The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-03-21
Frank Speech at Meeting Of
National Press Club
in Washington
WANTS TO MINGLE
WITH THE PEOPLE
Feels His Detachment i'll the Office of
observation-disclosures Dut to De
sire to Get Opinions of Others.-In-
innate Picture Drawn

| row Wilson unbosomed himself to the
members of the National press club of
4 how he felt ~ president of the United
| States and how he had struggled to be
! as free as the ordinary individual with
| ont the restraints of his office. 1t was
/ an intimate picture of Woodrow VIII
son. the man. drawn bv himself on the
occasion OF the 'housewarming at
/ the press club : new quarters. The
I President did not intend to have his
remarks reported, but later, at the re
/ quest of the club. the unusual speech !
was made public. 1t was as follows: /
- / was just thinking OF my sense of
/ confusion Of identity, sometimes, when /
1 | read articles about myself ] have /
4 never read an article about myself in
which | recognized myself, and / have
/ come TO have the impression that !
must be some kind of a fraud be
cause | think a great many of these
articles are written in absolute good
faith. ! tremble to think of the va
rietv and falseUess in the impressions |
make-and it is being borne in on me
so that it may change my very dispo
Il sition--that | am a cold and removed
person who has Il thinking machine in
side which he adjusts TO the circnm
stances 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 j.
presented to his attention and makes
il work. | am not aware Of having
any detachable apparatus inside nc.
On the contrary, If | were 10 inter
pref myself, ! would say that my con
| slant embarrassment is to restrain the
| emotions that are inside me. ! GU may
| not believe it, but | sometimes feel
| like a fire from a far extinct volcano
| and if the lava does not seem to spill
over it is because you are not high
II enough to see into the basin and see
L the caldron boil. Because, truly. gen
II tlemen, in the position which | now pc
cupy there is sort of do not know
II how else to express passionate
sense of being connected with my Eel
II low men in a peculiar relationship of
II responsibility. Not merely the rcspon-
II sibility of office, but God knows there
III are enough things in this world that
II need TO be corrected.
II q have mixed, first and last. with
II all sorts ana conditions of men-there
are. mighty few kinds of men that
ii have to be described TO me. and there
are mighty few kinds of experiences
that have to be described to me--anC
when / think of the number of meT
who are looking to me as the represen
tative of a party, with the hope fo1
III all varieties of salvage from the
things they are struggling in the mds
II of, it makes me tremhle. II makes m,
II tremblc not only with a sense Of NJ,
II own inadequacy and weakness. but n
n if | were shaken by the very thing
II that are shaking them. and if ] seen
AZ, ~. I
II igently trying not to make any col
ossal blunders. If you just calculate
II the number of blunders a fellow ca
II make in p hours if he is not Garrett
II and if he does, not listen more than II
II talks. you would see something OF tn
II feeling that l have.
Feels Like a Masquerader.
II u was amused the other dax at
II remark that Senator Ncwland made
had read him the trust message that
was to deliver to Congress some
II days before / delivered it. and I ncv,
stop doctoring things of that kind II
til the day | have to deliver thel
When he heard it read 70 Congress !
said; j think it was better than
was when YOU read It TO me- ! sal,
Senator, there Is one thing which
do not think Won understand. | n
only use all the brains | have. bur +;
| can borrow. and ] have borrowed
II lot since | read ii to YOU first. ThG
| daresay. is what gives the impre
sion of circumspectness. ! am liste
ing; | am diligently trying to {,
lect all the brains that are borrowab
in order that | may not make mo
blunders than it is inevitable that
man should make who has great lin
tratTons of knowledge and capacit
And the emotion of the thing is
great that ] SUPPOSE ] must be sol
kind of mask to conceal it. | real
feel sometimes as if | were masqu1
aiding when | catch a picture of n
self in some printed description.
ii between things that | have to do
= . public officer ! never think of II
self as the President of the Unit
States because | never have had a
sense of being identified with that
fee. | feel like person appoint
for certain length of time to adm
lister that Office, and | feel Just
much outside of it at this moment
] did before ! was elected to it. / f,
just as much outside of It as l ST
feel outside of the government of {
states. No man could imagine hi
self the government Of the Unit
States; but he could understand tn
some part of his fellow citizens b
told him to 60 and run a certain ma
of it the best he knew how That won
not make him the government itself
the thing itself. 1t would Just ma
him responsible for running 1T the bt
he knew how. The machine is so mu
greater than he can ever
and the most he can do is to 10
grave enough and self possessed enou
to seem TO fill it. l can hardly refrs
isst every now and again from tipping
public the wink, as much as to S;