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 :