Evening star., 1919-08-29
TOUR
TO Be HARD GRIND
Interest in Visits Promises
One of Busiest Periods
for Mr.. Wilson.
SIGNIFICANCE OF APPEAL
SIGNIFICANCE OF APPEAL
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

President Wilson's itinerary on his
Forthcoming stumping tour of the coun-
try Is the most extensive he has taken
since he entered public life. He will
travel more than 10000 miles and cover
the distance in twenty-five days. MAX
ing at least thirty speeches. though the
tack platform talks not already sched-
> uled will. probably increase the total
number.
THE White House offices looked some
thing like railroad Office on the morn
ing Of an excursion yesterday-only in
stead of passengers there were members
of Congress beseeching officials to
change the itinerary to include stops in
their respective states.
Hundreds of Invitations.
Literally hundreds of invitations had
been received Not only is there
desire to hear what the President has TO
say with respect to his fight for ratlfca-
ton of the peace treaty, but there is
evidently widespread interest in seeing
the President himself, who has not been
across the country since the spring OF
1916, when he campaigned for prepared
ness
Some parts of the country. too. like
the Pacific coast, have never seen Mr..
Wilson as President. He came to the
coast as a candidate for the presidential
nomination while he was still Governor
of New Jersey, but received not mucn
more attention than the average would
be nominee gets on a privately conduct
ed swing around the circle. California
is intensely interested in the Presidents
visit, and Senator Phelan was at the
White House yesterday urging as many
stops in California as the officials could
into the itinerary
AS it is, the trip is hard one. and
when the stops are denn1tely an
nounced, it will be impossible to make
changes, so the many who are plan
ming to urge meetings in places
omitted from the schedule are doomed
. 10 disappointment
Probable Itinerary.
The itinerary will probably be this:
The President speaks at Columbus.
Ohio, on Thursday night, and In
dianapolis the next day, then ST
Louis. Passing northward through
Chicago, he touches Milwaukee, st.
Paul, Minneapolis and points in North
Dakota and Montana He speaks at
Spokane, Seattle and Portland, Ore,
and comes down the Pacific coast
through San Francisco, Los Angeles
and San Diego. Returning, he will go
to Sacramento, Reno. Salt Lake. Den
phis, Louisville. and come back to
Washington through West Virginia
and Virginia.
Especial interest attaches to Mr..
Wilson's visits to Ohio, Indiana, Mis-
souri,, Washington, Utah and CalifOr-
MIA, for among the strongest oppo-
nents of Mr.. Wilson's program of
ratification are Senators Harding of
Ohio, New and Watson of Indiana.
Reed of Missouri, Poindexter of
YTT ~ Of h
ram Johnson of California. Unques-
tionably some. of these senators will
be found trailing the President and
defending their positions.
It is the first time that Mr.. Wilson
has gone personally into the states of
those members of Congress who dis
agreed with him on public policies.
though the threat to do SO has been
made again and again since Mr.. Will
son took office The issue. however. is
one which the President regards as of
such paramount Importance that he
intends to leave no stone unturned to
reach the people who can influence
senators to hasten ratification of the
peace treaty.
No Long Stops.
There will be no long stops in any
cities Mr.. Wilson will be on the
train almost every night. If he does
any Misunderstanding at all, which is un-
avoidable as a rule with big crowds,
and If his train stops at points en-
route, the President will have about
! as strenuous time as he has ever
had in his life. He will get little time
to prepare his speeches, which will be,
of course, extemporaneous.
Hitherto he has handled the sena-
tors with gloves. and with the excep-
tion of a cynical remark about men
with small vision which he released
when he got back to New York from
Europe last month, he has carefully
refrained from criticism of the men
on Capitol Hill On the trip, however,
before the people. in an open fight.
his language is not apt to be so re-
strained, and the public may expect
him to fight on the stump for the
q peace treaty as he used to do in the
/ campaigns of 1912 and 1916 when he
was discussing domestic issues. 1t
rshould prove the most interesting trip
| Of his career.
| (Convrf1hf fQIoN