SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16424, 18 January 1919, Page 7

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

THE POWER BEHIND

THE PRESIDENT

COLONEL HOUSE.

(By Sir TV. It. Nicoll, in "The

British Weekly.")

Jlessrs Hodder and Stoughton have published a most interesting boofc, "The Real Colonel House," by Arthur D. Howden Smith. It is authentic, being the author's own interpretation of Colonel House, "based upon an acquaintance and friendship of several years." Mr Howden Smith says that the book is not official, for he has not Bought access to confidential papers, nor has he asked for undue confidences from Colonel House. But is is obvious to every reader that he has been put in possession of Colonel House s real mind on the questions which hare been shaking the world. President "Wilson, as is well known, is one of the most reticcnt and secret of men. Though affable, he is not easily approached. He writes his own world-shaking despatches, or rather prepares them, with a typewriter ■which he can work himself, so there is not even a secretary who knows his priyato affairs. No doubt on occasions he consults qualified persons, but often the members of his own Cabinet come a3 freshly to his pronouncements as the outside public. There is one exception, however. It is known, and indeed is openly acknowledged, that the President has one confident in ■whom he places tho utmost trust. An essay might easily be -written on "The Man and His One Friend." There are many instances in biography when in the last resort a great man is lonely save for one who keeps company with him and who understands him. Colonel House has been a friend of this kind to President "Wilson, and continues to be so. Colonel Honse has met most of our loaders in visits to London, and I have heard some of them say that while he is apparently frank and communicative there is a barrier beyond which it is impossible to proceed. Who, then, is Colonel House? I. Mr Howden Smith answers the question more thoroughly than any other writer. Colonel House has a great advantage in being entirely free from office and from personal ambitions. Five vears ago he was unknown ■ to the public. Now this gentleman, who holds no office, who represents no special interest, who has no selfish ends to serve, has an • almost dominant influence upon international affairs. "He ] holds a power never .wielded before in j this, country by any man out of office, a. power greater-than that of any . political boss or Cabinet member." Edward Mandell House was horn in Houston, Texas, on.July 26th,. 1858. The, Houses were of Dutch extraction, hut,the family had been domiciled in England for many years before going to America. '. "Ed" House was-born At; ;a time when Texas was , still in the fullest sense. of the word a frontier State. He was a hardy, sturdy child, and though slightly built and quietmannered always, he was a dead-shot ■with the ■ six-shootor .• and the rifle. "VVhila he was still very young, he suffered a'"fdll frorir a swing which caused brain -fever anil left him Tather delicate. But he received a good education at tho Hopkins Grammar School at New. Haven. He declares that he s- a quarrelsome boy at school and college- - J He« says-also that he did not give a hang for hjs studies in school qr)college." ~ "I got through them as best. I could; I wasn't interested in them! There were jußt two subjects iiiat. did interest me . from my childhood—politics and history—rand I read everything on , those subjects that I I could get' my hands on. But' I cared about, nothing else." There are men ; who-waste their-time at-college .by not studying anything, by wholly refusing '• to .-work. . But there are others , who* ■ though they decline' to put their enerv gies iiito tne 'prescribed work 1 ojtr>lines of their own. This class.may " do very well in after; years, quite as WSU" as; or better than the men who take 1 the safer course of going through the-regular round. .' - ,v-Among his .fellow-students T3d House was remembered first as a pcac&makdr and next as a lad who was ever-lastingly-exploring some book. A/no of'my - earliest -remembrances of .hnn, pays, one .of them, "is that of a quietl yoiitli reading a ponderous or Bet.Toequeville's 'Democracy in America as; he walked along the street." -It was intended that he should go to Yale, hut he -proceeded to Cornell, whicK lie entered in 1877, having completed than three years of the course. He made friends among the students, but is made to_ the ■ professors, wliichris rather surprising, as some of them were very remarkable men indeed. ; 11. '. When House's father died and his estate was settled it turned out that he had- left to "Ed" about 20,000 dollars a year. To-day his income is Practically tho sum©. He had interests ln' various things—in banks, in cotton lands, and in municipal bonds. Hut Jie was satisfied with his portion of money and refused to increase it, though he inight very well have done so. ■' Withi my knowledge of what is happening ana what is going to happen, I am in a far better position than "the powers of Wall street themselves to take advantage of market" conditions. But I will have nothing to do with that sort of thing. He'gets nothing out of his political and; diplomatic .-work, except tne satisfaction ' of honestly believing that he is serving his country. Colonel House stedfastlv refuses to accept pubiio office. Ho might have had any office in the gift .of the President to-day, hut he does . not want it. He says that it would be signing his _ death-warrant) accept any office with its requirement of rigid hours and unremitting application. The climate of Washington exhausts him, and he loves the feeling or independence. I like very much the following passage: "For one thing, I always have the knowledge at the hack of .my head that if I wanted to drop iti I could. quit to-morrow. I am riot bound down. For another thing, I-am not held to regular hours, and I "can work when, where, and how_ I choose—in New York, for instance, instead of Washington. I. don't mean by this that I have ever seriouslv thought) of dropping my work, but that, arter all, I have the comfortable feeling of being able to do so if I ever felt the burden was too great." •Colonel House for years _ took a active part in Texas politics, but» into this I do not enter. Gradually he ; became, a man of the-nation. He was -not always right or successful. ' He was and in 1910 he took part \ an .Reelecting'Mayor Gaynor as Demo- - cratic champion. There was an inten'tiibn .of putting Gaynor into the President's clinir. But Gaynor did very eccentric things. Colonel House ar- , ranged for his meeting the electors Texas, but he did not turn up when his coming was due, and he declared that he'had never heard of the matter before, and' thai: he tnew nothimc

