A WEEKLY COMMENTARY
Year Twenty-One ... Number Twenty-Six ... June 28, 1974
THE CONTRIVED EVOLUTION
OF REGIONAL GOVERNMENT
PART NINE
1913 AND "THE NEW FREEDOM"
"We originally came from Holland and the name was Huis, which finally fell into House. Father ran away from home ... He came to Texas, joined the revolution, fought under General Burleson and helped make Texas a republic. For his services in this war he received a grant of land in Coryell County. He lived to see Texas come into the Union, secede, and return to the Union. He lived in Texas under four flags."
Thus wrote Colonel E.M. House (a Texas Colonel), who had become very prominent as a political boss in Texas, but who was ever seeking broader fields. "During all these years," he wrote, "I had never for a moment overlooked the national situation, and it was there that my real interest lay. In 1896 I was ready to take part in national affairs. My power in Texas was sufficient to have given me the place I desired in the national councils of the (Democratic) party.
"The great problem," wrote Charles Seymour in The Intimate Papers of Colonel House, "was to find the right leader. In 1910 he came East from Texas and, like Diogenes, sought a man."
"I began now to look about for a proper candidate," wrote Colonel House. And, after rejecting all other hopefuls, including the most logical man, William Jennings Bryan, "I now turned to Woodrow Wilson, then Governor of New Jersey, as being the only man in the East who in every way measured up to the office for which he was a candidate."
Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House first met on Nov. 24, 1911, just a year before the presidential election. Next day, House wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Sidney Mezes, saying in part:
"I had a delightful visit from Woodrow Wilson yesterday afternoon, and he is to dine with me alone next Wednesday .... Never before have I found both the man and the opportunity."
D. F. Houston, then chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, but later to become a member of Wilson's cabinet, also wrote a letter to Sidney Mezes after meeting the latter's brother-in-law:
"My Dear Mezes : ... I have just returned from New York, where I saw a great deal of Mr. House .... He has a vision. I should like to make him Dictator for a while ...
Col. House understood that if he were to be successful in placing his man Wilson in the White House, it would be necessary for him to gain the approval and the cooperation of William Jennings Bryan, perennial candidate who would want to try again for the Presidency. So, one of House's first tasks was to convince Bryan that he could never win an election but that he could win an appointment as Secretary of State if Wilson should win the election. This accomplished, there were differences of opinion on vital issues which had to be overcome. One of these was the banking issue. Bryan's Cross of Gold speech had become a political classic, and he was solidly against any plan offered by the International Bankers, who were trying to create a Central Bank similar to those already installed in England, Germany, and most other large European countries.
Although the Aldrich Plan, which called for the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, was a part of the Republican Party's platform, House (supposedly a Democrat) was an instigator and backer of the Central Bank plan, as was Wilson. As early as 1907, in the financial panic of that year, Wilson had declared that: "All this trouble could be averted if we appointed a committee of six or seven public-spirited men like J.P. Morgan to handle the affairs of our country." This plea for a financial dictatorship had brought Wilson -- then Governor of New Jersey -- to the favorable notice of the Big Bankers and they supported Wilson's campaign when he promised to help enact the Federal Reserve Act.
But Bryan was the principal and strongest opponent of the Aldrich Plan; and yet House had to have Bryan's support if Wilson were to win the election. So, House assured Bryan that Wilson and Bryan saw eye-to-eye on this issue, and that he, House, felt differently but that he wouldn't make a big issue of it. The following excerpts from letters from House to Bryan are evidential:
"New York, November 25, 1911
"Dear Mr. Bryan: ... Governor Wilson called
yesterday afternoon and was with me for an
hour and a half. I am pleased to tell you that
when I asked him what he thought of the
Supreme Court ruling about which we talked
when you were here, he replied in almost
the same terms you used to me. As far as I
can see, your positions are identical. He is
also opposed to the Aldrich plan, but I think
you are both wrong there. You will have to
convince me the next time I see you ....
Faithfully yours,
E. M. House."
"New York, December 6, 1911
"Dear Mr. Bryan: ... I took lunch with Col.
Harvey yesterday .... He told me that everybody
south of Canal Street was in a frenzy
against Governor Wilson and said they were
bringing all sorts of pressure upon him to
oppose him .... We are going to try to devise
some plan by which we can use this Wall
street opposition to Governor Wilson to his
advantage ....
