Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-03-26
PRESIDENT ON SELF
WILSON DRAWS INTIMATE WORD
PICTURE OF HIMSELF AT MA
TIONAL PRESS CLUB.
POSE OF DIGNITY Is IRKSOME
Chief Executive Tells Newspaper Men
of Washington How Difficult 1t Is
for Him to Imagine Himself
Head Of the Nation.

49, AhAttA - iii'S z'AtS ''haii~~ai
Head of the Nation.
Washington, D. c., March 23.-TeI-
Ing them in a frank, conversational way
how he felt as president of the United
States, Woodrow Wilson Unbosomed
himself to the members of the Ma
tfonaI Press club at Washington Fri
day. He told how difficult it was for
him to imagine himself as the chief
executive, with the formal amenities
of the position, and how he had strug-
gled to be as free as the ordinary in
dividuaI without the restraints Of his
office.
It was an intimate picture Of Wood
row WiIson-the man-draWn by him
self, ca 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
I read articles about myself" the
president said. Z have never read
an article about myself in which I
recognized myself, and I have come to
have the impression that / must be
some kind of a fraud, because think
a great many of these articles are
-
4 tremble 10 think of the variety
and faIseness in the impressions I
make-and it is being borne in on me
so that it may change my very dispo-
sition-that l 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
Ike a cold searchlight on anything
that is presented to his attention and
makes It work
Feels Responsibility KeenIy.
i am not aware of having any de-
tachable apparatus inside of me. On
the contrary, if l we're to interpret my
self. I would say that my constant
embarrassment is to retain the emo
tons that are inside of me.
You may not believe it, but I 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 I occupy there is a sort of
II do not know how else to express
# than to say-passionate sense of
being connected with my fellow men
in peculiar relationship of RESPONSE
bility 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. it makes me tremble.
1T makes me tremble not only with
a sense of my own inadequacy and
weakness, but as if I 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.
IF 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 I have.
Always Eager to Get Advice.
I was amused the other day at
remark that Senator Newlands made.
l had read him the trJs,t message that
I was to deliver to congress some ten
days before I delivered it, and l never
stop doCtoring' things of that kind
until the day 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 I said:
Senator, there is one thing which do
not think you understand. l not caIy
use all the brains have, but all can
borrow, and I have borrowed a lot
since l read it to you first
often Feels He's disappearing.
Il really feel sometimes as if I were
masquerading when I catch picture
of myself in some printed description
In between things that have to do
as public officer I never think of my
self as the president of the United
States, because I never have had any