The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-17

DdS1S OH WHICH hO NN1Ib IOoPOC I have got occasionally to knocl
 The President declared he had been kept awake nights considering the European situation because there i might come a. time when the United 1 States would have to do what 1t did not desire to do, and -'the great bur l den on my spirit has been that it has been up to me to choose when that l lime came-'' He added that he did 4 not conceive tfraa the had been elected President to do as he pleased Iii i T were it would have been very much more interesting" he said
 Impressions of public men as a class were given frankly sby the President with the commentf that some grew and some sweHed- He also discussed l the relations of t41eAnewspapers to the i affairs of the nation and sounded 3 warning that false se@information about : foreign affairs wass more than hkely xn lead to trouble
 The Presidents remarks as origin ally delivered were reads by him care fully before they were made public { but no important portions were ehm- mated, and the wording was not : changed substantially Following is F the text of the speech:
 next of Wilson's Speech.
 -1 am both glad and sorry to be here-gBad because am always hap i pyr to be&with you, and know and like TO many of you. and sorry because have to fmake a speech One of tht leading faults of you, gentlemen o- the press is your 1inordinate desire ! to hear other men talk, to draw then out on all occasions, whether the1 | wish to sbe drawn out or not re 1 member being in this Press club once before making many unprem editatec j disclosures of myself, and then hay ing you, with your singular insinc- 1 for publicity, insist thai should give ] it away to everybody else
 eT was thinking as I was looking forward to coming here this evening of that other occasion when I stood i very nearly at the threshold of the duties that I have since been called i upon to perform, and I was going ] over in my mind the impressions that then had by way of forecast of the Hi duties of President and comparing them with the experiences that have followed I must say that the fore . cast has been very largely verified and that the impressions I had then have been deepened rather than weak ened-
 ~You may recall that said theE that felt constantly a personal de tachment from tHe Presidency that one thing that resented when I was not performing the duties of the, office was being reminded that I was the President of the United States I fe11 toward it as a. man feels toward 2 1 great function, which,, in working hours, he is obliged to perform, but which, out of working hours, he if fglad to get away from and almost forget and resume the quiet course o1 his own thoughts
 Could Take the Census.
 .I am constantly reminded as I gc about, as do some times at the weeI end, of the personal inconvenience oi being President of the United States If want to know how many people live in a small town all I have to dc is to go there and they at once line up to be counted. I might, in a cen sus taking year, save the census takers a great deal of trouble by ask ing them to accompany me and coun the people on the spot. Sometimes when T am most beset, I serious1, think of renting a pair of whiskers ol of doing something else that will fur nish me with an adequate disguise because I am sorry to find that thu cut of my jib is unmistakabIes anC that must sail under false color if I am going to sail incognito.
 Remarks Start Fires.
 Now that is pretty dangerous, gen tlemen. because it happens that re- marks start fires. There Is finder ly ling Everywhere, not only on the othe side Of thA water, but on this side O U the water, and a man that spread: sparks may be responsible for some thing a grcat deal worse than burning town on the Mexican border.
 sThoughts may be bandits. Thoughts may be raiders. Thoughts may be in vaders. Thoughts may be disturber. of international peace; and when yoI fref1ect upon the importance of thi! country keeping out of the present war, you will know what trenendou: clements we are all dealing with.
 We are all in the same boat. Ii somebody does not keep the processes of peace going, if somebody does no Keep their passions disengage by tvhat impartial a4-ejudgment and sugges ton is the world to be aided to a so- fut1on when the whole thing is over; IT you are in a conference in whicf you know nobody is disinterested, how are you going to make plan? I tel you, gentlemen, the only thing that saves the world is the little handful o1 disiaterested men that are in it.
 Now. I have found a few disinter- estsd men. 5 wish I had found more ! anznanae<tsvessor4 three men with whom I48axe@ee inferred again and again and again. and I nave never caught them by an inadyertence think Ing about themselves for their own Interests. and I tie to those Ipen as wnu would tia to anchor. I tie to