Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-03-24
#isffllalleous Reaaing.I
PRESIDENT AS HE Is
Woodrow Wilson unbosoms Himself
to Newspaper Men.


Washington, March 20.-Woodrow
Wilson, unbosomed himself to men,
bers of the National Press club, OF
Washington today. 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 position, and
how he had struggled to be as free as
the ordinary individual, without the
restraints Of his office. It was an init
mate picture Of Woodrow Wilson, the
man, drawn by himself, on the occasion
of the "housewarming" at the press
clubs new quarters The president
did not intend to have his remarks re-
ported, but later, at the request of the
club, the unusual speech was made
public. 1t follows:
II was just thinking Of my sense Of
confusion Of identity, sometimes, when
I read articles about myself I never
have read an article about myself in
which I recognize myself, and have
come to have the impression that
must be some kind of fraud, because
l think a great many Of these articles
are written in absolutely good faith. l
tremble to think Of the variety and
falseness in the impressions make
and 1t Is being borne in on me 80 that
1t may change my very disposition
that am cold and removed person
who has a thinking machine inside
which he adjusts to the circumstances,
which he does not allow to be moved
by any winds Of affection or emotion
Of any kind, but turns like cold
searchlight on anything that Is pre-
sented to his attention and makes 1t
work. I am not aware of having any
detachable apparatus inside Of me. On
the contrary II were to interpret my
self would say that my constant en-
barrassment is to restrain the emo
tions that are inside Of me.
Feels Like Volcano.
You may not believe 1t, but I some
times feel like far from extinct vol
cano, and If the lava does not seem to
spill over, 1t is because you are not
high enough to see into the basin and
see the caldron boil. Because, truly,
gentlemen, in the position which now
occupy, there is a sort of do not
know how else to express 1t than to
say-passionate sense Of being con-
nected with my fellow men in a pecu-
liar relationship Of responsibility. Not
merely the responsibility Of office, but
God knows there are enough things in
this world that need to be corrected.
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
l think of the number Of men who are
looking to me as the representative OF
a party,-with- the hope for all varieties
of salvation from the things they are
struggling in the midst Of, 1t makes me
tremble, it makes me tremble not only
with sense Of my own inadequacy, Of
my own weakness, but as II were
shaken by the very same things that
shake them, and II seem circumspect,
it is because ! am so diligently trying
not to make any colossal blunders. II
you just calculated the number Of
blunders fellow can make in twenty
four hours II he is not careful, and II
he does not listen more than he talks
you would have something Of the feel
ing that have.
Senator Newlands' Remark.
II was amused the other day at re-
mark that Senator Newlands made. l
had read him the trust message l was
to deliver to congress some ten days
before 1 was to deliver it, and I never
stop doctoring things Of that kind un-
til I deliver them.
He said
81 think it was better than when
you read 1t to me-
II am listening, am trying diligent-
ly to collect all the brains that are bor-
rowable that may not make more
blunders than 1t Is inevitable that a
man should make who has great limi-
tations Of knowledge and capacity
And the emotion Of the thing Is so
great that I suppose I must be some
kind Of a mask to conceal 1t. I really
feel sometimes as If I were masquer-
aiding when I catch a picture Of my
self in some printed description. In
between things that I have to do as
public officer, I never think Of myself
as the president of the United States
because I never have had any sense Of
being identified with that office. feel
like a person appointed for a certain
length Of time to administer that Of
flee, and feel just as much outside OF
1t at this moment as I did before I
was elected to it. I feel just as much
outside of it as l still feel outside Of
the government Of the United States.
Office Greater Than Man.
No 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 it the best he
knew how. That would not make him
the government itself or the thing it
self, it would just make him RESPONSE
BILE 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 office Is so
much greater than he can ever be and
the most he can do Is look grave
enough and self possessed enough to
fill It,
II can hardly refrain now and then
from tipping the wink, as much as to
say, 1t is only me that is inside this
thing; 1 know perfectly well l will
have to get out presently. know then
J. will look my own proper size
For example. take matters Of this
sort: / will not say whether 1t Is wise
or unwise, simple or grave, but certain
precedents have been established that