Part 38 (1/2)
CHAPTER XLIV
WILSON--THE HUMAN BEING
There is no one ishes to feel the camaraderie of life, ”the familiar touch,” more than Woodrow Wilson; but it seee that it could not saddened him fro between us at the Governor's Cottage at Sea Girt, New Jersey, a few hours after the news of his nomination for the Presidency had reached us from Baltimore in 1912 In this little talk he endeavoured in an intimate way to analyze himself for my benefit ”You know, Tumulty,”
he said, ”there are two natures coht for supremacy and control On the one side, there is the Irish in enerous, impulsive, passionate, anxious always to help and to sympathize with those in distress” As he continued his description of hiue, ”And like the Irishman at the Donnybrook Fair, alillin' to raise me shi+llalah and to hit any head which stands firninst me Then, on the other side,” he said, ”there is the Scotch--canny, tenacious, cold, and perhaps a little exclusive I tell you,a themselves, it is hard to act as umpire between them”
For every day of my eleven years' association with Woodrow Wilson I have seen so expression to itself I have witnessed the full play of the Irish passion for justice and sy, the e es to the public view I have seen the full tide of Irish passion and human sympathies in him flow at some story of injustice which I had called to his attention; that Irish sympathy in him expressed itself not dramatically, but in some simple, modest way; an impulse to lift someone, to help an unfortunate person in distress That syht be expressed in the presence of so pardon at the hands of the President in behalf of a ard son, or so for the release of a loved one, or it would show itself in full sway, as it often did, when I called his attention to soain I saw the Scotch in hi I saw the Scotch rise in him when an attempt would be made by personal friends to influence his action where it was evident to hie, of favouritisrounds of friendshi+p I saw the full sweep of that Scotch tenacity during the war, in the very , at a tihout it he was calm, imperturbable, undisturbed by the frenzied passions of the ratitude in a striking way in the White House, in my presence, as the result of a conference, in which the participants were the President and Senators Stone and Reed, both of Missouri
The incident arose out of Senator Reed's failure to get the President to agree to appoint an inties, many of them unfounded, had been ainst the Reed candidate and, although Reed had made many appeals to Postmaster General Burleson to send the appointment of his friend to the President for his approval, Burleson refused to do so, and Reed thereupon brought his case to the President I reenerous and courteous the President was in his treatment of Reed and Stone on this occasion Senator Stone, in his usual kindly alked over to the President and putting his hand on his shoulder, said: ”Now, Mr President, I want you to do this favour for ood fellow” The President laughingly replied, ”Why, Senator, you just know that there is nothing personal in my attitude in this matter I have no desire to injure or humiliate Senator Reed, but the Postmaster General has refused to recommend the appointment of the Senator's friend for the St
Louis postmastershi+p” The President then turned to Senator Reed and said, ”Senator, I will tell you what I will do for you I will allow you to name any other ested, and I will appoint hiation whatever as to his qualifications This I will do in order to convince you that I have no personal feeling whatever toward you in this ue for the appointment of his friend The President was adamant Senator Stone and Senator Reed then turned away from the President andthat of the President It was plain that the two Senators were deeply disappointed and highly displeased with the President As the President opened the door for the Senators to make their entrance into ain and in the most emphatic way, said, ”Mr President, Senator Stone told me before I came to see you that you were not a cold ood fellow It was upon that hypothesis that I took the liberty of appealing to you personally in behalf of my friend” Senator Reed then continued, and in the most eloquent short speech I have ever heard, said, ”They tell ht at Princeton with the Trustees of that University You better than any one else in this country knohat it is to have a pack of ene in my friend's case My enemies in Missouri have conspired to destroy this ht my battles for me This nfriends, and I will stakeBut because he has been my friend he is now to be punished and now by your action you will complete the conspiracy that is afoot to defeat and destroy him”
The President then said, ”But, Senator, I have tried to convince you that there is nothing personal in my attitude and that I will appoint any other man you hty hiht for h to know that in the fight you had for your ideals and your friends at Princeton, you would not have surrendered to anybody I a now for the reputation and the character of ht not to ask me to surrender hi with his ar him and was evidently deeply touched by Reed's appeal As Reed concluded his eloquent speech in behalf of his friend quickly the President reached out his hand to Reed and said, ”Senator, don't surrender your friend; stick by him to the end and I will appoint him” Whereupon he turned from the Senators, walked over to the telephone which stood on my desk, called up the Postmaster General and directed him to send over to the White House at once the appointment of Senator Reed's friend for the postmastershi+p at St Louis The Postmaster General protested but was overruled by the President As the two Senators left my room, Senator Stone said to Senator Reed, ”By God, Jireat ular fellow”
