Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1913-03-29
"TUMULTY IS MY
OTHER SELF"
SAYS PRESIDENT WILSON OF HIS
PRIVATE SECRETARY, THE MAN
WHOM HE DISCOVERED IN NEW
JERSEY LEGISLATURE.
HE'S IRISH AND LOVES A SCRAP.
STRIKING PERSONALITY OF
MAN NEWLY PROMINENT IN
NATIONS EYES.
(SDeciaI to the HCrdld.)

INtIA DouN outSlut VI NCN JCISCg was
surprised when President Wilson named
Joseph p. Tumulty to be his private sec
rotary at the white house; but every
body i'll New Jersey would have been
surprised if he had named anybody else.
JerSeyites who had been watching
Tulnulty know this appointment was a
%fOregone conclusiOn-for Tumulty, for
two wears, had been the mainStay, prop,
comforter, counselor and captain of the
Wilson gubernatorial administration.
The kind Of 4 fellow Tumulty is |(accent
on the first syllable, pronounced as if
it were "Tumm'D is best shown by what
the president himself says Of him:
'Tumulty is my other self
For three years before he became GOV
ernOr, Wilson had his eye on Tumulty,
who was elected to the house of assembly
for his fourth term when Wilson was
elected governor i'll 1910. Although sup
posed to be a college "rccluSc,' Wilson
had been studying conditions in New
Jersey closely. He had seen young Tu-
multy, who went to the legislature when
he was %, stand on the floor of the
house and rave about corrupt political
conditions which he was powerIeSS to
remedy but which he never hcSitatcd to
condemn. Tumulty had been preaching
all the reforms which Wilson later made
real as governor, so Wilson grabbed him
out of the house and put him to work
with tln titIn. nf .a,.,t 49, ,,hl 41.- 1.. .
of assistant chief executive and general
political campaign manager.
1t was Tumulty who got the informa-
ton that formed the basis for Wilson's
reform program in New Jersey. 1t was
Tumulty who stood at Wilson shoulder
when the presidency business started.
and it was Tumulty whom Wilson
leaned on more heavily and found abso-
lutely trustworthy and wise when he
ran for the democratic nomination. when
he ran for election, when he Stcered the
New Jersey legislature through its last
session. That's the reason he brought
Tumulty to Washington. to help him
through the bigger job at the white
house.
Tumulty is a natural born fighter. He
is Irish through and through. He loves.
a scrap, and he eats, drinks and sleeps
politics. Being born in i tenement ward
il Jersey City, growing up where he had
to establish his position by his fists.
knowing the grind Of poycrty-his father
was an iron mOulder-Tumulty natural
ly became a democrat, and later. as he
began to form definite ideas of govern
ment, ne became an cXtrcme radical. He
knew the trials, hcatraches and dis
cOuragemcntS of the man who is down
and has nothing 70 pull him up but his
own efforts, because he had to pull him
self up. Since he GOT near the top he
has never forgotten how the average
or less than avcrage-pcrSon has to
struggle.
THAI was the reason he fought for DO
litical dcccncy and clean government i'm
the house of assembly at Trcnton-and
for that was made SECRETARY to the pres
idcnt Of the United tSateS.
During his two years at Trenton. Tu-
nudity "commuted" between his home in
Jersey City and the capital every dav.
rising ut 5:l5 to catch an early train
and getting home anywhere from Z 10
midnight. He wouldn't move because
his wife. to whom he was married 10
years ago, was comfortably settled with
the SIX little Tumulty'S-four girls and
two boys-in a coy home that he didn't
want to change.
That early rising habit, together with
his fOndnesS for hard work. EXPLAINS
why he gets to the white house every
morning at s o'clock-and throws !
double distilled chill into his Office staff
IN particular and official Washington in
general.
Tumulty was educated at the Catholic
schools of Jersey City and studied law
IN an office afterwards. working between
times. He had been practicing law five
years when he was elected to the legis-
allure, and had been making good ran
idly.
In personal appearance, Tumulty is
almost beautiful. He is ) feet : II
inches high and is rather chubby. His
halr is almost golden and his skin is as
faIr and pink as a woman'S. But he is
the least feminine, the reason prob
ably being for his strong Jaw and his
straightforward, penetrating blue eyes.
Ills personality is charming. True to
his breed, be is almost effervescent in
spirits, a great practical joker, a good
story teller. warm hearted. generous and
OF strong emotions.