The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-17
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
TREDERIc J. HARz1eI. DiFSctoe,
waahtngtaa. d q
THE NEW WOODROW WILSON.

turned from the Accomplishment of
a task that is so stupendous as TO
stagger the imagination, a worn
harassed, and haggard man, because
OF the labors thru which he has
passed?
This is a question that occurs In
| the mind of many individuals VINO are
| interested in the work of the Amert"
/ can president, and the natural sup
| position is that he shows the effects
| of his six months in Europe, months
| that were filled with much labor and
many contentious; which were fraught
with possibilities so great that any
man might have been excused for
| lying awake at night because OF them.
A close inspection of the president
upon those occasions when journalists
| in Washington are to meet him quite
intimately entirely dispels this illusion
of the nerve-wracked man. worn
down by the travail thru which he
! has passed. The woodrow Wilson of
today is a rugged, vigorous and
healthy individual of glowing spirit
and genial personality, a man on
whose brow there is no furrow OF
care. The Woodrow Wilson of today
is obviously a happy and optimistic
man, we'll satisfied with conditions as
he finds them in the world.
In fact the appearance of the presi-
| dent is a matter of marvel to those
who have watched him closely during
! the six years Of his incumbency In the
White House. He had occupied the
| highest official position in the United
| States but few days when he asked
| those journalists who habitually write
| of governmental matters to meet him
| in the East room of the White House.
At that time those men who had not
| formerly known him were very much
| interested in taking a measure OF the
man and getting first hand impress
sions of the sort of individual he was.
| that the president was man not
greatly inclined to be spare but giving
| that general impression. His face was
| long and bony and carried with it
| degree of the austere. In those days
| woodrow Wilson was still a good deal
| of the college professor type. Like
4 wise in his manner did he reflect the
results of the life he had led; his
geniality did not come easily and there
was in contact with him an occasional
assertion as tho OF authority, a certain
sharpness and autocratic manner of
| speech. This also was probably due
| to a lifetime spent in the classroom
| where his authority was undisputed,
and did not quite fit into the new
| conditions.
This woodrow Wilson has long
ceased to exist. Physiognomists hold
that the facial expression of a man
| changing from one manner of life to
another cannot materially change in
| less than five years. A laborer, for
| instance, becoming a lawyer remains a
laborer in facial expression for half
a decade. Likewise, the college pro-
| fessor becoming an executive, a man
| of action. does not Immediately take
on the appearance of the man of
] action, tho he may actually be that
| individual.
So was It with Woodrow Wilson.
| Those who have known him intimate
lily have seen the transformation take
place. Two years ago that transfor-
nation was well on its way, and was
easily noted by those who continued
to watch the president But today, at
the time of his return from six months
| abroad, six months of such expert
| ence few men have ever had since
| time began, the transformation is
complete. and Woodrow Wilson is as
unlike the man he was as are you or
as am I.
different. His entire form has filed
out and has lost its spareness and its
| angularity. He was always an up
standing man, nearly six feet in
height and of quite admirable ply
| sique. Today he IL rather a large
man, not spare at all and well round
| ed. He is not quite so outstanding as
a bit and acquired a lounging ease
that he used never to have He car
| ries rather more flesh than is needed
for correct physical proportion. That
| flesh looks bit soft as tho he had
been missing his exercise.
The change in his facial expression
| Is even more marked. His face is still
exceedingly long and one is likely to
be impressed with that length when
viewing the president directly from
the front. His front face is still a bit
| bony and angular. but if one LOOKS at
him from the side he loses the i'm
preston of angularity altogether, end
sees face that is quite softened by a
padding of wholesome flesh
There is today a marked rudy
glow of health beneath the skin o:
the president. He is, of course, nore
or less sunburned from his trip AcroEs
the ocean, but beneath the suuburn
| is complexion that is almost rudy,
| where once it was inclined to be SAL
low and colorless. Cne looks in VAIN
for those lines of care that are to be
found in the face OF the man who is
given to worry and suffers from
nerves. The president is blahdness
itself and the smile seems to find its
| place on his countenance where it Is
entirely at home.
One gets the impression in watching
the president, that here is A man
whose facultieE are all at their best
and all very thoroly alive. His face
breaks readily from one expression
to another and his eyes are those of
the alert man Of action. They are
also the eyes OF a man who is very
! sure of himself ard very confident
with relation to the tasks he has in
hand. His whole attitude Is that of
the man who meets every prppo ssl
analytically and accepts it or rejects
II in accordance with an instan Mt iudc :
ment Of its merits. He knows eSacIl y
what he is about, has his eye CT The
goals he proposes to reach ard IS
driving straight ahead
In appearance Woodrow Wilson is
a younger man than he was six years
ago when he became president. His
hair has about the same degree of
sparseness. but it has not tended to
grow much whittier. Around the