By that time, Bryan had become completely disillusioned by the duplicity of his own government. On May 9, he sent a dour note to Wilson:
Germany has a right to prevent contraband going to the Alliesand a ship carrying contraband should not rely upon passengers toprotect her from a t t a c k - i t would be like putting women and childrenin front of an army.
This did not deter Wilson from his commitment. The first note was followed by an even stronger one with threatening overtones which was intensely discussed at the Cabinet meeting on the first of June. McAdoo, who was present at the meeting, says:
I remember that Bryan had little to say at this meeting; he satthroughout the proceedings with his eyes half closed most of the timeAfter the meeting he told the President, as I learned later, that he couldnot sign the note.... Bryan w e n t on to say that he thought hisusefulness as Secretary of State was over, and he proposed to resign 2
At the request of Wilson, McAdoo was dispatched to the Bryans'
home to persuade the Secretary to change his mind, lest his resignation be taken as a sign of disunity within the President's Cabinet Bryan agreed to think it over one more day but, the following morning, his decision remained firm. In his memoirs, annotated by his wife, Mrs. Bryan reveals that her husband could not sleep that night He was so restless I suggested that he read a little till he should become drowsy. He had in his handbag a copy of an old book printed in 1829 and called 'A Wreath of Appreciation of Andrew Jackson. He found it very interesting."3
What irony. In chapter seventeen we shall review the total war waged by President Jackson against the Bank of the United States, 1 • Bryan, Vol II, pp. 398-9.
2. McAdoo, p. 333.
3. Bryan, Vol. II, p. 424.
SINK THE LUSITANIA!
257
the predecessor of the Federal Reserve System, and we shall be reminded that it was Jackson who prophesied:
Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that in its nature has so little to bind it to our country?... [Is there not] cause to tremble for the purity of our elections in peace and for the independence of our country in war?... Controlling our currency, receiving our public monies, and holding thousands of our citizens in dependence, it would be more formidable and dangerous than a naval and military power of the enemy.1
One can only wonder what thoughts went through Bryan's
mind as he recalled Jackson's warning and applied it to the artificially created war hysteria that, at that very moment, was being generated by the financial powers on Wall Street and at the newly created Federal Reserve.
From England, Colonel House sent a telegram to President
Wilson which he, in turn, read to his Cabinet. It became the genesis of thousands of newspaper editorials across the land. He said piously:
America has come to the parting of the ways, when she must determine whether she stands for civilized or uncivilized warfare. We can no longer remain neutral spectators. Our action in this crisis will determine the part we will play when peace is made, and how far we may influence a settlement for the lasting good of humanity. We are being weighed in the balance, and our position amongst nations is being assessed by mankind.2
In another telegram two days later, House reveals himself as the master psycho-politician playing on Wilson's ego like a violinist stroking the strings of a Stradivarius. He wrote:
If, unhappily, it is necessary to go to war, I hope you will give the world an exhibition of American efficiency that will be a lesson for a century or more. It is generally believed throughout Europe that we are so unprepared and that it would take so long to put our resources into action, that our entering would make but little difference.
In the event of war, we should accelerate the manufacture of munitions to such an extent that we could supply not only ourselves but the Allies, and so quickly that the world would be astounded.3
1 Herman E. Krooss, ed.,
2- Seymour, p. 434.
3.
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258 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