With kind regards and best wishes,
E. M. House."
Biographer Charles Seymour wrote:
"There was in the foregoing letter a cleverness which might escape the too casual reader .... "
Indeed there was. Bryan was being deceived and so were any number of political leaders: Wall Street and the Banking Interests opposed Wilson publicly and backed him privately. And the Republican party was split in two parts to assure Wilson's election. As Seymour wrote:
"The real struggle of 1912 was for the nomination. It would have been far otherwise had the Republican Party remained united and presented its normal strength at the polls; in such a case the election of Wilson would have been difficult, if not impossible. But the dissensions which during the spring had already threatened Republican solidarity culminated in Republican disaster at the Chicago Convention, where Taft was nominated; for the adherents of Roosevelt bolted, organized the Progressive Party, and in August nominated their hero .... Generalizations are usually misleading, but in this case the historian may venture the assertion that Roosevelt put Wilson in the White House. Colonel House was among those who believed that the result of the split in the Republican Party would be certain Democratic victory. Hence he did not cut short the travels that he had planned for the summer of 1912, which included Sweden, Finland, Russia as far east as Moscow, Germany, France, and England .... "
The election won, the new President inaugurated and House returned from his mysterious grand tour of Europe, a politician gained an audience with Wilson and asked him if House had represented the President accurately on a particular issue. President Wilson replied, according to biographer Seymour:
"Mr. House is my second personality. He is my independent self. His thoughts and mine are one. If I were in his place I would do just as he suggested .... If any one thinks he is reflecting my opinion by whatever action he takes, they are welcome to the conclusion."
"Thus began House's career as Silent Partner," wrote Seymour. "It was a relationship which rested chiefly upon the political cooperation of the Colonel in meeting the problems of government. His labors were of the most varied kind, and he sought every opportunity to ease the load that bore upon the President, to bring him information, to work out details of policy."
And thus did 1913 become the year of "The New Freedom," which happened to be the title of a book by Woodrow Wilson, published that year, containing major portions of his campaign speeches, and labeled by the author "An attempt to express the new spirit of our politics."
In the year 1913 the following important events occurred:
And all of these things having been accomplished, Colonel Edward M. House set sail for Europe, this time on his "Great Adventure." His announced mission was to promote a reduction of land and sea armaments. He spoke of using the armies of Germany, England, Japan and the United States "to develop the waste areas of the world." Instead, war came to Europe while House allegedly was promoting his "Great Adventure."
This seems the proper time and place to recall how D. F. Houston (later he would become President Wilson's Secretary of Agriculture) had referred to Col. House as a "man of vision" and how he, Houston, would like to see House made a "Dictator for a while." In all probability, Houston was referring to a book that House was writing, entitled Philip Dru: Administrator, wherein this "vision" of dictatorship was thoroughly expounded.
To avoid the charge of bias or prejudicial reporting, we quote what Charles Seymour wrote about Philip Dru: Administrator:
"The extent of Colonel House's influence upon the legislative plans of the Administration may be gathered from a remarkable document which deserves some attention. In the autumn of 1912, immediately after the presidential election, there was published a novel, or political romance, entitled 'Philip Dru: Administrator.' It was the story of a young West Point graduate, incapacitated for military service by his health, who was caught by the spirit of revolt against the tyranny of privileged interests. A stupid and reactionary Government at Washington provokes armed rebellion, which Dru joins whole-heartedly and which he ultimately leads to complete success. He himself becomes dictator and proceeds by ordinance (by Executive Order-Ed.) to remake the mechanism of government, to reform the basic laws that determine the relation of the classes, to remodel the defensive forces of the republic, and to bring about an international grouping or league of powers, (League of Nations-Ed.) founded upon Anglo-Saxon solidarity (Cecil Rhode's dream of world empire-Ed.). His reforms accomplished, he gives effect once more to representative institutions as formulated in a new American Constitution better fitted than the old for the spirit and conditions of the twentieth century ....
"Five years after its publication an enterprising bookseller, noting the growing influence of House in the Wilson Administration, wrote with regard to the book, 'As time goes on the interest in it becomes more intense, due to the fact that so many of the ideas expressed by "Philip Dru: Administrator" have become laws of this Republic, and so many of his ideas have been discussed as becoming laws .... Is Colonel E. M. House of Texas the author? If not, who is?'
