

=192. Featuring a Single Sentence.=--Of the seven or eight different kinds of lead, a quotation of a single sentence or a single paragraph is happiest if one can be found that will give the keynote of the speech or will harmonize with a declared policy of the paper. Thus:

”It is the traitor G.o.d Love that makes men tell

foolish lies and women tell the fool truth,” said

Prof. Henry Acheson last night in his lecture on

”Flirts.”

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