Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-13
WILSON MIND
VIGOROUS AS
IT EVER WAS
Baseless Rumors of Brain
Affection Are Refuted
by Facts.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial to The Argus.)

| lOpeCldl 10 1 ue AISu
Washington, Oct. 13.-Rumor is
fugitive and intangible thing but
! judging by the inquiries and tales
which have come here from the
| country at large concerning the
true nature of President Wilson's
I illness gossip has attributed every
| conceivable ailment known to man
to the distinguished patient who
I lies sick at the White house.
! Many persons who have been bit
/ terly opposed to the presidents
policies and who have imagined
even before the president suffered
a nervous breakdown that his ideas
were irrational, to say the least,
| have not hesitated to jump at the
conclusion that Mr.. Wilson's men
| tai balance has been affected by
his recent labors. others, even
more sympathetically inclined for
| give some of his Incorporate re-
marks on his western trip on the
ground that he must have been ex-
| hausted by his experiences in the
Paris conference and that he had
/ discarded much of his previous
| poise and calmness.
! But the truth is not difficult to
discover A habit of discounting Of
( icial statements and imagining
that more is embodied in them than
their actual words imply has per-
haps been responsible for the rapid
| spread of sensational rumors.
Mental Faculties Not Impaired.
| In any event, the president has
not suffered anything that has i'm
! paired or will impair in the slight
! est degree his mental faculties. 1t
was a fear of what might happen
rather than any excitement over
what had happened that caused the
presidents physician to call off the
/ western trip. The presidents ILL
ness is of such a simple character
that it is readily explained. Mr..
! Wilson was on the trains for near
/ ly month. Prior to that he had
used himself up at Paris and be-
| fore that in the most arduous
/ labors conceivable in directing
/ Americas part in the war. But
/ constant exercise has sustained
, him.
He got none of it On the trains
of course, and practically mont
when he stopped to make speeches
| Soon he became restless and sleep.
less. 1t was with difficulty that he
r0Tld wear through a night. Then
his digestive organs began to be
affected. And lastly his appetite
disappeared. Already he had
harrassing cough-consequenc OF
the influenza which he had con-
| tracted in Paris. An impediment In
his nasal organs which anybody
else but man as busy as the pres
ident would have had removed
long ago interfered Slightly with
breathing. Added to that was the
general debility Of the president
due to his Iabors Nervous ex-
haustion" were the words used to
describe Mr.. Wilson's illness at the
outset and they are accurate de-
scriptives today, for nothing else
has developed and the president
has gradually overcome two diff
culties-less of appetite and sleep
| lessness. His digestive organs are
functioning better and there Is op-
timism, indeed confidence at the
White house that Mr.. Wilson is
going to pull through all right.
There's a feeling that he was
stopped just in time.
Was Near Danger Point.
No one denies that the president
if not checked might have gone on
for a week or two and suffered
stroke of paralysis or burst a blood
vessel or developed some other IN
trinity as a consequence of his
Oh, lTaN Ln y
shown any symptoms of any of
these things and the point has
been reached where they are not
expected to develop.
OF course, if the president whose
improvement has been gradual,
were to get up too soon, any of the
things cited above which had been
originally feared might suddenly
overtake him. But he isn't going to
be permitted to get up too soon.
His doctors have virtually confined
him to seclusion for several weeks.
And it will be three or four weeks
before they will let him talk bust
ness or transact business and even
then on a very small quantity basis.
None of Mental VigOr Gone.
III dH oOAl , LUZ IS
All the physicians who have con-
ferred with him and seen the presi-
dent agree upon the wisdom of can
ceiling the trip and putting the
president to bed to rest. None is
yet willing to advise resumption
Of public business even on a small
scale for fear of relapse, but none
is of the opinion that the president.
when he does recover, will be less
CONTINUED on Page Thirteen-l