Part 16 (2/2)

I would feel deeply mortified to have you or anybody like you vote for me Since you have access to many disloyal Ae to them

This sharp and tiave expression won the hearty and unani like this bold defiance cahes until a few days before the election

The Den, within twenty-four hours after the publication of the O'Leary telegra

At this same newspaper conference the President, who had not seen the newspaper group since his arrival at Long Branch, discussed the caht have what he called the ”inside of his hes was conducting contained bitter irony and, sarcashes had adverted in his ca the President and his administration had cut the President to the quick One of the newspaper n, and he laughingly replied: ”If you will give that gentleotten s since he closeted himself on the bench, and he will soon find himself out of touch with the spirit of the nation His speeches are nothing es and the country, unless I mistake the people very much, will place a true assessment upon them”

The newspaper men left this conference heartened by the reply he had made to O'Leary and with the fir” with Hughes and would pounce upon hiical n speeches at Shadon each Saturday afternoon President Wilson took full advantage of the swing toward the Democratic side which was raed in invading the West in his swing around the circle, the Democratic candidate each week froe-hammer blows at the Republican breastworks As the Republican candidate in an effort to win the West was heaping maledictions upon Dr E Lester Jones, the head of the Geodetic Survey, a Wilson appointee, the President cal to shreds the poor front behind which the Republican hes caned like a lawyer, Mr Wilson like a statesame with bird shot, Mr Wilson trained heavy artillery on the enemies' central position The essential difference between the two men and the operations of their n No one would wish to hes, but they are the abilities of an adroit lawyer He makes ”points”

He pleases those minds which like cleverness and finesse He deals with international affairs like an astute lawyer drawing a brief But has he ever quickened the nation's pulse or stirred its heart by a single utterance? Did he ever make any one feel that behind the formalities of law, civil or international, he detected the heartbeats of huned to serve? Mr Wilson was not thinking of Mr

Hughes, but perhaps he was thinking of the type of which Mr Hughes is an eminent example when he said in Paris: ”This is not to be a lawyers'

peace”

Every speech of President Wilson's was, to use a baseball phrase, a home run for the Democratic side They were delivered without much preparation and were purely extean to wince under the s blows delivered by the Deiven of the fear and despair that were now gathering in the Republican ranks With a few short trips to the West, and his final speech at Long Branch, President Wilson closed his cas of Election Day, 1916, will long linger in e of the Executive offices located at Asbury Park, while the President re the news of the first returns from the country The first scattered returns that filtered in to the Executive offices ca town in Massachusetts early in the afternoon of Election Day, which showed a slight gain for the President over the election returns of 1912 Then followed early drifts froains Those of us ere interested in the President's cause were h iht of the election, forecasted the President's reelection

In the early afternoon the President telephoned the Executive offices to inquire what nee had received from the country and he was apprised of the results that had coainst us in the most unusual way Between seven and nine o'clock the returns slowly came in from the East and Middle West that undeniably showed a drift away fro I was seated in my office, when a noise outside in the hallway attractedunusual was afoot The door of alaxy of newspaper men connected with the White House offices, led by a representative of the New York _World_, who held in his hands a bulletin frohes' election

The expression in the men's faces told me that a crisis was at hand The _World_ e of defeat for our forces, without explanation of any kind To , for the New York _World_ had been one of our staunchest supporters throughout the whole can and yet, I had faith to believe that the news carried in the bulletin would be upset by subsequent returns Steadying myself behind my desk, I quickly made up my mind as to what my reply should be to the _World_ bulletin and to the query of the newspaper e” and concede Hughes' election Concealing the e stateh the country:

When Secretary Tuhes' election, he authorized the following statement: ”Wilson in The West has not yet been heard fro the Pacific slope to offset the losses in the East”

Shortly after the flash frohes' election, the President again telephonedBranch to find out the latest news of the election From what he said he had already been apprised by Admiral Grayson of the bulletin of the New York _World_ Every happening of that ht is still fresh in my memory and I recall distinctly just what the President said and how philosophically he received the news of his apparent defeat Laughingly he said: ”Well, Tuins to look as if we have been badly licked”

As he discussed the matter with me I could detect no note of sadness in his voice In fact, I could hear him chuckle over the 'phone He see and talked like a reat load had been lifted and noas happy and rejoicing that he was a free ain When I informed him of the drifts in our favour from other parts of the country and said that it was too early to concede anything, he said: ”Tuins to look as if the defeatI am sorry for, and that cuts me to the quick, is that the people apparently rets We have tried to do our duty” So far as he was concerned, the issue of the election was disposed of, out of the way and a settled thing That was the last telephone e between the President and ain in our favour

An unusual incident occurred about 8:30 o'clock in the evening, shortly after my talk with the President I was called to the telephone and told that sohly important matter I went to the 'phone At the other end in New York was an individual who refusing to give his naht he was one of the varieties of crank, hom I had been accustoabout his talk that convinced me that he was in close touch with someone in authority at Republican headquarters In his first talk with ht of the election and on the following day, there was a warning to us, in no way, or by the slightest sign, to give up the fight, or to concede Hughes' election He said: ”Early returns will naturally run against Wilson in the East, particularly in Illinois and Iowa,” and intimated to erate these reports and to overwhelhout the country Continuing his talk he said: ”The Wilson fight will be won in the West I shall keep you advised of what is happening in Republican headquarters I can only tell you that I will _knohat is happening and you ht long the loyal newspaper il at the Executive offices As I read over the bulletins that came to me, particularly those from Republican headquarters in New York, I was quick to notice that although the Republicanto the country that the fight was over, for sohes, as at his headquarters at the Hotel Astor, was silent

Just about this tier in New York Thethe Republican hes to clai tofor further returns You boys stand pat Returns that are now co them Don't be swept off your feet by clai there”

Shortly after this telephonethat the Republican hes and that a state This unusual coincidence convincedme either was on the inside of affairs at Republican headquarters, or had an uncanny way of knowing just what the

Up to eleven o'clock every bit of news ran against us Finally, the Brooklyn _Eagle_, a supporter of the President, and then the New York _Tihes' election, but the unterrified Deainst any adain on the wire, saying that there was consternation in the Republican ranks; that George Perkins had just conferred with National Chair his head and saying to one of the attaches of headquarters, that ”things were not looking well” A few minutes later a bulletin ca the story the er had just told over the 'phone

All the while I was keeping in touch with our headquarters in New York City, and about 10:30 o'clock Robert W Woolley, the publicity man of the Democratic National Co and assured reater drifts, indicated Wilson's reelection