The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1914-03-31
WILSON ANALYzES
SELF TO PRESS MEN
President Tells What Office
Means to Him.
SIZE OF TASK TREMENDOUS
Chief Executive Finds Pose of Dignity
lrksome and Declares When Term
la Over He Will Visit Washington
on Sightseeing Tour.

Washington, March 23.-Woodrow
Wilson unbosomed himself TO the
members of the National Press club
OF Washington Friday, telling them
in a frank, conversational way how
he felt as president of the United
States; how difficult 1t was for him to
imagine himself as the chief executive
with the formal amenities of the posi-
ton, and how he had struggled to be
as free as the ordinary individual
without the restraints of his Office.
1t was an intimate picture Of Wood
row Wilson-the man-drawn by him
self, on the occasion Of the house
warming" at the Press clubs new
quarters.
The president did not intend to
have his remarks reported, but later,
at the request of the club, the speech
was made public.
Wilson, as He Sees Himself.
Il was just thinking of my sense Of
confusion Of identity sometimes when
president said. Il have never read
an article about myself in which l
recognized myself, and l have come to
have the impression that | must be
some kind of a fraud, because think
q great many of these articles are
written in absolute good faith
II tremble to think of the variety
and faIseness in the impressions |
make-and it Is being borne in on me
SO that it may change my very dispo-
sition-that I am a cold and removed
person who has a thinking machine
inside which he adjusts to the cir
cumstances-which he does not allow
to be moved by any winds of affec-
ton or emotion of any kind-but turns
like cold searchlight on anything
that is presented to his attention and
makes it work
Feels Responsibility keenIy.
Il am not aware Of having any de-
tachable apparatus inside Of me. On
the contrary, If 1 were to interpret my
self, ! would say that my constant
embarrassment is to retain the emo
lions that are inside of me-
you may not believe it, but some
times feel like a fire from a far from
extinct volcano, and if the lava does
not seem to spill over it is because
you are not high enough to see into
the basin and see the caldron boil. Be
cause, truly, gentlemen, in the posi-
ton which / occupy there is a sort of
Il do not know how else to express
1t than to say-passionate sense of
being connected with my fellow men
in a peculiar relationship of RESPONSE
bilfty of office, but God knows there
are enough things in this world that
need to be corrected.
Fear He'll Disappoint People.
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-and
when / think of the number of men
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, II makes me JremDle.
1T makes me trembIe not only with
a sense of my own inadequacy and
weakness, but as if l were shaken by
the very things that are shaking
them, and If I seem circumspect it is
because I am so diligently trying not
to make any colossal blunders.
eff you just calculated the number
of blunders a fellow can make in
"a hours If he is not careful and if
he does not listen more than he talks.
you would see something of the feel
ing that | have.
Always Eager to Get Advice.
Il was amused the other day at a
remark that Senator Newlands made.
had read him the trust message that
l was to deliver to congress some ten
days before l delivered it, and l never
stop 'doctoring' things of that kind
until the day l have to deliver them
when he heard it read to congress
he said; I think it was better than
it was when you read it to me- l said:
Senator, there is one thing which L do
not think you understand. l not only
use all the brains I have but all can
borrow, and l have borrowed a lot
since l read it to you first
That, 1 dare say, is what gives the
impression Of circumspectness. l am
listening; am diligently trying to col
lect all the brains that are borrowable
in order that | may not make more
blunders than 1t is inevitable that a
man should make who has great linn
itations Of knowledge and capacity.
And the emotion of the thing is so
great that l suppose l must be some
kind Of a mask to conceal it.
Often Feels He's Masquerading.
Il really feel sometimes as if l were
masquerading when l catch a picture
of myself in some printed description.
In between things that have to do
as a public officer never think of my
self as the president Of the United
States, because l never have had any
sense Of being identified with that
Office
81 feel like a person appointed for