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The Commoner.
13
MARCH 21, 1913
"", 'J'W."i"'.'"lW . wr rfrjmimrm j - r- -; rt wi- - if i
to have. And Mr. Redfleld, a "gold"
democrat, is also in the cabinet.
In fact, JosephuB Daniels is the
only distinct "Bryanite" there. And
Mr. Daniels is marooned, as it were,
in the navy department, surrounded
with technical advisers whose views
no mere civilian can safely disregard.
It is also understood that Mr. Bryan
will be provided with a highly skilled
first assistant, a recognized authority
on international law and precedents
and usages.
It is evident that Mr. Bryan,
whether consciously or not, has en
tered upon the process of dignified
retirement from active public life.
We might fairly say, indeed, that
President Wilson has pleasantly,
tactfully, graciously, but none the
less certainly, placed Mr. Bryan in
political cold storage.
New York Globe: The Sun in
vites its readers to shudder at the
thought of Mr. Bryan as secretary of
state and charged with the manage
ment of the foreign relations of the
government.
The favorite orator of the inter
parliamentary peace congress will be
surprised to learn that ho will be
dangerous as secretary of state. Ex
cept for the brief period that Colonel
Bryan started for a war at whose
scene ho never arrived, he has
rivalled Andrew Carnegie in peace
ful talk. Ho is not likely to emboli
the country.
It is, of course, manifest that
Colonel Bryan has no special quali
fications for secretary of state. But
neither had .Secretary Knox when he
took the place. Tn what other place
in the cabinet, if he Is to go -into
it, would the Sun prefer Colonel
Bryan? Would it rather havo him
as attorney-general, or as secretary
of the treasury, or as secretary of
commerce and labor, or even as sec
retary of the interior, harrying the
poor exploiters of Alaslta? Granted
that Colonel Bryan is determined to
do harm, the secretary of stateship
is apparently the Bafest place to stow
' him.
which he has achieved. It may or
may not enable him to servo his fel
low men more definitely than hither
to has been possible, but his place
in their hearts in any event is se
cure, and why?
Because throughout his entire
public career ho has been the con
scientious and effective foe of privi
lege in all its forms and the con
sistent and brilliant champion of
popular rights in all their phases.
All the essential qualities of a pro
gressive leader are embodied in his
personality and statesmanship, while
ho is free from thoso fundamental
inconsistencies, timidities and vul
garities which characterize so many
leaders who spell the word progres
sive with capital letters. Imperial
ism, tariff exactions and all forms of
privilege have found in him a stern
and uncompromising opponent, the
principlo of competition and all ra
tional methods for achieving tho
more complete rule of the people, a
constant and unanswerable advocate.
When short-sighted leaders, look
ing for an issue, would legalizo
monopoly, tho so-called radical
Bryan of 1896 became tho poised
statesman of 1912, demonstrating
the utter fallacy of such a policy in
a republic; tho havoc it would bring
to average business men and the sure
step it would be in tho direction of
a socialistic scheme of government.
His tour of the world and intimate
knowledge of the economic condi
tions and aspirations of all the na
tions added to his genuine American
ism render Mr. Bryan pre-eminently
available for the position of secre
tary of state. It is alike creditable
to President Wilson and to Secre
tary Bryan that the distinguished
Nebraskan is to be the secretary of
state.
Chicago Record-Herald: Of the
political members of. the cabinet
Bryan is the foremost, and his ap
pointment may or may not be due
to the splendid part he played at
Baltimore, as well as to the manifest
expediency -of securing the good will
and loyalty of his great following.
But Mr. Bryan has .other claims that
may have strongly appealed to Mr.
Wilson, claims arising out of his con
nection with the peace movement, his
contribution to the Taft arbitration
treaties publicly acknowledged by
the ex-president and his acquain
tance with the world's leading states
men, an acquaintance which has bred
confidence in Mr. Bryan's fairness
and sincere devotion to high inter
national ideals.
