The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-11
NEW WILSON FOUND BY BUSINESS MEN AT B|G BANQUET President Deeply Affected By Reception Given Him at New York Affair TELLS ANECDOTES
 AND LISTENS WELL Railroad Equipment Men Delighted With the President Whom They
 Had Always Regarded as
 Uncompani0nable
By HOLLAND

By HOLLAND
 New York, February 10-(Special. )--Pres- ident Wilson's addresses to the people of the midwest really began in New York city, but this first of the series was test made in not exactly the way the President expected it would be made when he came to New York to speak to the members of the Railway Business asso- citation. Although the President of the as- sociation, George A. Post, began in Oc- tober an attempt to persuade the Presi- dent to be the association's guest of honor and to make the only speech at the ban uuet it was not until about two weeks before the meeting that the President accepted the invitation, intifnating that he would feel honored if he were to ad- dress those business men.
 An incident took place when the com- mittee of three-President Post, Herman Westinghouse and William L. Saunders met the President at the White House to invite him to be the guest at the banquet. President Post said to MT. Wilson that the Railway Business association had no railway men in it's membership The mem bers of the association were manufactur- CTS and dealers who sold railway equip ment and other supplies to the railroads. but on account of it's name the association had been compelled to face and absorb no small part of the criticism which was directed at the railroads.
 Quick as thought, the President re- piled: "Ah, see. You are the shock ab- sorbers." It was evident from the spirit then revealed by the President and by his. manner that he looked forward with pleasure to gathering where he could face a great company of business men, representing, as whole, the entire United States, and to speak to them. He, how ever, gave no intimation of the character of his address, did any member of the association know until the address was delivered what the President would say.
 THE TRUE INSPIRATION
 President Wilson knew when he faced that great company that at least 75 per cent of the membership were men of re- publican party association. But when he took his place at the guest table and real ized that at no time in his public career had he received such spontaneous and almost tumultuous recognition, the great company sending tributes to him in the way or CHelr dppTeCldlOII oI HIS OlliSC and of his services, he was visibly moved and even warmly excited. It was at that moment, presumably, that he determined to cast aside the address which he had prepared and to rely upon the inspiration of the moment to say the appropriate things he had in mind.
 Those who knew that the President was not speaking from memory or from manu- script notes, but wholly under the inspir- ation of the moment, have since the meet ing referred to this instantaneous change as something which reflects very un- usual mental quality, temperamental also. Some, probably a good part, of his hear CTS were under the impression that the President in the course of his address would make some reference to the railway situation. But there was no hint of a thought of that kind in his mind. As he went on, he seemed still to be more and more dominated by the spirit of the gathering, so that he was able to say without any previous formal preparation those things which are contained in all the addresses he made on the tour. While he was upon his speaking tour, he l found among his audiences some of the l members of the Railway Business asso- citation, and very likely knew that they | had carried to their homes enthusiastic l reports of his address in New York, and | the way in which it was received. These l business men realized, too, that 1t was not necessary for the President to allude | to the railroad situation since he had i done that in a satisfactory manner in a | former communication to Congress. AN UNEXPECTED REVELATION | Very likely the members of the Rail- | way Business association upon their re- | turn to their homes told their friends of | an unexpected and highly interesting ex- perience which the entire body-130O in all | who saw and heard the President met | with. As the minutes passed, it was made | evident that the President was entering l into the spirit of the occasion with some | thing like the ardor of young man who | is enjoying his first experience in activi- | ties that are healthfully stimulating. Frank Trumbull-who is high author | ity in the railway world-was seated at | the guest table near the President. In a | moment after an introduction they seemed l to have known each other for years, and ! each listened to the others anecdotes with evident pleasure. Frederick D. Underwood, president of | the Erie railroad, and of high repute | among men of the railway world as a | skillfull narrator of anecdotes, began to | tell story to his neighbor at the table | President Post checked him, saying that | President Wilson undoubtedly would be | glad to hear that anecdote. So, in a mo- ment, the President of the United States | and the President of one of the great rail- ]
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