ahout it. Colonel House h.id to admit that he irns mistaken in his man, and Gaynors name was wiped off the slato j of Presidential possibilities. 111. Another and more stable star was rising. Colonel House began to read about the extraordinary doings of Woodrow Wilson as Governor of NewJersey. He put himself in the way of knowing more about this honest and determined politician. He was not the first Wilson man. It seems that Colonel Harvey, the editor of "Harper's Weekly," and Walter Hines Page. Ambassador to Great Britain and, .it that time, editor of "The World's Work." were among the few who early raised the Wilson standard. Arrangements ' were niade for House and Wilson to meet cach other in November, 1911. They met in Colonel House's room at the Gotham Hotel, New York, and they were friends from the moment they shook hands. How wonderful aro tlip'ways in which great friendships and great loves are formed! Governor Wilson and Colonel House were friends from the moment thev shook hands. "We talked and talked," said Colonel House in describing the meeting. "We knew each other for conI genial souls at the very beginning. I I don't rememher just whit we said, but I know we hit the high spots —we talked in generalities, you know. We exchanged our ideas about the democracies of the -world, contrasted the European democracies with the United' States, discussed where they differed, which was tlie best in some respects and which in others." "I remember we were very urbane," he went on. "Each gave the other every chance to have his say. He w>uM say what he thought, and then wait and let me say what I thought. Wo agreed about "everything. That was a •wonderful talk. The hour flew away. It seemed 110 time at all when it was over." They kept on meeting for some weeks, and one evening Colonel House said to Mr Wilson, as he rose to go: "Governor, isn't it strange that two men who never knew each other before should think so much alike?" Ho answered: "My dear fellow, we have known each other all our lives." "I cannot toll you how pleased I war. with him. He seemed too good to be true." IV. I pass over some fascinating records to reach, tho chapter headed, "America Face to Face witu War." Mr Howden Smith is an experienced war correspondent, and I oiiall not attempt to examine.his history of the war in.so' ' far as the British people are concerned therewith. It is the American side that ia presented here, and we ought to know it. Mr Howden Smith says that neither the President nor Colonel, House apprehended any effect of the catastrophe on their country save the possibility of an increase in armaments. They looked to see an end to hostilities after a few months of swift fighting. The jnain exertion was devoted to limiting, as far as possible, the economic strain upon the United States, and doing what they could to relieve suffering abroad. President Wilson was •: embarrassed by Mexico, and was reluctant to - consider anything like war. The submarines began to do ' their deadly work. Mr Howden Smith says that in the. beginning of 1915 the ; Central Powers "would have made peace i but' the Allies would have none of it. : Cfllonel House was sent by the President on a mission' to the belligorent , countries, and sailed from. New York on Januarv 30th, .1915. The general ' belief was that he was going abroad to ' assist Mr Hoover in- co-ordinating the 1 work of Belgian relief, but in reality ; he had gone to m;lko peace if he could. l He insisted on the advisability of meet- , ing Germany half-way. "But all through the first two years of tho .war, Britain was convinced of the mvulner--1 abilitv of her isolation, and the para- ■ lysing