Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-02-19

President Wilson is firmly con-
vinced of this and he and Mrs. wilson
intend next season to inaugurate fur
ther social reforms as far as high
officials of the cabinet are concerned
Probably the cabinet dinners must go
All in all, they are senseless and the
persons concerned would generally be
glad to see them abolished.
Every time President Wilson takes
q cold, doleful rumors circulate in
Washington and out into the country
regarding his health. He is succepti-
bic to colds and, because OF the oner-
GUS duties of his office, members OF
his family are more or less soifeitous
about his ability to keep up, But
statements to the contrary notwith-
standing, the Presidents general
,health is good. Possibly there is too
much doctoring in his case. An emf
nent official remarked the other day
that If they did not stop taking the
PRESIDENTS pulse every few minutes
and putting him to bed whenever he
sehowed slight indisposition, they
would get him sick bye and bye.
DIR. Cary Grayson, the Presidents
naval aid and physician, feels his re-
Sponsibility for the Presidents health
and whenever there is a cold he
adopts drastic measures. The Presi-
dent is a tractable patient. He insist
cd on having his way last December,
when he had the grip, and acted con-
trary to DR.. Grayson's advice. since
then he has done as DR.. Grayson pre-
6cribed When told to go to bed he
has obeyed. The Washington weather,
especially during the first year of ones
residence here, is very trying The
changes in temperature at Washington
are very sudden. The city is on the
border line between the cold weather
of the Northern states and the sunny
South, It is often a summers DAY IN
january, as has happened this year.
land within "a hours as cold as winter
In North Dakota.
In general, the winter has been
very open one. There was no fall OF
snow till Feb. IS, but the cold wave
then was attended by much sickness
In official circles, due in no small
part to the fact that so many of these
months and have not yet become fui-
ly acclimated. Grip and kindred forms
of illness have ben prevalent. Ihe
cold wave and the snow came When
there had been a long period or gov
ernmental activity and also Wheh
many people had also been going II
hard" in social way. Accordingly,
many were all worn out from having
been busy night and day.
The mortality rate in Congress,
composed Of nearly 900 men, has been
quite high this winter. Two members
of the House have died in recent weeks
and on this comes the death OF Sena-
tor A. o. Bacon of Georgia. The late
senator could not well be spared at
this time. He was a man of large abil-
i+v who had made a distinct place in
the Senate. OF long service there, ne
had much valuable experience, espe-
e,aliv on the very important foreign
relations committee of which he was
chairman. At this time the foreign re-
lations committee has much business
of delicacy TO transact, including rat
ification of arbitration treaties and
adjustment of other matters in our
foreign relations. Senator Bacon and
Senator Lodge of Massachusetts have
long been the best informed men in
the Senate on diplomatic matters. That
is almost career in itself. There are
many precedents and many matters
Of international law to keep in min.
Few public men give any study to
such questions and there is always
danger uninformed legislation will
come into prominence on those com
mittees and support policies which