Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-21

ficulties he has to meet and the emo
tons of his own nature with which
he has to struggle for control, Wood
row Wilson, President, confided re-
markable statement to the members
of the National Press Club. of Wash
ington, of which he long has been a
member.
He said:
Never Recognizes Self in Print.
Il was just thinking of my sense of
confusion of identity, sometimes, when
I read articles about myself. / never
have read an article about myself in
which | recognized myself, and | have
come to have the impression that
must be some kind of fraud, because
/ think a great many of these articles
are written in absolute good faith,
] tremble to think of the variety and
falseneSs il the impressions i make
and it is being borne in on me so that
it may change my very disposition
that | am cold and removed person,
who has a thinking machine inside
which he adjusts to the circum
stances, which he does not allow to be
moved by any winds of affection or
f emotion of any kind, but turns like a
cold searchlight on anything that 8
presented to his attention and makes
it work.
81 am not aware of having any de-
tachable apparatus inside of me. on
the contrary, If ] We're to interpret
, myself, / would say that my constant
embarrassment is to restrain the emo
tions that are inside of me. You may
not believe it, but | sometimes feel
+ like far from extinct volcano, and II
I the lava does not seem to spill over 1t
is because you are not high enough 10
see into the basin and see the caldron
boil Because, truly, gentlemen, in
the position which | now occupy there
lis a sort do not know how else 10
express it than TO say passionate
sense of being connected with my fell
low-men in peculiar relationship Of
respo 7ibility. Not merely the re-
.sponsibility of office, but God knows
there are enough things in this world
that need to be corrected.
Knows all Sorts of Men.
Il have mixed first and last, with
all sorts and conditions of men-there
are mighty few kinds of men that
have to be described to me, and there
are mighty few kinds Of experiences
that have to be described to me-aud
who are looking to me as the repre-
sentative of a party. with the hope for
all varieties of salvation from the
things they are struggling IN the
midst of, it makes me tremble. 1t
makes me tremble rot only with
sense of my own inadequacy ana
weakness, but as if | were shaken ~
the very things that are shaking
them! And if l seem circumspect, II
because / am so diligently trying not
TO make any colossal blundCrs. II yon
lust calculated the number of blum
ders a fellow can make in "a hours, IL
he is not careful andA if he does not
listen more than he talks, you would
see something of the feeling that
have,
81 was amused the other day at
remark that Senator Newlands MADE:
] had read him the trust message l
was to deliver to Congress some ten
DAYS before | delivered it, and never
stop doctoring things of that klhu
until the day | have to deliver them'
When he heard it read to Congress ne
said, L think it was better than Wheh
you read it to me- said, senator
there is one thing which l do not
think YOU understand. ! not only use
ali the brains | have, but all l can
borrow, and | have borrowed lot
since l read it to you first Inat, l
dare saw is what gives the impression
Of circumspectness ! am listening; l
am trying diligently to collect all the
brains that are borrOwable that ! may
NOT make more blunders than it is
inevitable that a man should make
who has great limitations of knoWl-
edge and capacity And the emotion
of the thing is so great that suppose
] must be some kind of a mask TO
conceal it,
Feels Like Masquerade.
81 really feel sometimes as if We're
masouerading when / catch picture
of myself in some printed description.
In between things that | have TO 90
as a public officer | never think of
myself as the President of the nlted
States. because | never have mad any
sense of being identified with that Of
flee. ] feel like a person appointed for
certain length of time to administer
that Office. and I feel Just as much
outside of it at this moment as dld
before | was elected to it, ! feel Just
as much outside Of it as ! stlll feel
outside the government of the United
States.
mo man could imagine himself the
government of the United States; but
he could understand that some part of
his fellow citizens had told him to go
and run a certain part of 1t the best
he knew how That would not make
him the government itself or the thing
itself. 1t would just make him re-
sponsible for running 1t the best he
knew how. The machine is so much
greater than himself, the office is so
much greater than himself; the ONCE
is so much greater than he can ever
be. and the most he can do is to look
grave enough and self possessed
enough to seem to fill IT, I can hardly
rferain every now and again from tip
ping the public the wink, as much as
to say. 1T is only me that is inside
this thing. | know perfectly well that
| will have to get out presently |
know that then | will look Just my
own proper size, and that for the time
being the proportions are somewhat
refracted and misrepresented to the
eye by the large thing am inside OF,
Blessed Intervals of Forgetfulness.
For example, take matters of this
sort ! will not say whether IT is
wise or unwise, simple or grave, but
certain precedents have been estab-
lished that in certain companies the
President must leave the room first,
and people must give way to him.
They must not sit down if he is stand
ing up. It is a very uncomfortable
thing TO have to think of all the other
people every time ] get up and sit