The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-02-12
A YEAR OF WILSON.

AS his first year in the White
House draws near it's close, President
Wilson's grip on the country is inn
mensely stronger than it was on cleo
ton day Then, he had the backing
Of the party. Now, he has the sup
port of almost the entire nation.
Whenever his name is mentioned in
any gathering, some bystander is
sure to say:
Il didn't vote for him, but he is
the best president since Lincoln; and
| will vote for him if he ever runs
again"
| BY what magic has busy and alb
sorbed man, who knows not the first
letter in the alphabet of demagogery,
worked such a change in public SEN
timent in less than twelve months?
Partly by his tremendous efticien-
cy. He has done the things that
others only talked about His record
of work accomplished in a single
year is five times as long and five
hundred times as valuable as that
made by his most strenuous critic
and predecessor in seven years.
| In less than twelve months, Presi-
dent Wilson has chased out of Wash
ington the lobby which infested the
capitol for two generations He has
bitted and bridled the tariff trusts,
and whipped the money trust till it
is crying for the privilege of eating
out of his hand. He has secured the
passage of the first honest tariff bill
since the civil war, and of the first
rational currency legislation in the
entire history of the United States.
| Ia no ya Of al no
efforts of interested jingoes to force
war. He has caused to be introduce
ed and will bring to passage anti
trust laws which will correct these
vicious abuses which gained fullest
power during Rosevelt's regime.
This is a marvellous record. Presi-
1 dent Wilson has had help, splendid
help, in his task Underwood in the
done some of the finest work ever
performed by parliamentary chiefs;
but there never has been moment
since his Inauguration when Wood
row Wilson was not leader of the re-
form forces at Washington.
His record explains the admira-
people, but not their evident and
growing fondness for him. Men ad-
mire steam engine, but they seldom
develop any particular affection to-
ward it. The secret of Wilson's in
creasing power and popularity lies
in his character far more than in his
achievements.
He is devoted to duty The notion
that he could use his position for
personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and glori-
fication seems never to have occurred
to him. He employs no press agent,
and he never condescendS to answer
the press agents of others. AS Agas-
siz had no time to make money, so
Woodrow Wilson seems to have no
time to root for public applause
And the public, having had some ex-
perience with press agent heroes,
shrewdly decides that the man who
is too busy doing his work to collect
credit for it is a good man to have
on the job.
He is man of policies, not of
patronage. Many good democrats
have complained, and with much
show Of reason, that the president
was so devoted to administration
work and measures that he neglected
to reward" those who worked and
voted for him. At least. they can
not complain that he lacked frank
ness in warning them. He served no.
tice at the very outset that he was
president of the United States, not
head of an employment agency; and
the American people approve that
stand.
After all, probably not one man
in two hundred ever applied or ever
will apply for federal office. and
while that one may mourn that his
claims are disregarded, the 1919
rejoice that the nations chief is in
better business than the mere dis
tribution of jobs.
This brings up the most important
matter of all, yet one which it is
hard to state without using such
overworked phrases as the common
people" and the plain people,
President Wilson is the champion
of the coming man, rather than Of
the one who has arrived at wealth
and power. He is champion of those
who work with their hands to pro-
duce wealth, not of those who scheme
and plot with cunning brains to
steal wealth which others have Great
ed. He is spokesman and attorney
for the man next to the ground, the |
quiet, patient, ill-reWarded worker. !
on whom at last the prosperity of
the nation. and the world must rest I
To quote his own words:
The treasure of America does
not lie in the brains of the small
body Of men now in control of great |
enterDriSeS y II denendS
upon the inventions of unknown
men, upon the ambitions of I'M
known men. Every country is re-
newed out of the ranks of the I'M
known, not out of the ranks of the
already famous and powerful in con-
troll
President Wilson is the first occu-
pant of the White House since Lin
coin to take stand, and, like Lin
coin, he has made himself the apos-
tie of fair play. He does not ask
that the unknown man. on whom
so much depends shall be coddled
with government favors, but he does
insist that the unknown shall have