martyrdom at the hands of his party, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, than he did at the hands of Booth. Congress, and particularly the Senate, does not like a "boss."

I brought up the matter of the drift of legislative proposals in Congress in the field of agriculture, the tendency to appropriate great sums of money to the farmers out of the Treasury or to grant bounties directly to the states. I mentioned especially the proposals to lend the farmers $2,000,000 out of the Treasury at 4 per cent., to appropriate to the states large sums for extension work, and also for public roads. I said that we must meet these crude measures with those which were carefully considered and on sound lines. To this the President assented and told me to proceed to frame them.

CHAPTER V

FOREIGN PROBLEMS

Bryan's Trip to California on Japanese Question-Possibility of War The Mexican Problem Looms up

F

OREIGN problems continued to occupy much time and thought. China was again pressing for attention. After much discussion, it developed,

as the President remarked, that it was the sense of the meeting that China should be recognized if the Assembly convened in regular and orderly session on April 15th. This was to be done through the Secretary of the Legation in Peking.

At the ensuing meeting, on April 15th, the President said that he had been giving much thought to the matter of Panama Canal tolls and that he was inclined to be against the existing exemption of American ships on both economic and moral grounds. I quickly expressed my concurrence. Bryan was inclined to oppose the repeal of the exemption. He feared that the railroads wanted tolls charged for their own ends! He thought they could, in that event, either secure more traffic or increase their rates!

The situation was especially difficult. The Democratic party had declared for exemption, possibly on Bryan's initiative, and this made it embarrassing to act. The President was in favour of rescinding the action outright, frankly and immediately. He did not wish to suggest

arbitration. The Senate, he thought, was probably against either course. Mr. Bryce had suggested that the President make a statement favouring arbitration, if the law could not be repealed, but this was regarded as unreasonable.

Foreign questions were uppermost at the meeting, Friday, April 18th. China had not been recognized. The Assembly had not organized. Most of us urged that we wait further developments and information, but Bryan was in favour of immediate action. The President decided that the matter should be deferred.

On Tuesday, the 22d, when the Japanese question was raised, Bryan asked if it would not be possible to have the matter submitted to a referendum in California. This was opposed because of the known attitude of the California people and the danger of intemperate discussion. Asked what his opinion would be on a proposal to insert in the law the phrase, “ineligible to citizenship," Mr. Bryan said: "I would oppose the insertion of that phrase, unless the President has a different opinion. In that case, I might have another opinion. I am here solely to help and to carry my part of the burden."

The President spoke of having asked Mr. Bryan to go to California. Mr. Bryan said that he was far from being anxious to go, but that he would do so if the President requested him to go. It was then decided that he should make the trip, if the Governor was favourable to it, and that the Governor should be sounded. We were not hopeful that the California situation could be improved; but it was thought that Japan would be convinced that the Federal government was friendly and disposed to do all it could.

Bryan went to California, and at the Cabinet meeting, April 29th, a dispatch from him was read in which he placed before the President a hypothetical statement and asked for his views. The President declined to give answers to hypothetical questions and reaffirmed his position. Mr. John Bassett Moore was in Bryan's chair. He expressed the opinion that the United States courts could set aside a state law against alien holding of land.

At the meeting after Bryan's return from California, he gave a detailed account of what happened and stated his impressions. Politically, he asserted, there was everything to aggravate the situation. The Democrats in their platform had demanded the enactment of an exclusion law. They had made a hot fight and had forced the Republicans to declare themselves. They had put them on the rack.

The protest of the Japanese Government was read. Its terms were strong. They asked the Federal Government to declare the California law invalid. They demanded prompt and decisive action, terming the law obnoxious, discriminatory, unfair, unfriendly, and in violation of the treaty. The offensive character of the protest was something of a shock, especially in view of what the government had done and was doing and of Japan's own laws against aliens.

There was much doubt as to Japan's real purpose and meaning. Some thought that the protest was for home consumption; others that Japan wanted trouble before the Panama Canal was opened. It was asserted that Japan was in too great financial straits to enter into a fight with the United States. I expressed the view that poverty constituted no reason against her fighting if she wanted

to fight-that history furnished many instances of nations waging war when they seemed to be down and out financially, and waging it successfully. I added that I credited Japan with some sense and therefore did not believe that she seriously intended to go to the limit. As to the fear expressed that Japan could take the Philippines and land an army in California, I said jokingly that I would almost be willing to whip her to make her take the Philippines, and that I would eat every Jap who landed in California as part of an invading force.

Bryan again suggested a California referendum. This was passed over. The President called the Japanese statement unfair-all treaty rights were specifically safeguarded in the law itself. It was agreed that it would be unwise to publish the statement, as it would inflame the public. Bryan was authorized to tell the Japanese Ambassador informally that the language used was objectionable, especially the words referring to California.

The President suggested that Bryan take particular pains to attempt to form an opinion from the Japanese Ambassador's manner and expressions how much there was in the protest. If Japan meant what she said, it was impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation.

A few days after his confirmation by the Senate, as I was walking on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, I met our new Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, in the person of my old friend, Walter Hines Page. He was just coming through the gate from the White House grounds. As he came toward me, he was smiling. He gave one of his characteristic chuckles and said: "Doesn't it beat the devil?" I asked him what the joke was. He replied: "I am. Did you see that fellow