Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-03-19

/ I'VE minutes, transact their business
while standing on their feet. 1t is all
a part and parcel Of President VIII
sons celebrity methods and is born
OF his desire to get through with pub
lie business and not to clog its wheels
I by sprinkling in the sand Of useless
conversation.
Woodrow Wilson gets through with
an enormous amount of work in a
comparatively short time. From 10
a. m each day until lunch time, bar
ring, Of course, cabinet days, the SEIZED
| ule Of the White House business looks
like the time table of a metropolitan
railroad which is serving some mil
lions of suburban passengers.
President Fixes the Time.
Perhaps it is not an exaggeratlon to
say that nine-tenths of the appoint
ments are made for fye-minUte pc
RODS only. Appointments are made
by telephone or in person by those
who wish to see the president the
next day or the day after. The list
Of applicants for audiences is submit
ted to Mr. Wilson and he fixes the
hour and minute at which he will see
| each caller, if at all Of course, SEN
ators and representatives and others
who have public business rarely are
denied, but it is frequently true If
their business is not of pressing i'm
portance that they are compelled to
wait for two or three days until the
schedule lightens up a little.
Nine out Of ten of the presidents
! callers must be content with inter
views lasting no longer than five min
utes. Of course if the business is one
requiring some time for consideration
the president frequently will direct
that the caller come just after
luncheon, when he can give him half
an hours time to be taken out of the
afternoons outing, usually allotted
for health and recreation purposes.
As for the morning hours, each one is
divided up into twelve five-minute sec
tons and during the continuance of
each five minutes the president stands
and his caller stands. A man who is
standing up does not have the same
inclination to prolong an interview
and to seek excuses "for further ex-
plantations" that a man has who, com.
fortably installed in a stuffed-back,
cushion-seated chair, is loath to drop
the subject and change his angle of
repose. Mr.. Wilson knows how to
welcome caller and then to speed
his parting.
He Is Not Inaccessible.
Members of congress have COM
planned that President Wilson is in.
accessible. AS a matter of fact he
is not as inaccessible as was his
predecessor in Office. Mr.. Taft wanted
to see everybody, but he had a habit
of talking for three-quarteTs OF an
hour to every man who came in and
the result was that many who were
outside the door, although having ap-
pointments, would be compelled to go
away without seeing the president at
all.
By splitting up his day as the presi-
dent does into f1ve-rninute, and even at
times shorter sections, President VIII
son manages to see pretty nearly
everybody who wants to come to see
him. During the course of the short
conversation the president generally
manages to find out if the subject in
hand is of enough Importance to de-
mand more time. OF course he can
not give more than five minutes at the
first interview, because he has an ap-
pofntment with someone else when
the five minutes are up but he will
tell his caller to come again and he
will fix a time Of the day when the
interview can be more prolonged.
Congressman and other officials of
the government have learned one
thing since President Wilson came
into off1ce-that they must be on time
The man who is late loses his chance,
for if the president says 40: 80" he
means 1890 and invariably he Is
ready to meet the caller who was
told he would be welcomed at that
hour. Mr.. Wilson may be charged
with a brevity which is near the verge
of discourtesy, but while he is brief
he means no discourtesy, and Repub-
licans, Democrats and Progressives
say that he manages to accomplish
a great deal within very limited
time.
Canal Builders for Repeal.
Recently Col. George W. Goethals,
the chief engineer of the Panama
canal, said he was in favor of the re-