The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-10-17


The phrase or its equivalent is on
the lips or in the minds of millions
of Americans. Their intent is sympa-
thetic. And yet, however, uncon-
sciously, their attitude is cruel. 1t is
precisely the same attitude which
would be reflected throughout the
land in the case of the nervous eX-
haustion of any President of whatev-
er party.
The thoughtlessness lies in the lack
of establishment at a situation result
ing from the abnormal eXactions Of
the nation highest office. The pub
lie is not surprised, but by all the te-
nets of ordinary morality it ought to
be.
That the elected rulers of the Unit
ed States, whoever they may be, la
Dor under prodigious burdens, that the
mere performance of their duties
aside from any excess of endeavors,
as in Mr.. Wilson's case-involves the
most intense physical and nervous
strain is fact received as a common
place.
~ wouldn't be the President" pro-
claims the average citizen, and he
means it, "for all the glory on earth"
He has no hesitation, however, in ac-
cepting a state of affairs requiring
his President to be a superhuman, and
when weakness and WEAKNESS result
the verdict is the conventional "of
course" A republic may not always
be ungrateful, but in the American
manifestation it is often inconsider-
ate.
Aside from the ineXtinguishable
Mr.. Taft and John Quincy Adams,
whose intellectually saved him from
being a prey to emotions, most of our
full-term presidents have departed
from office broken men. If they
were not, according to medical opin-
ion, actually i'll, it is undeniable that
their pristine forcefulness, mental vi
rility and general zest Of life were Sc
riously dissipated by the grueling
years of office.
The problem of the disposition of
our ex-presidents has been, on the
whole, more theoretical than real.
The ranks of those living statesmen
who held the most exalted American
public post have seldom been numeri-
cally embarrassing.
It is another cavalierly recognized
convention that ex-presidents do not
die of old age. Survivors of any
length of time, as, for example, JEFF
ferson and John Adams, have become
impotent figures in the national life,
aloof and isolated relics of the past.
Grover Cleveland's authority as a
spokesman vanished as he left the
White House. Washington had but
two years of peace and quiet at Mount
Vernon following his exit from the
Executive Mansion in Philadelphia in
in 1897. Grant was disillusioned and
tired by his presidential duties. Even
the fiery Jackson was an eX-president
for but seven years.
The activity of Theodore Roose-
welt, subsequent to his last term, is
only specifically an exception. His
warmest champions cannot consist
emily claim that the splendor of his
mentality, the driving energy of his
character and all the fine attributes
which make him so impressive a fig
ure in our history were displayed to
the full after he had gone through the
presidential MILL Too often in that
later period vehement extravaganza
replaced the firm and mastery judg-
ment which preserves his fame.
The pitiful truth is that American
Presidents burn themselves out. The
office is merciless, the public far too
complacent.
AS if one were not enough, Wood
row Wilson has been serving two task
masters. The first was the exacting
public, the other his eXacting self
Upon the apparent assumption that
his own shoulders were sufficiently
sturdy to bear the weight which ter
rife and unprecedented events placed
there, the President voluntarily took
responsibilities which other men
could have shared with him.
Perhaps his university experience
had made him unduly wary of action
by unwieldy committees. At any rate
he has been a firm believer in the
philosophy of eff you want a thing
done do it yourself"
1t is conceivable that had the world
continued to spin at the ordinary pace
which characterized it at the begin
ming of the century, Mr.. Wilson, with
his brilliant gifts and sterling powers
of craftsmanship, might have tri-
umphed physically over the formid-
able regulation demands of the pres
idency. But it was his fate to gov
ern in cataclysmic times.
Not since Lincoln has any Presi-
dent been compelled to combat such
a deluge of difficulties as rushed
down upon Mr.. Wilson. The Mexi-
can problem, complex and battling,
was an inheritance from a previous
administration. Events over which
either the President nor the people
had any control multiplied its intri-
cacies.
The great war was not simply an
eighteen months strain. 1t bore up
on Mr.. Wilson with almost insupera-
BILE pressure from the LIST of August,
1914, until its close The peace nego-
tiations and the protracted political
drama over ratification were culmi-
mating blows upon an individuality
speak plainly sought alone
to accomplish too much.
Woodrow Wilson drove himself to
Paris. It is no secret that the other
members Of the American commits
sion were superHumeraries. Mr.. VII.
ION, who had attempted to go i