found himself in such insignificant company. He was the most conservative of the combination of Social Revolutionists who, in 1914, made up the ministry in London, and certainly the least democratic. He came from a magnificent stock of Whig nobility, now almost barren, and so was one of the few active survivors of a splendid class the essential characteristics of which he embodied in urbanity of manner, clearness of vision, poise, moderation in tone and temper. It was a stroke of good fortune for the Liberal party when it returned to power in 1906 that it was able to entrust the direction of Great Britain's foreign policy to this young member, then only fortytwo, who, during the South African war, had separated himself from his party and avowed himself an Imperialist. He had Liberalism, however, but it was enlightened, tempered by knowledge of life and respect for the British spirit.

Sir Edward had been in the British public service thirty years. He was Under Secretary of State in Gladstone's last cabinet. The striking fact about him was that Englishmen of both parties had placed in his hands the fate of the nation with implicit confidence in the honesty and frankness of his public actions. He was not a diplomat in the old sense of the word. He had no tricks or wiles. He was straightforward. With all the cards on the table he conducted foreign affairs in much the same way as ordinary business is conducted. He could have had the least possible hand in the intrigues, compacts, plots, and stratagems of an old-time diplomatic game. As far as the situation would permit, he endeavored to realize for Great Britain the American policy of "friendship with all, entangling alliances with none." In the House of Commons, before war actually began, he made it clear that Great Britain was under no agreement or contract to fight for France or Russia. Sir Edward's policy of not meddling with other nations and provoking their hostility seemed well repaid when the long expected war arrived and found Great Britain with many allies and Germany almost isolated.

He had from the beginning disbelieved a notion, common in European chancellories, that lying for the good of his country was a necessary gift for a diplomatist. He could no more lie in public 1 affairs than lie in private ones. When he did not wish to speak, no amount of House of Commons questioning or pressure could make him do so, but when he did speak he spoke the truth. Cold and reserved, with a low and restrained speech, he was a typical Englishman, a pure Anglo-Saxon. When it fell to his lot to announce war with Germany to the House of Commons he did it in the same even tones that he would have employed in opening a bazaar. There was no passion in his voice, there were no declamatory

gestures, no attempt to play for a theatrical climax. He was simply doing that which belonged necessarily to his office, and, however extraordinary the occasion, he remained calm and even complacent, as if the act were part of a routine that had to be gone through.44

COLONEL EDWARD M. HOUSE, ONE OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATES TO THE PEACE CONFERENCE

If the average American citizen had been asked in 1917 what he knew about Colonel House he would have been apt to reply: "House? E. M. House? Why he's-he's President Wilson's friend and adviser," but after saying that much it is doubtful if many could have told whether Colonel House came from New York or Texas; whether he was a lawyer, a business man, a man of leisure, or a plain politician. Without intending it, Colonel House, who during the war was the President's personal observer of affairs in Europe, his representative on the War-Mission, and afterward a member of the American peace delegation, had been very much a man of mystery in his own country. He did not represent the Government by virtue of any office; he was seeking neither place, power, nor political preferment. While he was acting almost as an ambassador or a minister, he had neither a portfolio nor credentials. The Boston Transcript called him the President's alter ego; the St. Louis Dispatch described him as "rather an amazing person, a sort of embodied Intelligence, uninfluenced by traceable motives, and undisturbed by discoverable prejudices." Curiously enough, the American people as a whole seemed to share from the first the President's confidence in him.

As far back as 1912, when Woodrow Wilson was Governor of New Jersey, some letters passed between him and this mysterious Texan. Whether Colonel House or Mr. Wilson wrote the first letter is not recorded, but the fact stands out above all else that in 1912 Colonel House was scarcely known outside the Lone Star State, but by February, 1913, his name had appeared in practically every newspaper in the country and he had not held any political office; nor was he talked of for one. Colonel House had become celebrated because he was the closest political friend of Woodrow Wilson. He had probably been asked to make suggestions in regard to Mr. Wilson's Cabinet and as to scores of other matters we know not of, nor will ever know, but he had got nothing for himself out of all this service, except the satisfaction of honestly believing that he was serving his country and his party.

"Adapted from a compilation by Alexander Harvey in Current Opinion from German and Italian newspapers, and from articles in The World's Work and The World (New York).

