The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-20
WHAT HAPPENSAT WHITE HOUSETALK
Correspondent Teiiis How the President Receives the POS Members of the Press Gallery at His Weekly Conferences.

l Newspaper men all over the country
 will be interested in knowing just eX- actly what happens when the presl- dent receives the correspondents and reporters in Washington. AshmOn Brown, correspondent of the Spokane ! Wash, Spokesman-RevieW has writ Hten this interesting account:
 i ''At the beginning of the Wilson ad-
 ministration the president carried on a. practice which has existed in previous i administrations of seeing newspaper l correspondents twice a week for an 1 informal conference, at which the | president would speak freely and an- swer all questions with the implied un- i derstanding that he was not to be quoted on anything without his direct permission.
 Presently the twice week confer ence became a once g. week confer ence and then a movable and uncertain festival. Ten days following the Lu- sitania incident in May, 1915, one of these conferences was held. Nothing
 particular happened there save that the president betrayed some slight an-
 noyance at some of the questions ask
 ed. But thereafter there were no
 conferences until very recently.
 Frankly no great amount of news
 ever is obtained at these conferences.
 Tn the days of the Roosevelt dminls-
 tration there was straight out' man fashion talk. and sometimes the short and ugly word obtruded itself, utter ed, of course only by the president. Sometimes he was sitting in the bar Der chair, being shaved, when he talk ed, and one had to stand out of the way to keep from being spattered by father when the colonel grew vocifer- Ous.
 Taft Great Talker.
 "Then in the Taft administrat ton there was nothing in the wide world that could not be talked about. Presi- dent Taft, assuming a tolerant and good natured air of leisure, used to dis course and yarn and answer ques- tions, and tell everybody that I lam afraid that what is the matter with me is that I am laZy,' when he had ! been doing a tremendous amount of work, and make all kinds of impolitic remarks that helped out his enemies.
 "But the Wilson conferences have always been characterized by an air of restraint. The newspaper men all seem afraid of the president.
 'On conference days the correspon dents assemble in the corridors of the executive offices, spilling over into that section immediately adjacent to the office of Secretary Tumulty that early in 1911 became known as Lame Duck alley, from the presence of the defeated Republican congressmen who were there seeking federal appoint l ments. At the appointed hour one of Secretary Tumulty's assistants and a SC cret service man pop out. One of them announces all right and, cha l peroned by Jim Preston, superinteh- dent of the senate press gallery, who is there to see that no ringers get in, the crowd moves inte the presidents S | office.
 His Desk Always Neat.
 "This is a large room, simply fur nished, with the presidents desk in a sweeping bow window which ovsrlooks the White lot to ths south. Always the presidents polished desk is spi 7 and span and barren of papers. A vase of flowers and a pile of books, 1 their titles open to view; blotter, an inkstand and a pen alone adorn it. . Hc pIcSlucnI UcIlHu IIlc desk, his back to the southern light. Secretary Tumulty, Rudolph Forster, the executive clerk, and Tommy Bra hany, the chief clerk, <range them selves hard by to whisper suggestions into the presidential ear. Stenogra- pher places himself at the corner of the desk to take down the presidents every word so that in the event of permission being given to quote direct ly-a permission given rarely-exact copies may be furnished.
 'The newspaper men range them 1 selves around the wall opposite from ] the president, crowding sclOse to one | another for comfort in the awesome 1 place. The president shows his teeth | in his famous smile, waits for an em- | barrassed moment and then says, 1 Well, gentlemen, I am at your ser i vice. but he doesn't look it a bit. He looks as if he were ready to parry ev- cry question shot at him.
 "Presidently some bold spirit gets a question off his chest. Usually that bold spirit is Gus Karger of the Gin cinnati Times-Star - Charley Taft's paper-who isn't at all afraid of pres dents. He knows them and has trav- eled with them and advised them and even scolded them. That starts it, and the other questions come thick lnd fast. Maybe the president is mov- d to become humorous with some1 question or questioner, and always he gets a laugh for his wit.
 Then the talk lags. The president ooks from face to face, there is an- other silence, an awkward sort of si- ence, and the fellows nearest the door lide out The movement becomes gen. ,ral, and it is all over."