The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-03

l
 ton of what was passing in his mind. 1 The President did not refuse brusquely to receive Howard Elliott of the New | Haven railroad system and the President S old-time professional friend, Arthur Had | ley, president of Yale university, although I that report was in wide circulation. MT. Elliott has himself denied the accuracy of 1t, saying that he and President Hadley called at the White House informally and without having made any arrangement for meeting the President At the mo- ment of the call President Wilson was
 ready to go to Fort Meyer, where he had
 an appointment of an official character.
 But the first thing. he did after reaching
 the fortihcation was to send cordial
 communication to President Hadley and
 MT. Elliott, in which he spoke of his re-
 gret that an important engagement had
 compelled him to leave the White House
 at the moment of their arrival. This
 apology was most graciously worded.
 What He Has Learned
 In the business world the suspicion is
 strong that the President has learned
 many things about the business life of the
 United States of which he had no knowl-
 edge when he entered upon the presi-
 dency Some intimations that have re-
 gently come from Washington seem to
 justify this suspicion and certainly the
 Presidents address at the time of the meeting of Congress in January Is still accepted as proof of a new and some what tolerant condition of mind, due possibly to better understanding of what constitutes the great business &C., tivities of the United States, than he had when he took the oath of office
 A Good Listener
 Another intimation which has recently Eo ', ,iy,pv ion e ha ident has learned to be good listener. That, however, Is something which every President sooner or later learns. When General Grant came to New York in 1873, at the time when Congress seemed deter mined to pass the so-called imitation bill, he listened for six hours at the Union league club to expositions made by one after another of those who were leaders at that time in finance and banking. He asked many questions and yet 1t was said after this gathering was over that 1t was impossible to infer from the Pres- ident's manner, tone of voice, or the woro- ing of his questions what he had in mind. His attitude was exactly like that of a man of science giving close heed to an experiment.
 President Wilson, however had either acquired this power or else it was an h. born quality before he went to Washing ton for it is now one of the traditions of the time between his election and his inauguration that he listened with abso- lute impartiality, revealing nothing of his mind, to all of those who called upon him to make recommendations respecting this or that cabinet appointment.
 The common opinion in this city is that the history of Wilson's administration will contain conspicuously the story of the manner in which he was able to keep Congress in continuous session-for there was only a two weeks recess at the hol- iday time--from the early weeks of his administration until the beginning of the summer of the second year of his admin istration--a record unparalleled since the administration of Lincoln--and that by reason of this he was able to secure the passage of new tariff law and also 8 new law radically changing the banking and currency system. It is also the opin- ion here that in the closing days of the second year of his administration there will be far better opportunity to 1ndgc in what relation the President stands to the American people than was the case at the end of his first year. For if he still remains in his personality something of | mystery, 80 there is also at this time no possibility of measuring the estimate of the great majority of the American | people respecting him.