New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-17
Wilson Bares Trials of Being President

finished that II IL absolutely useless to
talk TO them. | am talking in vacuo.
1.-THE business of every one OF US,
gentlemen, is 10 realize that, If We are
correspondents of papers who have not
vet heard Of modern times, we ought TO
send them as many intimations OF mod
ern movements as they are wiling TO
print.
"There is n simle that vas used by a
very interesting English writer that
has been much in my mind. Like my
self. he had often been urged not to
try to change so many things. l re-
member when was president OF uni
versitv a man said 10 me: Good heav-
ems. man. why don't you leave some
thing alone and let it stay the way 1t
is? And | said: If you will guaran-
tee to me that il will stay the way II
is | will let il alone, but il you knew
anything you would know that II you
leave a live thing alone It will not stay
where it is. II will develop and VIII
either 90 in the wrong direction or de-
cay: 49, ILL.,, ,.o.
the English writer said, that II you
want TO keep a white post white you
cannot let it alone. II will get black.
You have to keep doing something to
il. In that instance you have got TO
paint it white very frequently to keep
Il white, because there are forces at
work that will get the better OF you
If you do not. Not only will 1t turn
black, but the forces OF moisture and
the other forces of nature will pene-
trate the white paint and get at the
fibre Of the wood, and decay will set IN,
and the next time you try 70 paint IL
you will find that there is nothing but
punk to paint
"Then you will remember the Red
Queen in Alice in Wonderland or
Alice Through the Looking Glass i
forget which, it has been so long since
I read them-who takes Alice by the
hand and they rush along at great
pace, and then, when they stop, Alice
looks around and says, But we are
Just where we were when We started
Yes says the Red Queen, you have
TO run twice as fast as that to get any
where else
Not Even Standing Still.
"That Is also true, gentlemen. of the
world and of affairs. You have got TO
run fast merely TO stay where you are,
and, TO get anywhere, you have got
to run twice as fast as that. That is
what people do not realize. That is
the mischief of these hopeless dams
against the stream known as reaction
aries and "stand-patters," and other
words of obloquy. That is what is the
matter with them; they are not even
staying where they were. They are sink
ing further and further back in wha,
will some time comfortably close over
- l.. IL -.
oblivion. | sometimes imagine that
see their heads going down, and am
not inclined even TO throw them a life
preserver.
"The sooner they disappear the bet
ter. We need their places for people
who are awake, and We particularly
need now, gentlemen. men who will di-
vest themselves of party passion and
of personal preference and will try to
think in the terms of America. II a
man describes himself to me now in
any other terms than those terms |
am not sure Of him; and | love the
fellows that come into my Office some
times and say, Mr.. President, | am an
American Their hearts are right.
their instinct true; they are going in
the right direction, and will take the
right leadership if they believe that the
leader is also a man who thinks first
OF America.
You will see, gentlemen. that did
not premeditate these remarks, or they
would have had some connection with
each other. They would have had
some plan. have merely given my
self the pleasure of telling you what
mas really been in my heart, and not
only has been in my heart, but is in
my heart every day OF the week. II
| did not go of at weeks ends occa-
sionally and throw off, as much as il
is possible 20 throw of, this burden,
| could not stand il.
This week I went down the Potomac
and up the James and substituted his
tory for politics, and there was an in
finite, sweet calm in some of those
old places that reminded me of the
records that were made in the days
that are past, and | comforted myself
with the recollection that the men we
remember are the disinterested men
who gave Us the deeds that have COW
cred the name OF America all over
with the lustre Of impe.Ishable
OiorvD