Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-26
UNCLE SAM, Esq.
PRESIDENTS AT PLAY.
By Oliver Owen Kuhn.
Copyright, 1850

Somehow 1t never seems to occur to
average humanity that the President
of the United States is just unit Of
average humanity, temporarily elevated
by the suffrage of a sufficient number
Of other Americans to the position of
chief executive Of the United States of
America. To the man from out yon-
der, the President seems nebulous sort
of entity. sitting aloof from the world.
bordering ceaselessly on affairs of
state and not at all subject to the
whims and faEcies and inclinations of
the rest of mankind.
But Presidents grow tired OF the rou-
tine grind of official life, just the same
as other men, and then they have to
seek recreation. Finding it, and find
ing 1t to their individual tastes, is one
of the hardest jobs the President of
the United States has to tackle.
We have had big game-hunting Pres1-
dents, golfing Presidents, chess-playing
Presidents: and all of our Presidents
have been readers. with not more than
one or two exceptions in comparatively
recent times. Reading and chess play
ing, however, are not occupations that
may rightfully be classed as recrea-
tions, at least, in the modern accept
ance of the word.
Tastes Of Recent Presidents.
Just so 1t took him out of doors, no
recreation was too strenuous for Presi-
dent Roosevelt. Exactly opposite were
the tastes in this line of his predeces
sor. William Mckinley. and of his sue
cessor, William. Howard Taft. But
Washingtonians have by no means for
gotten the occasions on which they
watched the strenuous Roosevelt clam
bering up, the rocky bluffs that II, line
Rock creek, near Washington. They
have not forgotten the eager strides
with which he covered the miles and
miles of his cross-country rambles, re-
ducing the secret service men and other
members of his party to breathless and
empurpled Jumps OF exhaustion They
have not forgotten the horseback dash
es over fields, fences. hedges. bitches
and through tangles Of woodland
around Washington, in the course of
which the former President used to
wrack the souls of his companions
with fears for his bodily safety-to say
nothing of their own.
What Mr.. Taft Liked.
with the advent of the Taft admins
tration this was all changed. A quiet
game of golf of an afternoon. If the
weather suited him. or pleasant hour
or so with books or with congenial
companions indoors, If the weather bu-
reau had been unkind-these were the
limits of President Taft's exertions. if
his occasional and brief plunges into
physical culture under the tuition of
a trainer who was possessed of a lot of
consideration be excepted
President Wilson, at the beginning OF
his ADM istration, became a member of
country club near Washington, de-
clining honorary membership in other
similar organizations and paying his
entrance fee into the club he favored.
Whenever the duties of his Office per-
init the President may be seen trudg-
ing around the course and others near
the capital, giving the same studious
attention to his stroke as he gives to
everything else in which he engages.
An hour or SO of this and then back to
the city; because Woodrow Wilson has
neither the physique nor the tempera-
ment that demands lots of vigorous ex-
ercise. Regular hours. careful diet,
sufficient sleep and some calisthenics-
these are the things daily relied on to
keep the present occupant of the White
House in the physical trim necessary to
permit him to get through the enor-
nous mass Of business he must attend
to each working day.