The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-02-19
IT'S HARD JOB FOR
WILSON TO TRAVEL
Amazing Mass Of Details Nee
Cessary to Map Out Trip.
TOWNS CLAMOR FOR VISIT.

Campaign For Preparedness In Mid
die Western States-Same Proce-
dure to Be Followed In His Journey
to Southern 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 cut his hotel,
reaches 1t by a street car or taxi and
that's all there is to it. When the
first citizen-the president-goes trav-
cling it is a wholly different matter.
It 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
chiefly conscious of the fact that the
president arrived on a special train,
went to q hotel or a hall, made a
speech and departed again according
to schedule. OF all the infinite trouble
that preceded this apparently simple
procedure they were unaware.
AS soon as it became known through
the country that the president was
contemplating d speech making trip
through the central states the White
House began to hear from those states
even before an itinerary of cities and
towns had been made up. Every city.
town and village in the middle west
wanted the president to maxi a stop.
and none of them appeared to be 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 were invt-
tations of the most pressing and COR
dial character. At first there were a
good many Of a political character.
Then when it became known that the
presidents trip was to be strictly nom
political came the big boom in invita-
lions from nonpolitical organizations.
Undertaking to Map Out Itinerary.
The announcement Of the prelimi-
nary itinerary automatically eliminated
hundreds of towns and cities from con-
sideration, although scores of them
were not willing to acknowledge it.
They persisted in pointing out to the
White House how easy it vas to reach
Smithtown or J%onesville by a two hour
journey from Pittsburgh or how a little
jaunt over to Rob%insonburg or Miller's
Junction could be made in no time
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 a 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 at the same time. With the
definite determination of the itinerary
came the task of p~erfecting 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 were the arrangements
for the proper protection of the presi-
dent on his journey. This meant that
a secret service mar 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-
tons and the police authorities. Routes
through the streets we're inspected.
halls were carefully examined, hotels
were looked over, and minute plans
were made. Perhaps no president ever
made a trip through the country where
more extraordinary precautions were
taken to preserve his safety and CON
v%enience. 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 organiZa
lions. For instance, much comment
found it's way into newspapers over
the fact that only about 200 citizens
witnessed the arrival of the president
In Pittsburgh. This was simply be-
cause of the fact that the secret sery-
ice men decided that the presidents
train should stop not at the main sta
ton, but at one in an outlying section
of the city, and that this was not gen
orally known or announced before his
arrival.
1t is no simple thing for the presi-
dent to go travelling. Mr.. Wilson has
not done much Of 1t since his inaugu-
ration. which accounts to a large ex-
rent for the extraordinary demand
from all over the middle west that he
should appear at every cross roads.
- g.. 49, 49,