The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1919-12-14

1ltCHcOch VIII lieSiuSHI HhoOi ~
day afternoon;
"When asked if he was satisfied
with the presidents condition and
ability to handle the Mexican situa-
ton Senator Fall said:
"'You mean his mental condition 2
"'Yes.'
"Yes, sir-entirely, the senator
replied.
Senator Hitchcock said the presi-
dent was in rare good humor and told
some jokes, one of which particularly
concerned intervention in Mexico.
"When the senator's greeted the
president and asked him how he felt
the president replied:
az am feeling fit
Senator Fall, according to Rear
Admiral Grayson, the presidents
physician, who was in the room for
time, was very solicitous about the
presidents health and expressed hope
for an early recovery. The president
joked with the senator about his con-
dition and there was some witty spar
ring between them.
%. The whole conference was
declared to have been of the most
friendly nature, the presidents clos
ing it with a story about an Irish
man who, when asked whether he
thought the United States should
take Mexico, replied:
az think we will. It's so conta-
gious to u.s.
"At another point, when jests were
being exchanged about the presidents
health, Mr.. Wilson was said to have
referred to the statement made in a
letter by Senator Moses, Republican,
of New Hampshire, that the execut-
i've was reported to have brain
lesion.
"'The president remarked said
Senator Fall, that as result Of the
conference he hoped the senator
would be treasured although he might
be disappointed
Senator Fall, one of the bitterest
critics of the president, went to the
White House for wool and returned
shorn. "When he returned to the
capitol Senator Fall was surrounded
by his Republican colleagues, who
sought news of the conference" the
press report says The report brought
back by the inquisitor must have bit
terly disappointed them. The stories
of the presidents desperate and hope
less condition mentally and physical
ly had been so diligently discussed
and disseminated, the stage had been
so publicity and deliberately set for
a great dramatic event and the pub
lie mind so confidently prepared for
the climax that such an anti-climax
must have disturbed the gall and as
surance of the most brazen of the (
presidents senatorial baiters.
Senator Fall went to the White
House loaded with all of the terrible
data of the thieving and murderous
Mexican bandits that he had been
able to gather and marshal since
Dictator Diaz's resignation in Pres /
ident Taft's time land some are too
prone to forget that the Mexican
problem was a legacy left over to
President Wilson by his predecessor
which had reached the war-talk stage
under that wise and benign chief
magistrates administration, the con-
ditions having been equally virulent
if not as much talked about. under
previous Administrations Senator
Fall had promised the newspaper cor
respondents to give them his budget
of startling disclosures after seeing 1
the president and laying this before
him, but the senator failed to keep
his promise to the expectant news
paper men after the interview. Pos
sibly the magnitude and gravity of
his disclosures calling for war shrunk
somewhat in his own estimation UNI
der the calm and quizzical gray eye
and quiet probe of the "keen mind"
he reported the president still per-
fectly competent to judge of and deal
with the situation.
The president had kept run of
Mexican matters and was familiar
with the general situation ial-hough
Secretary Lansing had not seen him,
Mrs. Wilson, who is performing the
fune.iors Of eyes and ears for the
president, had doubtless kept him
pog.od 20 all that was necessary for
him to know of this among other
subjects), and while he was interested
AMI cteerfully receptive of Senator
Falls details he did not give final