Jamestown (N. T.) Evening News:
Next to the inauguration of Presi
dent Wilson, the American people
were chiefly interested in the accep
tance by William J. Bryan of the po
sition of secretary of state. His
eminent qualifications for the per
formance of the delicate and difficult
duties of this position of world-wide
influence and power are conceded by
all who make any pretense to fair-
H6SS
Not as the three-times candidate
of his party for the presidency, not
as the dominant personality in the
historic Baltimore convention, but as
the real leader of the progressive
thought of tho republic, and the
greatest moral force In Its politics
during the past twenty years, has Mr.
Bryan "won this honorable distinc
tion. This high dignity may emphasize
the versatility of Mr. Bryan as he
deals with world problems, but
neither this nor any . other, public
position could add to the distinction
BRYAN IN THE CABINET
Rockvillo (Ind.) Tribune: Im
mediately after tho election, when
the question, which naturally arose
in the public mind, as to the connec
tion of William J. Bryan with the
Wilson administration when prac
tically all of the commoner's old
standbys hoped that he would be a
member of the president's cabinet
the Tribune expressed its views" as
follows:
The Tribune does not doubt that
William J. Bryan can have any office
he might want from the hands of
President Wilson. To assume that
Mr. Wilson is not now tho ardent
political friend of Mr. Bryan is to
doubt that he is sincere in his pro
fessions as a progressive. More than
that, Mr. Wilson would repudiate his
own record as d. progressive if he
should not desire the counsel of Mr.
Bryan. No act of the president-elect
would give the friends of Mr. Bryan
and they number many millions
greater pleasure than his appoint
ment as secretary of state, but while
they want the great commoner
honored and his services recognized,
many of them feel that he can do
"better service to the" country as a
private citizen, free to condemn or
praise as his duty to the people
might demand. Mr. Bryan has a
place In American history greater
than the presidency, and we believe
that he now wields a greater in
fluence for the good of the country
than any other man can wield with
the presidency."
A few days after the above had
been printed the editor of the Tri
bune had occasion to visit the state
capital, and there he encountered
an entirely different situation than
prevails among the people of Parke
county. Among other things show
ing the effect that the atmosphere of
a state or national capital may have
upon democrats even good demo
crats was a circumstance upon
which wo commented at the time. It
was this: Two democrats who will
be members of the next congress in
talking over the policy to be carried
out, not only declared against th in
dependence of the Philippines, but
asserted that no promise to recog
nize independence was in the plat
form of 1912!
It was then and there that vo
changed our mind about Bryan go
ing into the cabinet.
Senator Kern not long ago in a
conversation with the writer said:
"There are three places in the United
States where Bryan Ib unpopular
Wall street is one, and Washington
City is the other two!" Why has
Bryan been unpopular in Washing
ton? Because the power he wielded
while feared at home might bo de
fled at Washington where ho was
powerless. But with Bryan at tho
head of the principal department of
government, tho trusted and rotent
friend of the president, every o.ie of
these men who are his open enemies
in Washington and his pretended
friends at home, will havo a string
to themselves at both places. They
dare not break with Bryan lest they
get in bad with Wilson. And then
Mr. Bryan will have something, if
not everything, to say about the most
important appointments to be mado
by the president.
With the man who could write
"The New Freedom" greater
papers than are in tho federalist
as president; with John W.-Kern
leader in the. senate of the United
States t with William J. Bryan secre
tary of state it surely looks good
to us.
Yet tho great majority of tho peoplo
havo come to take a nioro generous
view of Mr. Bryan's capacity and
purposes and have given him credit
for sobering growth and broadening
of political vision. Tho public, too,
has changed many of its opinions
since 1896, and the change has
brought it nearer to tho radicalism
of which Mr. Bryan used to bo re
garded as the cxtremo exponent.
President Wilson's Cabinet
Omaha World-Herald: Some of
the members we know well, somo in
differently, some not at all. In a few
months we will know them all better,
together with the president whoso
assistants and subordinates they are.
