Bridgeton pioneer., 1916-02-17
IT'S HARD JOB FOR
WILSON TO TRAVEL
Amazing Mass Of Details Nee
cessary TO Map Out Trip.
TOWNS CLAM0R FOR VISIT.
Incidents of First Citizens Recent
Campaign For Preparedness In Mid j..
die Western Stat.s-Same Proce-
dure to Be Followed In His Journey
to Southern States.

| TO oOutHeTh StateS.
When the ordinary citizen goes trav.
cling he packs his grip, buys his ticket
gets on the train and simply goes.
When he gets anywhere that he wants
to stop at he picks out his hotel
reaches it by street car or taxi and
that's all there is to it. When the
first citizen-the president goes trGv-
cling it is a wholly different matter.
1t is an elaborate. complicated and
crowded proceeding, not because he
wants to have it that way. but for the
reason that. being the first citizen, he
cannot help it.
Few ordinary citizens are aware of
the amazing mass of detail which at
tended the preparation and execution
of the recently concluded trip of First
Citizen Wilson, where he made his
active campaign for preparedness
Those who saw and heard him were
-hiefy conscious of the fact that the
president arrived on special train.
went to Il hotel or a hall. made Il
speech and departed again according
to schedule. OF al the infinite trouble
that preceded this apparently simple
procedure they were unaware.
As soon as it became known through
the country that the president wa.
contemplating a speech making tril
through the central states the Whit
House began to hear from those state
even before an itinerary Of cities and
towns had been made IN. Every city
town and village in the middle west
wanted the president to make a stop
and none of them appeared to lie con.
scious of the slightest reason why he
should not do so. The White House
was deluged with invitations, both by
mail and telegraph. They We're invi.
tations of the most pressing and cor
dial character At first there We're =
good many of political character
Then when it became known that the
presidents trip was to be strictly non
political came the big boom in invita-
tions from nonpolitical organizations.
Undertaking to Map Out Itinerary.
The announcement of the prelimi
hundreds of towns and cities from con-
sideration. although scores of thein
were not willing to acknowledge it.
They persisted in pointing out to the
White House how easy it was to reach
SmithtOwn or Jonesville by two hour
journey from Pittsburgh or how little
jaunt over to Robinsonburg or NIiller's
Iunctinn cnu1I hn in,
from Chicago or Milwaukee. They
guaranteed citizens committees. big
audiences and all sorts of hospitality.
They appeared to think that the presi
dent could turn day of twenty four
hours into one Of 124.
So at last the schedule was mapped
out, not without many heartburnings
and complaints throughout the middle
west because the president found it
impossible to be in eighteen different
places ut the same time. With the
definite determination of the itinerary
came the task of perfecting details in
each city and town. Reception com
mitteeS had to be selected. hotel ar.
rangements made. routes of travel in
each town carefully chosen. hours of
arrival and departure rigidly fixed. etc
Then there We're the arrangements
for the proper protection of the presi-
dent on his journey. This meant that
Il secret service man attached to the
regular White House staff visited each
city in turn several days in advance of
the presidential arrival and went into
conference with the citizen organiZa-
tions and the police authorities. Routes
through the streets were inspected.
halls were carefully examined, hotels
We're looked over. and minute plans
were made. Perhaps no president eve.
made a trip through the country where
more extraordinary precautions We're
taken to preserve his safety and con
venience. In Milwaukee even the state
troops were called out to assist in the
proper policing of the city.
All these arrangements had to be per
fected to the last detail before the pres
ident left Washington. In many cases
those who are officially charged with
guarding the president made radical
changes in the plans Of civic oryaniZa
tions. For instance, much comment
found its way into newspapers over
the fact that only about POO citizens
witnessed the arrival of the president
in Pittsburgh. This was simply he
cause of the fact that the secret serv-
ice men decided that the president s
train should stop not at the main sta.
ton, but at one i'll an outlying section
Of the city. and that this was not gen
orally known or announced before HI
arrival
1t is no simple thing for the presi
dent to 30 travelling Mr.. Wilson has
not done much Of it since his inaugn
ration. which accounts to a large ex
tent for the extraordinary demand
| from all over the middle west that he
should appear at every cross roads
IF he had been winging his way by
| aeroplane at leo miles an hour without
single stop Mr. Wilson could not
have even passed over the hundreds Of
| towns that called loudly for him with
L I, ,se,