New-York tribune., 1920-02-11
"An Goes Well Except
Weather. DIR. Young
Declares i'm Interview
in SsBaltimore Sum-
Regainingg Use of
Left Arm and Leg
=
President Described as
"Ableminded'; Doing
More Work Each Dav
Special Dispatch to The Tribune

, copyrighted interview with DR.. Hugh
II. Young, Baltimore physician. who is
one of the specialists who treated the
| President:
| WASHINGTON, Feb. DIR. Hugh
Fl. Young, of Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, was informed to-day by The
Suns" correspondent of the renewed
anxiety manifested in many circles at
the capital as to the Presidents actual
condition.
The correspondent told him that the
announcements of continued improve
ment so frequently made are not con-
tirmed by public appearance, or by any
other outward signs Of renewed health
This impatience is most natural,
| said Dr.. Young, and the President is
impatient, too, but please place the
blame where it belongs-not upon the
patient, who has surpassed himself,
not upon his medical advisers, who
| really have done better than you could
have expected of them, but upon the
weather. 1t has been absolutely the
! worst imaginable weather for a con-
valescing case.
Never Anything to Conceal
"This anxiety and solictudc has
not escaped me-" DR.. Young continued,
"and it is quite natural, in view of the
| important role that the President is
called upon to fill in our national life.
If you think it would quiet uneasiness
which is without foundation and allay
alarm, which is without justifca ton, /
shall gladly lay all the facts as to the
distinguished patients condition be-
lore the public through The Sun
From the beginning the medical men
associated with the case have never
had anything rconceaied. When first
saw the President in October crisis
had arisen Of such gravity, owing to
ton, that an emergency operation to
relieve this situation was contemplated,
but by fortuitious and wholly unex-
pected change in the Presidents con-
dition the obstruction began to dis
appear.
"The improvement in this respect,
which has been steady, is now COM
plete. 1t may have seemed slow to the
outside world, but to those of US who
ud'c NdCClcu CIG lAlpIOVcJueuc, udy ny
day and week by week, it has seemed
little short of marvellous. The Presi-
dent was organically sound when
saw him first, and l found him not
only organically sound when I visited
him last week, but further all the or
gans were functioning in a perfectly
normal, healthy manner.
Arm and Leg Improving
"Pari passu, the Presidents general
condition and, specifically, the slight
Impairment of his left arm and leg
have improved more slowly, it is true,
but surely, steadily There have been
no setbacks, no backward steps, and
rumors to this effect are rubbish.
GAS you know, in October last we
diagnosed the Presidents illness as
cerebral thrombosis, which affected his
left arm and leg, but at no time was
his brain power CIR the extrem: vigor
and lucidity of his mental processes
in the slightest degree abated This
condition has from the very first shown
81 steady, unwavering tendency toward
The increasing utility of the left arm
and leg, greatly impaired at first, has
closely followed on the improvement.
The President walks sturdily now,
without assistance and without IA
tiguc. And he uses the still slightly
impaired arm more and more every
day; ~; SANTA, ,,;or . :. ~,
prodigious. Indeed, l think in many
ways the President is in better shape
than before the illness came He is
certainly greatly refreshed and
strengthened by the uses to which he
has put what would have been for so
many men merely the tedious, long
drawn-out weeks Of convalescence.
Doing More Work Each Day
Then, again, it must be borne in
mind that as a result of the care that
immediate and official family he has
been relieved for many weeks from the
burden of routine that he has carried
without an interruption for so many
years. His frame of mind is bright
and tranquil and he worries NOT at all.
He knows that he is now quite up 70
his fighting weight; in fact, he weighs
quite few pounds more than he did
when we put him to bed. His eyes are
bright and his complexion shows the
glow of health.
"Of course, l do not mean to convey
the impression that the President does
not find his long, confinement at times
very irksome OF course. he is champ
ing at the bit, but he has borne up
under his trials, including the vista
tions of his physicians, with serene
philosophy which is not met with in all
sickrooms.
"The public documents which the
President has, written and signed in
the last months and his public study
and comment on the questions of the
day are, of course, known to all. It is.
however, perhaps not so we'll known
that the President is taking a progress
sively greater part in the daily work
of the executive Offices, and that he is
now able without fatigue to devote
several hours every day to official busi-
ness.
Blames the Weather
"For the failure of the President to
appear more frequently don't let
naturally solicitous public blame the
chief magistrate and put in word
if you can for the physicians. We
should, l think, all get together on
platform of blaming the weather. Had
Continued ON neat page
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