May they all grow In favor and popu
larity as tho country gets better
acquainted with them in official posi
tion and may they work in har
mony and accord to reflect credit on
their party by their unselfish, wiso
and patriotic service to their country!
Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch:
Woodrow Wilson himself chose his
cabinet. It was his independent
judgment that dictated the choice of
an official council in which capacity
for public service far outweighs poli
tical experience. If it be claimed
that William Jennings Bryan and
Franklin K. Lane are its only mem
bers of national distinction, tho wis
dom of the past replies that the most
distinguished cabinet has not always
been tho most workablo and that effi
cient co-operation with tho president
is the vital qualification of a cabinet
officer. These men have been named
because Woodrow Wilson believes
that they can best help him In giv
ing the nation the administration it
demands, and not because their ap
pointment would win special favor in
certain quarters. It is a picked cabi
net, not a packed cabinet.
That William Jennings Bryan Is to
sit upon the right hand of the presi
dent occasions no surprise. It but
confirms confident conjecture. The
foremost democrat of his day, his
selection accordB with traditions. Hd
is to deal with foreign relations, not
with finance. He has advocated con
spicuously the cause of universal
peace and the cultivation of amicable
international relations. With the ex
ception of Elihu Root, no secretary
of state in the past thirty years has
been abler or more versed in
knowledge of public affairs.
New York Tribune: In making
Mr. Bryan secretary of state the
president will undoubtedly offend
somo who will think of the Nebras
kan commoner only as the leader of
the silver inflation crusade of 1896.
New York Herald: What shall be
said of a cabinet that is headed 'by
William J. Bryan, who has been re
garded by everybody as a perpetual
agitator and not as an executive, and
is tailed off by William B. Wilson, of
whom few persons evor heard?
New York Press: It is a cabinet
of young men; there is nobody In it
past f-i years, and a young cabinet
ought to be up to tho huge mass of
work that in national public life is
now piled upon the man who ia at
all fit to be on his job.
Now York World: More like Lin
coln's cabinet, it sinks prior partisan
affiliations under the one purpose of
bringing together fit men in full
sympathy with the immediate poli
cies and work in hand.
New York Press: Mr. Bryan is
tho political live wire running from
tho White House to tho public. Mr.
Bryan is the force upon which Mr.
Wilson ahd the rest of the cabinet
undoubtedly rely to get progressive
things done, if they are to.be done
by tho new government.
New York Times: Tho shock of
Mr. Bryan's appointment as secre
tary of state will not be profound or
lasting. Tho appointment was in
evitable, it was a political necc ;slty.
It is impossible to speak with ap
proval either of the department of
labor or of the appointment of Wil
liam B. Wilson of Pennsylvania to be
its secretary. We are convinced that
Mr. Taft should havo vetoed tho bill
making this now cabinet place in
stead of signing it. With Mr. Wilson
as secretary, it becomes not a depart-A
ment of labor, but a department of
union labor.
New York Sun: In a general way
it may be said that in the building
of his cabinet Mr. Wilson has been
governed by his own independent
judgment except perhaps In tho
case of Mr. Bryan exercised mainly
with a view to working efficiency and
modified to the usual extent by
geographical considerations. It is
an Interesting fact that of the eight
cabinet officers born in this country
and therefore in the line of presiden
tial succession, five, like the next
president himself, are of southern
birth, while only three are northerners.
Able Men and Safe Counselors
Cincinnati Enquirer: President
Wilson has well Improved his time
since the election last November, as
shown by tho selection of a cabinet,
the members of which are eminently
qualified to discharge tho duties of
the great departments they are re
spectively called upon to preside
over.
Men of character and strong per
sonalities, their selection by the
president has impressed tho country
with the opinion that the administra
tion will be efficient and business
like from start to finish.
President Wilson correctly Inter
preted democratic sentiment when
he placed William Jennings Bryan at
tho head of the department of state,
the position occupied by Jefferson,
Marshall, Madison, Monroe, Adams,
Van Buren, Marcy and Seward.
The Gladstone of America, his par
tisanship is ennobled by a human!
tarlanism that places him in touch
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