Part 8 (2/2)

He proo so far afield You have no right to pro pros with it only disappointment and sometimes despair As a candidate for the Presidency I do not want to pro you to it I can only see a little distance up the road I cannot tell you what is around the corner The successful leader ought not to keep too far in advance of theto lead, for he will soon lose contact with theht to be created by hiht to me by my friends of what is expected of the next President, I am sometimes terrified at the task that would await hter, who is engaged in social-welfare work in Philadelphia, told me of a visit she paid a hue fa to vote for entlemen, just think of the responsibility an expectation of that kind creates! I can't reduce the price of bread I can only strive in the few years I shall have in office to rerowths that have been planted in our soil and try to clear the way for the new adjustht about suddenly We cannot arbitrarily turn right about face and pull one policy up by the roots and cast it aside, while we plant another in virgin soil A great industrial systee of the Governes ht about, first here, then there, and then there again We must move from step to step with as much prudence as resolution In other words, we are called upon to perfor a delicate operation it is necessary for the surgeon who uses the knife to knohere the foundation of vitality is, so that in cutting out the excrescence he shall not interfere with the vital tissues

And while we do so we must create by absolute fairness and open- mindedness the atmosphere of mutual concession There are no old scores to be paid off; there are no resentments to be satisfied; there is no revolution to be attempted Men of every interest must be drawn into conference as to what it behooves us to do, and what it is possible for us to do No one should be excluded from the conference except those ill not come in upon terreat and delicate matters

We should deal with them with pure and elevated purpose, without fear, without excite with the sacred fortunes of a great country, and not like those who play for political advantage, or seek to reverse any policy in their own behalf

CHAPTER XVIII

WILLIAM F MCCOMBS

The election being over, the President-elect proceeded with the selection of his Cabinet and with that end in view ihout the country in an effort to gather inforestions began to flow into the Executive offices at Trenton Tentative slates were prepared for consideration, and the records and antecedents of the men whose na scrutiny

Every now and then during this period the President-elect would discuss with ate this or that phase of the character of certainthe Executive offices at Trenton, the Governor said: ”Tumulty, you have read Gideon Wells's 'Diary of the Civil War', have you not?” I told hienerously presentedvolumes that contained a most accurate and comprehensive inside view of Mr Lincoln's Cabinet ”Who,” he said, ”in Wells's discussion of the Lincoln Cabinet reminds you of William F McCombs?” I replied that, in some respects, William A Seward, Mr

Lincoln's Secretary of State Not, of course, in the bigness of Seward'sto make any comparison between the intellects of the two men, but in the effort of Seward to do jealousies in other members of the Cabinet that were the cause of continual embarrassment to Mr Lincoln Mr Wilson turned to ht, and that is one reason why I have not seriously considered the claims of Mr McCombs for a Cabinet post I am sure that if I did put hi with the administration of the other departht to interfere, for instance, with the Treasury Department under Salmon P Chase McCombs is a man of fine intellect, but he is never satisfied unless he plays the stellar role, and I am afraid he cannot work in harness with other et any real team work from him There is another serious objection to McCoo he boldly informed me that he desired to have the post of Attorney General When I asked him why he preferred to be Attorney General, he infor a lawyer, the Attorney Generalshi+p would help him professionally after his ter statement for any man to make! Why, Tumulty, many of the scandals of previous administrations have co their posts to advance their own personal fortunes It must not be done in our adrave scandal to appoint such a ed by Mr McCombs' friends that Mr Wilson showed a lack of appreciation of his services and an utter disregard of the fine things McCombs did in his behalf Those of us ere on the inside and witnessed the patience of Woodrow Wilson in handling this most difficult person kno untrue such state days preceding the electionout McCo to satisfy his mind that neither Mr McAdoo, Colonel House, nor any other friends of Mr Wilson were seeking to unhorse him and to take his place in the candidate's affections Never did any reater patience than did Woodrow Wilson in his attitude toward McCon fed fuel to the fires of his naturally jealous disposition He suspected everybody; trusted no one, and suspected that the President's friends were engaged in a conspiracy to destroy hiive hireatly coveted, for reasons I have fully stated above; but at the very tinored him and failed to offer him any place in his administration, the President had already tendered McCombs his choice of two of the most important diplomatic posts at his disposal--the Ambassadorshi+p to Ger incident in connection with the offer of the French post to McCo

The President arrived in Washi+ngton on the third of March and went to the Shoreham Hotel McCombs had already received Mr Wilson's offer of the French Aht of the third of March he concluded he would accept it He sent a er to the Shoreham Hotel with his letter of acceptance Before the arrival of McCombs' letter at the Shorehae was inserted under the door of his rooe of acceptance McCoed his mind and sent a friend to the Shorehaht I found hied in digging out McCombs' letter of acceptance from underneath the door

Fro wind, McCombs would first accept and then reject the offer of the French post By his vacillation he prevented the appointment of an Ambassador to France for four months He had easy access to the President and saw hi on the President one day, Mr Wilson showed sharp irritation and said to me: ”If McCombs would only discuss somebody else for office save himself I would be more interested”

That the offer of the French post was made by the President and rejected by McCo letter, addressed to the President by McCombs, under date of April 3, 1913:

WILLIAM F MCCOMBS COUNSELLOR AT LAW 96 Broadway & 6 Wall Street New York

April 3, 1913

My Dear Mr President:

Since I saw you on Saturday, I have beencontinuous efforts to dispose ofoffer I have been in touch with Tumulty fro you in any way, and he told me it was not

Of course, I did not want to inconvenience you As I have told you before,the post has lain in the adjust of a connection which would continue, in soree, ely personal to hie that the affairs of such a clientele be handled by others This is the difficulty under which I have labored

After intimations to my clients, I find my absence would, in their view, be prejudicial to their interests and that they would each seek separate counsel This would mean my return to New York without any clientele whatsoever and a new start After the stateht ement under which my affairs could be handled I am convinced now that it is impossible, and that Ithe past two years I have been coe extent, and I feel that it is absolutely essential for reat honor of the French post, I was quite willing to sacrifice al I no that the sacrifice would be complete

I was sorry to see in the New York papers of yesterday, under Washi+ngton date line, that I had accepted the e position, and has caused general coine how the fact that I was re-considering becaet in thetoto say in the matter is that iven out in Washi+ngton

Let reat honor you have conferred upon me I sincerely wish it ithinas rarely comes in a man's lifetime

Believe me as ever, Always yours to command, WM F MCCOMBS

HON WOODROW WILSON, The White House, Washi+ngton, D C