The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1920-01-02

and 1t was unanimously believed
that what we may call the tres
passing blood would be absorbed
into the system without further de-
rangement. and this has been the
case. While a week after this at
tack. which occurred exactly as de-
scribed. the President was still
lame and almost powerless in one
arm and In one leg. he can now,
and does. raise over his head a
dozen times a day the arm that
was practically powerless. and
while his daily walks about his
room are not prolonged, he takes
them in no shuffling gait. There
Is no impeachment to his walking
except weak legs, natural after
three months spent II not in bed,
at least lying down.
Blood Pressure Normal.
There remains nothing further
except perhaps to add few re-
marks in a negative sense. 1t hsr
been whispered widely that the
Presidents blood pressure was dan
gerously abnormal for a year before
his illness and that II Is now at ESQ.
or some such absurd figure. and the
SOh~ANSAOh 10 0IdWh IndI the
President ever energies from his
sick-room it can only be as an invalid
and as a cripple. OF course, this
conclusion would be unanswerable,
and It certainly could not be refut-
cd IL the facts upon which It is
based were not absolutely false.
The Presidents blood pressure was
normal throughout his stay in Paris.
where for six months he performed
prodigies OF labor, working fire.
quently from fourteen to fifteen
hours q day. work, II should be re-
membered, that was often vexatious
and trying to patience. The blood
pressure was but slightly deranged.
IL at all. during the acute period of
the Presidents illness and It has
now been absolutely normal for
three months past.
Visit of Specialists.
Some color has been lent to the
idle and mischievous rumors in re-
gard to the Presidents condition,
which have been put in circulation.
by the visits of DR.. Hugh H. Young.
OF Johns Hopkins University, and of
DR.. F. X Dercum, of Philadelphia,
each of whom Is pre-eminent in his
speciality. 1t Is. of course, quite
true that they have been called in
and that, though their visits are
now infreQuent. they are still rem
dering valuable services to the
President. However. the conclusion
drawn that the President Is suffer-
ing from the diseases in which
these physicians specialize is an
erroneous one.
ut is true that under the strain OF
the illness which has been frankly
described above. there have been from
time to time organic arrangements
which these gentlemen have alleviat-
ed, and helping nature have finally
removed. These arrangements were,
however. temporary and were brought
on by the Presidents illness and they
did not contribute to provoke the i'll
ness. Today. entering upon his 9th
year. the President is organically
sound, and how few men OF his age
are in this happy situation you can
ascertain by asking the insurance
companies. go into all these tedious
and perhaps unnecessary and, as it
will appear to some. indicate details
because there would seem to be an
organized crusade at work to show
that the President was an organically
hA man AOl dl iedSl year UT Two Dt-
fore his herculean working schedule
was interrupted by his breakdown in
the West. There is not a word of
truth in that campaign: it Is born OF
ignorance or malevolence or both.
VIII Regain Health.
''Of course, we must try to answer
fairly the question that is on every
lip:
xviii the President be an abso-
lutely well man again.
lie Is entitled to a frank reply. We'll.
he Is sound and increasingly able
bodied today. He will never be able
to work fifteen hours a day again.
that is. not with impunity-and his
physician should be placed in arrest
and double irons il he permits II; and,
of course, in a sense which physicians
understand, but which laymen may
misinterpret, no man over 50 Is quite
the same after a serious illness such
as the President so recently expert
enced.
But unless something wholly I'M
foreseen occurs-and, OF course, hu-
man life is uncertain-that there Is at
present no reason to expect, We will
have within a month in the White
House a perfectly competent working
President.
First Rest In Fifteen Years.
III there be any man in or out OF