Colonel House was sixty years old on the 26th of July, 1918, the son of a successful Texas banker and born in Houston, but he had made his home in Austin before he came to New York. His father had sent him to the Hopkins Grammar School, in New Haven, and then to Cornell University, where he was graduated in 1881. In the same year he married Miss Loulie Hunter, of Austin. He has two daughters, both of whom are married. He inherited some money, but made the larger part of his fortune himself through investments, agricultural and others, and had been a director in banks and railroads, but only in those in which he could take an active part. Aside from banking and railroad investments he made money from farms and ranches. No one knew the extent of his wealth, but it was not great as fortunes go. All sorts of guesses had been made about it, a favorite guess being $2,000,000. In any case he had reached a point where he did not care to make any more money, having already more than he could use. There was enough for his children and he saw no reason to struggle for more. He kept a business office in Austin in one small room, with an old-fashioned, flat-topped desk that had seen better days, a few filing-cases, some chairs and a small, oldfashioned safe. His reticence amounted almost to bashfulness. When he was working successfully for the nomination of Mr. Wilson in 1912, newspaper men flocked to see him and he made the following statement:

"To a man such as I am, publicity is not only annoying, but injurious. I am not seeking anything for myself, and I am not seeking anything for anybody else; I am simply trying to do the best I can for the measures I favor. I am for measures, not men. To say that I have been able to accomplish anything, would only be to draw upon me attention which would be most distasteful. I am not working for any influence that might be obtained, or favors that might be granted; I am just a plain citizen, and am determined to remain one."

Naturally it was something of a jolt to a great many veteran politicians to find that this unknown Texan had suddenly got into President Wilson's confidence. To Democratic leaders it was in fact a rude jolt. Hardly a hundred politicians in Texas knew House well enough to speak to him, but in 1916 there was not a politician of any weight, influence, or importance but knew who he was and what he could do. Without question he could have been a member of President Wilson's cabinet-but he wouldn't accept any such place. If Colonel House has achieved nothing else in national politics, he has purified the conduct of campaigns and set an example of clever strategy and resourceful leadership rather than blind expenditure of millions. He has demonstrated that a party can win in

national elections without wholesale debauchery simply by placing issues squarely before the voters. He illustrated, with sensational success, the shift in the political center of the country from east to west and the increasing weight which must be attached to the march of progressive doctrines in the West. Best of all, he had taken the Democratic party out of the solid South and made a really representative party, controlling States in every section of the Union. Some of his political maxims were these:

"What is bad morally is bad politically. Politics ought to be as honest as business. I haven't any use for bribery in politics. I have never paid a cent to a newspaper or a man in any of my campaigns. Personally, I never handle a cent of money. I have always made that the first stipulation in consenting to participate in any campaign. I will not collect funds or account for them, but I insist on knowing what is done with the money. Even when I went to Europe with the War Mission, I asked the State Department to send along an expert accountant to keep track of disbursements. I will not bother with money in connection with public work. It is bad enough having to manage your own pecuniary affairs.

"I wouldn't promise a man an office in return for his political support, no matter what might be the exigency of the situation. It is bad business, practically as well as morally. It is likely to create ill-feeling in other men when it becomes known. Politics, when you come right down to it, is largely a question of organization.'' 45

GOTTLIEB VON JAGOW, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Journalists, familiar with the traits and temperaments of heads of the German Foreign Office, were disposed to cite Jagow as of the type most representative of the Emperor William. He had had the good luck to be one of his Majesty's college-mates and William II had never been disillusioned on the subject of college chums, but loved them still. He could take them out of poverty and obscurity into high offices. Each of those whom he so favored was a sort of romantic person; each had charm, perfection of manners, intimacy with current ideas. Jagow was the sweetest of dilettantes, a maker of compelling conversation, an impeccable waltzer, felicitous in quotations. No one could help loving him, dilettante tho he was. In him the fine flower of the Prussian species was in bloom, but one hardly expected to find him at the head of a great imperial foreign office.

Jagow was once the German Ambassador in Rome. Italian dailies applied to him their most complimentary word, "sympathetic." He

45 Principal Sources: The Literary Digest and Arthur D. Howden Smith's "The Real Colonel House" (George H. Doran Company).

was not tall, nor in manner commanding, but he conveyed an impression of power. He knew how to dress, could carry a lady's train and could send flowers and bonbons impartially. For a bachelor he managed difficulties of etiquette with nicety, offending no one. was characteristic of him that the very flower in his buttonhole had symbolical significance. He never sported the Austrian color among Garibaldians, or carried a yellow bloom into the Quirinal when a quarrel with the Vatican had become acute. He was among the first in Germany to take to the fashion of having creases in the trousers, but he did not follow the example of the Crown Prince in affecting English sartorial styles. Italians greatly admired his well-kept hands and nails and the expressiveness of his eyes. The moment he entered

STATESMEN WHO WERE SOMETIMES KNOWN DURING THE PEACE CONFERENCE AS "THE BIG FOUR"

Left to right-Premier Lloyd George, Premier Orlando, Premier Clémenceau, President Wilson. The picture represents the four men standing at the doorway of President Wilson's house in Paris