Life — March 20, 1913 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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LIFE PUL 17 West Thirty c House, us not expect Mr. Bryan to blow up as a cabinet minister. Perhaps he won't. His fellow citizens don't Ta SA + want him to. They want him to succeed admirably as Sec- retary of State. And perhaps he will, for Mr. Bryan is a man of talents and very consider- able dimensions, and doubtless a bet- ter man and better patriot than he has had credit for being from persons who were opposed to some of his economic theories. It is one thing for him to be at odds with persons whose general conception of the aim of politics was opposed to his, and quite another thing for him to be opposed to President Wilson. For in their general political aims—in what they conceive that a Democratic administration in the year 1913 ought to try to do—Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan seem to be in close ac- cord. They may come later to differ as to particulars, but they represent the same general purpose, and the main difference is that there is more confidence in the sufficiency of Mr. Wilson's mental machinery to devise or select suitable measures to achieve that purpose than in Mr. Bryan’s. They say Mr. Bryan had a bully time at the inauguration and was all smiles, happiness and good humor. That was nice of him. It inaugurs well for his success as a member of the new administration. For our part, we are ready, yes, SHING SOMPAN cont A. Mitten, Sec'y and Treas. r, to be delighted with everything he does, and mean to help him with suggestions whenever we can think of a good onc OR example: how would it do to give Texas back to Mexico? We see it is suggested that President Wilson wants to send Mr. Richard Olney as Ambassador to England. Fine! Mr. Olney is well up to the dimen- sions of this most important diplo- matic post. Time was when British sentiment towards him was a bit sore. If there is any of that left it would doubtless be allayed by Mr. Olney’s presence in London. And he would remind our British brethren of old times, and many of them would be grateful, we are sure, to have old times recalled, for about things present they have pretty dubious feelings. And in a like spirit we might give Texas back to Mexico. Of course, that would be a pretty fundamental proceeding, and for our part we hardly care to go further than consider it But, like everyone else, we have thought much and with sympathy about Mexico, and her troubles and her clouded prospects, and, after all, is there any medicine that would do Mexico as much good as Texas? Just think; there are four million people in Texas, and in Mexico, we suppose, there are only about a million people, the rest of the population being Mexi- cans. Texas has lived in our family for seventy years, and knows every- thing any of us know about politics, Icgislation, keeping order and all that. Think what a missionary she would be to Mexico! Of course, she would have to con- sent. And we suppose Mexico might 0 have to consent. And Mexico might demur and submit that it was more blessed to give than to receive. And it y be that, in spite of its abundance of sporting possibilities, this is not a practical idea, though we guess the Hon. Joseph Weldon Bailey of Texas (late of Georgia) would support it. But at least it is a lovely thought, and full of kindness; and we commend it to the notice of Mr. Bryan, who is a very kind man [* is matter of general mortification that the suffrage parade in Wash- ington should not have had better care. Whose fault it was is not clear to us at this writing, but we hope it may be brought Thome to somebody, and duly expiated. It is plain now that the ad- venture was somewhat hazardous. Washington is a capital and a fairly large city, but it is not a metropolis and not equipped with metropolitan facilities for handling big crowds. ‘The inauguration crowd was very big and gathered from all sides, and abounded, no doubt, in people not on their hest behavior. It was because there was to be a big crowd in Washington that the suffrage parade there was planned. The purpose of it was advertisement. It butted in and got the advertisement, but not precisely in the way designed. The case was not one of those once mentioned with impatience by Dr. Wil- son where the side shows were so suc- cessful as to divert attention from the performance in the main tent. Perhaps that is not entirely to be regretted, but it is to be regretted that a woman’s parade anywhere in the United States should not have had Proper protection, and civil treatment from the spectators. comicbooks.com