The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-02-23
secretary M'7muhr 81 tits Desk

the president should see a memorandum is sent
reading something like this:
THE president may be interested in this edi-
torial from the -. 1 invite your attention
particularly to the underscored paragraph"
Or a delegation may call at the executive
OFFICES seeking the presidents aid in some project,
such as the adjustment of a labor dispute. The
story is heard by Tumulty and briefed by him in
a note for the president. Sometimes the memo
randum is merely one of recital; again the Sec
rotary will suggest that the earnestness of the
delegation and the story presented might justify
a statement of the administrators attitude.
The memorandum system, used whenever pos
sible, illustrates the departure from the peace
time routine of the White House, and the ex-
traordinary methods used to save the president
time, worry and strength. 1t is found absolutely
essential.
The wartime days work of the president is
one of momentous performances embodied in a
program which reads like routine. Here is a
sample day:
Arises Z a. m.
Eats breakfast at 8 q. m.
Goes horseback riding with DR.. Cary I. Gray
son, now a rear admiral by the presidents ap-
pointment or golfng with Mrs. Wilson or Doctor
Grayson.
Returns to the White House after recreation
of an hour or so.
Dictates to Charles Sven, his personal stenog-
rapher, until Sven has a bookful.
Fills an appointment or two before lunch.
Takes lunch at 1 p. m.
Fills other engagements and dictates again.
Goes automobiling late in the afternoon.
Attends a theater once or twice a week.
That might seem like an easy day to a man
who plows from sunrise to sunset. But it's the
in-between worries that count and cause the
president to need every minute of rest he can
take.
For instance, there was a time recently when
the president had before him all these major
troubles at once:
The oethals-Denman shipping board row that
was hating the construction of ships to combat
the German submarin menace and to feed the
allied armies on the battlefelds of Europe.
A reorganization of the purchasing and con-
tracing system of the council of national de-
Tense. In this war the contracts of this govern
ment will run into billions of dollars, and the
president is directly or indirectly responsible for
the wise expenditure of enormous sums.
Insurrection in congress against the food con-
troll bill, which the president regarded as legis-
lation absolutely essential for the successful con-
duct of the war.
The determination of a policy regarding the
exemption of government clerks and others
drafted for service in France.
Price fixing on steel, coal and other articles to
be used in great quantities by the United States
while at war.
Appointments to fill vacancies in the interstate
commerce commission.
Complaints of questionable utterances of GER
tain German-America and other publications
concerning the raising of an army, conscription
and other governmental policies.
Add to these troublesome questions of major
Importance the thousand and one little things
that skip across the desk of a president of the
United States-patronage rows, applications for
executive clemency, requests for interviews, pro-
tests against pending legislation, fractional wran-
giles within the party, demands for action con-
corning race riots and industrial troubles, the