It has been said by the enerateful, that he never appreciated the efforts of his friends in his behalf, and that when it ca obligations to the letter is so characteristic of theleave to introduce it:
The White House, Washi+ngton D C
April 14, 1916
MY DEAR DAVIES:
Thank you for having letthat distresses me The implication of Mr Alward's letter is (or would seem to one who did not know the circuratitude for all the generous things he did in pro my candidacy Surely he does not feel that Is it not true that I appointed hireatest pleasure as gratifying his own personal wish, and that the office itself has afforded hi his real quality and mettle to the people of his state in the performance of duties for which he is eminently qualified? And have I not tried, my dear Davies, in every possible way to shoarm and sincere appreciation and my loyal friendshi+p both to you and to him? It distresses me to find any other implication even latent between the lines, and the inference left to be drawn is that if I should not appoint hiratitude on my part I am sure he cannot soberly mean that, for it is so far from just
It seems to mewhich coment after the , both for the interests of the Bench and the interests of the party
Always, with real affection,
Faithfully yours, WOODROW WILSON
Hon Joseph E Davies, Federal Trade Commission
On one of theout in stentorian tones from across the sea that the as now a race between Von Hindenburg and Wilson, a fine old Southern gentleman appeared at my office at the White House, dressed in an old frock coat and wearing a frayed but tolerably respectable high hat He was the essence of refine with him to the White House a breath of the old Southland from which he had co, ”Mr Secretary, I am an old friend of the President's father, Doctor Wilson, and I want to see Woodrow I have not seen the boy since the old days in Georgia, and I have come all the way up here to shake him by the hand”
Sothe critical days of the war and at a tihty responsibilities that I was reluctant to grant the old man's request and was about to turn him aith the usual excuse as to the crowded condition of the President's calendar, etc, when the old man said, ”I know Woodroill see me for his father and I were old friends”
He then told me a story that the President had often repeated to entlein front of a store in the business street of Augusta, Georgia, where the President's father was pastor of the Presbyterian Church, when he sighted the parson, in an old alpaca coat, seated in his buggy driving a well-grooray mare, and called out to hiroomed than yourself” ”Yes,” replied Doctor Wilson dryly as he drove on, ”I take care of ation takes care of me”
I knew that if I repeated this story to the President it would be the open sesame for the old man I excused myself and quickly madea conference with the Cabinetmy excuses to the Cabinet for my interruption, I whispered into the President's ear that there was an old man in my office who knew his father very well in the old days in Georgia and that he wanted an opportunity to shake hands with him I then said to the President, ”He told me the old horse story, the one that you have often told me I am sure that he is an old friend of your father's” This struck the President'sthe years of our association the President had regaled htful stories of his father and of the tender, solicitous way in which his father had cared for him One of the passions of President Wilson's life was his love for and recollection of that old father, himself ato the members of the Cabinet, the President said, ”Gentlemen, will you please excuse me for a few minutes?”
When I told the fine old chap that the President would see hi hih hat in hand, striking a statesmanlike posture, he walked into the President's office No words passed between the two men for a few seconds The old man looked silently at the President, with pride and admiration plainly visible in his eyes, and then walked slowly toward the President and took both his hands Releasing them, he put one of his arht into the President's eyes, he said, ”Woodrow, reat friend of hty proud of you He often told ht even beco hi bashful schoolboy, and I could see that the old man touched the mystic chord of memories that were very sweet and dear to the President Re his arm from about the President's shoulder, the old man said, ”Well, well, Woodrohat shall I say to you?” Then, answering his own question, he said, ”I shall say to you what your dear old father would have said were he here: 'Be a good boy, my son, and may God bless you and take care of you!'”
The President said nothing, but I could see that his lips were quivering