The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-02-23

Jus ~ I'll gov liz ANNAJ r
tant visitors, increased the work of
the president and his staff fully so per cent and
imposed upon Woodrow Wilson responsibilities
and tasks heavier than those resting on any
crowned head.
The comparative isolation of the man in the
White House is not an entirely new thing. War
has merely accentuated the normal enforced iso-
lation of the chief executive. President Taft
spoke Of such isolation one day in a rather plain
tive little speech before the Washington newspa-
per correspondents. More than three years ago,
before Europe went to war, President Wilson,
addressing these same correspondents, spoke of
the stately restraints of the office Of president.
Mr.. Taft regretted that nobody drops in" at
the White House. He missed neighborly visits,
chats. Everybody comes by engagement, COM
planned the jovial Mr.. Taft.
This story of a wartime president will reveal
how few, even by engagement, come to the White
House nowadays, and why President Wilson has
become a near recluse because of war.
Also 1t should show how Secretary Tumulty
and his assistants, Rudolph Forster and tom
Brahany, are striving harder each day to keep
little worries from the president and to save his
strength and judgment for vital things.
Practically all business with the president is
now transacted in his study at the White House.
Except on cabinet days. he does not use the
executive offices. These offices were built by
direction Of Theodore Roosevelt so that the White
House proper might be used only for living and
Social purposes.
President Wilson began the steady use of the
White House library and study about the time of
the breach with Germany, when war seemed but
q question of weeks. 1t was then that the presi-
dent began to tighten up on his engagements and
to conserve his energy for the major problems Of
armed neutrality and impending war.
The engagement list of the president nowadays
will average three to five names. Before the
war, or rather before the international situation
demanded so much of his time, 1t was not uncom-
mon to find a dozen to twenty names on the en-
gagement sheet that lies on his desk.
Senators and representatives, public officials
and citizens of prominence were able to get to
the president during peace. He found time to
see the newspaper correspondents occasionally,
to greet the Daughters of the American Revolu-
ton on their annual visit to Washington, to shake
hands with delegations of schoolgirls and boys
corn clubs and to exchange pleasantries with
bashful constituents presented by members of
congress.
War has changed all this. The president can
now see but few senators and representatives
and his visitors from Capitol Hill are almost ex-
clusively men interested In important Legislation
Immediately before the congress. Secretary
Tumulty is, and must be, the buffer between the
president and the legislator who wants to air a
pet theory or present a patronage matter.
Under the stress Secretary Tumulty himself
sees the president two or three times a week.
Time was when Mr.. Tumulty saw "the Governor
-Tumulty still calls him that-a dozen times a
day. To save the time of the president COM
munication between the executive offices and Mr..
Wilson's desk is today largely made by memOran-
da. The secretary finds that the written note
presents n matter concsely, requires less of the
presidents attention and obviates extended con-
versations.
These memoranda are written by Tumulty and
sent direct to the president by special messen-
ger. To important papers are attached red cards
marked Special or Immediate" and the pres
ident knows upon receipt that something requires
HIS prompt attention.
Suppose that a senator calls and seeks to pour
into the presidents ear some complaint about
patronage. The president, engaged in the con-
duct of a great war, cannot well give a half
hours time to the settlement of a dispute over a
colIectorship. Secretary Tumulty gets all the
facts, dictates a memorandum and the president
is soon advised about as follows:
Dear Governor: Senator Blank called and
desired to see you. He wants to protest against
the reported approaching appointment of John
Doe as collector Of the port at -. He re-
CARDS Doe as untitled for the place and wants to
give his reasons. 1 suggest that you write the
senator saying the, appointment has not been
made and you will be glad to have a letter from
him advising you conidentially in the premises"
This sort of a memorandum is not infrequently
followed by presidential action Of the kind sug-
gested.
The president has been saved the trouble of
listening to the complaint of the senator after
verbal recitation of 1t to Secretary Tumulty. If
Secretary Tumulty had gone personally to see
the president the latter would have been obliged
TO make a written memorandum substantially
like that brlefed for his consideration by the sec
retary--for the president cannot carry everything
in his head.
Memoranda relating to a great variety of sub
tects, minor and major, pass between the desks
of president and secretary daily. II there is a
news story or an editoria, which Tumulty feels