"Colonel House was, in truth, the author." He became ill in the winter of 1911 and, in House's own words: "When I began to convalesce at home, and before I was able to get about, I wrote 'Philip Dru; Administrator.'"
Here is more about the book from the pen of Charles Seymour, biographer:
"Through it runs the note of social democracy reminiscent of Louis Blanc and the revolutionaries of 1848 .... Through the book also runs the idea that in the United States, government is unresponsive to popular desires -- a `negative' government, House calls it .... 'The theory of checks and balances' has developed so as to re-enforce this negative character of government.' The specific measures enacted by Philip Dru as Administrator of the nation, indicated the reforms desired by House:
"The Administrator appointed 'a board composed of economists and others well versed in matters relating to the tariff and internal revenue .... to work out a graduated income tax. ... Dru prepared an old-age pension law and also a laborer's insurance law covering loss in cases of illness, incapacity, and death .... "
There .. is one important fact concerning the book which was not mentioned in Seymour's review: there was outlined in the book a condensed plan which House called "Metropolitan Area Government." The purpose of the plan, said Philip Dru, was "the transference of duties and authority from elected representatives of the people to appointees."
Another interesting set of facts concerning Edward Mandell House: He was in Europe on a personal mission when World War I erupted. Nevertheless, he travelled freely between the adversary nations, being accorded diplomatic immunity wherever he went. He returned to Washington in the summer of 1914, then sailed again for Europe on Jan. 30, 1915, on the Lusitania and in the interests of peace. Returning to the United States, he sailed yet again for Europe on Dec. 28, 1915 for conferences with British, German and French officials. Exactly what House said and did at these meetings is not on record, so far as we know. But we do know that House was on extremely close terms with the leaders of the Round Table Groups, and that there were Fabian Socialists on his immediate staff, called The Inquiry, which went to Paris with him and with President Wilson, when the Paris peace talks began. And there is also this hint concerning a connection with an esoteric group which claimed to be direct agents of the hierarchy which had charge of the world:
There is a "Group of World Servers" that headquarters in London, its activities being financed by the Lucis Trust (original name was Lucifer, but was changed to Lucis due to unfavorable publicity). A spokesman for this esoteric group is one Foster Bailey, son of Alice Bailey, who headed the "Arcane School" of Theosophy which was said to be guided by a "Tibetan Teacher." The Theosophists were, in their very beginnings under founder Madame Blavatsky, closely associated with the British Fabian Society, and remain so today.
This Theosophist, Fabian, World Server by name of Foster Bailey, wrote a book titled, "Changing Esoteric Values," which was first published in Great Britain in 1955 by Lucis (nee Luciferian) Press, Ltd., 38 Broadway Downs, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. On page 59 of this book we find this rather startling statement:
"Some of you will perhaps remember information given us about the way the old League of Nations came into existence. One of the Masters at a conference in the Hierarchy made a suggestion toward the improving of the relationships between nations in line with the new-age needed cooperation. It was considered useful. The different Masters thought about it and therefore the disciples in the Ashrams who were close to them and had achieved some telepathic relationships, also thought about it. Eventually one disciple picked it up and said, 'I will do something about it.' He then formulated a plan of physical plane action, and this was considered. The whole field was studied as to what would be practical and could be achieved, and the disciple was given the green light, so to speak, and went to work. In the case of the League of Nations that disciple happened to be Colonel House. He worked with all those he could influence, and the Sixth Ray Disciple Woodrow Wilson took the esoteric lead, and the League of Nations was born. Thus an hierarchical effort was anchored on the physical plane by a disciple and responded to by those who could catch the vision and serve their fellowmen. This example illustrates an Hierarchical technique."
If the above is to be credited, then House was the disciple of a Terrestrial Authority which supersedes all national loyalties, and proclaims the existence of an Internationalist Theory which can have no traffic with the Compact Theory upon which this Government was founded, and which takes full advantage of the Continental Theory by making strong central governments but regional departments of an all-powerful World Authority.
But we are getting ahead of our story. We must return to that fateful year of 1913, and understand the impact of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments to the Constitution and the chaos that was caused by the establishing of a Central Bank and by the Federal Chartering of certain tax-free Foundations. These shall be the subjects of the next letters in this series.
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