power of her. fleet. . The 1 statesmen in London, according,to'>Mr Howden Smith, smilingly refused,. , to, believe that the German submarine was. to. be the most deadly' engine they would have to face. Iri France Colonel House found the • people much niore alive to the serious L aspect of affairs. Hero we have a defhiition of that phrase of five words, , "The Freedom of > the Seas," which Colonel House was perhaps the first to ' -use. Mr Howden Smith tells us that I by: • "the freedom of the seas" Colonel i HoUse meant a literal, unlimited _freeI dom of the seas, which would imply the safety of merchantmen in enemy ports on the declaration of war; the ' safety not only of food cargoes, but I cargoes of actual contraband; the un- ! interrupted progress of the world's [ 'ocean-iborne commerce in' the midst of the most widely dispersed war. Navies would be used only as a defence against ' invasion. War would . 'be a struggle » between fleets and armies. Non-com-l batant and neutral nations would be ■ exempted from harm. The.economic : structure of civilisation would survive r almost unimpaired: Inevitably such a 1 policy -would operate to restrict the 1 waging of war on a national scale. 1 The Germans, as might have been expected. gave a prompt and enthusias-1 tic assent. "• There followed the sinking of the Lusitaiiia, and the torpedoing of the I White Star. liner Arabic. Still it ! seemed to President Wilson that the United States were not ripe for intervention. Very reluctantly, and ■ very. 1 gradually the hope of preserving peace ■ was abandoned. Colonel House reasoned ; and argued and pleaded with-the. Ger- , mans, who went cheerfully ahead^ with ■ their frightfulness and their faith, in the persuasiveness to peace of unchecked atrocities. On March 24th. 1916, the • steamer Sussex in ■ the Engusn Channel, with Americans on board-, was torpedoed. President W llson took this > as an open defiance of public opinion • in the United States. But apologies 1 weio promptly made, and in the spring » of 1916 it seemed as if America might • be able to stand out of the war. Next came President Wilsons second ' campaign for tho Presidency. Wiison s ' victory was due to California. The ' West went Democratic. . In October, J 1916 the controversy with Germany I became very snarp. A compii- ' ment is paid to von Jagow, of .whom it is said that he was one of the few Ger- : man officials who had the-courage to » resist the military party. _ Again ana ' and again Wilson tried to con- ' ciliate Germany. This gave him ' power when he had to declare for war. » People said that the President had done ' everything humanly possible 'to Keo P ' peace. It last, the President and » Colonel House had to make up tlieir ' minds for war. But the world was ' never so near peace as it was m the last 1 week of January, 191/. Germany, m--1 stead of taking tie hand " the sword. The German military party ; did not want peace. r,.. Since war began Colonel House has ' taken an active part in its conduct. He ' is still consulted about everything. ' believes that the way to is to work hard and say nothing. He ' savs that the hardest thing for demo--1 craciesto learn is the harm done by : ?£ much talking. H. » " opposed to large committees, and when . he took charge of the American War Mission he barred oratory altogether. ; He araded all pnblio ' number of men handling ia proposition th ™more direct are the rosuUs obta.ned " His work was highly efficient, and much as he dislikes public speak- ; \ United States of this Mission was l-,000 ' d °l la no room in which to go ovor ■ srtss ssS?Ssv?^ ' dent WUson is: "Personally, he is one : a creat gentlemaiu