Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-12-01

sion of the New Jersey leSlS-
| lature the name Of Woodrow Wilson
quickly forged to the front as a
Wrong presidential possibility. Init
mate friends, including Walter Hines
Page, afterwaEd United States am
bassador to Great Britain; CleVe-
land H. Dodge and Robert Bridges,
the two latter old friends and class
mates of the governor in the famous
class of 70 at Princeton, set about
by conferences to launch the pres1-
Dental boom of their old friend, and
selected for the task Of the actual
management of the campaign the
young Princetonian, William F. Nc
Combs, then an active and rising
young lawyer of New York. These
gentlemen and other devoted friends
and advisers of the governor made
up the first Wilson contingent and
at once initiated a plan of publicity
and organization throughout the
country. They arranged to have the
New Jersey governor visit strategic
points in the country to make adj
dresses on a variety of public ques-
lions. Whether Colonel Harvey was
behind the scenes as the adviser Of
Ill1S lIllIO SlouP L 1lcNO IISNSA S@SN~A
tanned, but Harper's Weekly, then
edited by the Colonel, was his lead
ing supporter in the magazine world,
carrying the name of the Princeton
ian at it's masthead as a candidate
for the presidency. There were fire.
quent conferences between the col
onel and the governor at the execu-
tive offices and as result of these
hn
became afhing to be reckoned with
by the "OId Guard" in control of
party affairs in the nation.
Wilson stock, from the moment of
the adjournment of the legislature,
began to rise, and his candidacy
spread with great rapidity, until in
nearly every state in the Union Will
son clubs WEI =
New Jersey primaries, where again
he met and defeated the Smith
forces; the Ohio primaries, where he
split the delegates with the favorite
son, Governor Harmon, a distin-
guished Democrat, and the Wis
consin primaries, at which he swept
the state, gave a tremendous inn
petus to the already growing move
ment for the reform governor of New
Jersey.
Did Not Know He Had Offended
Everything was Serenely moving
in the Wilson camp, when like d
thunderclap out of a clear sky broke
the story of the disagreement be-
tween Colonel Harvey, Marse Henry
Watterson and the governor of New
Jersey. 1 recall my conversation
with Governor Wilson on the day
following the Harvey Wattefson
at a New York club. AS
private secretary to the governor, /
always made it rule to keep in
close touch with every conference
then being held regarding the polit-
ical situation, and in this way I
first learned about the HarveyWat-
terson meeting, which for a few
weeks threatened to destroy all the
lines of support that had been built
up throughout the last months of
work and organization.
The governor and I were seated in
a trolley car on our way from the
state capitol to the railroad station
in Trenton when he informed me, in
the most casual way and without
seeming to understand the possible
damage he had done his own cause,
of what followed his conference the
previous day. 1t was like this: The
conference had ended and they were
leaving the room when Colonel Har-
Vey put his hand on Woodrow Will
sons shoulder and said: Governor,
1 want to ask you a frank question,
and I want you to give me frank
answer. In your opinion is the sup
port of Harper's Weekly helping or
hurting you?" In telling me Of it,
Woodrow Wilson said: 81 was most
embarrassed and replied: Colonel, I
wish you had not asked me that
question: We'll, what is the an
swer?' Colonel Harvey insisted,
why, Colonel, some of
my friends tell me it is pot helping
me in the west Colonel Harvey
said: I was afraid you might feel
that way about it and we shall have
to soft-pedal a Bit" Mr.. Wilson
was so serenely unconscious that
any offense had been taken that
when informed by me a little later
that his name had disappeared from
the head of the editorial column of
Weekly he did not connect
this with the interview. WAS Colo
mel Harvey offended?" I asked. "He
didn't seem to be-" was the COVER
nor's answer.
Correspondence With Harvey
II Immediately scented the danger
of the situation and the possibilities
of disaster to his political fortunes
that lay in his reply, and I told him
very frankly that 1 was afraid he
had deeply wounded Colonel Harvey
Gus break in their relations. The
governor seemed grieved at this and
said that he hoped such was not the
case; that even after he had ex-
pressed himself so freely, Colonel
Harvey had been most kind and
agreeable to him and that they had
continued to discuss in the most
friendly way the plans for the cam
paign and that the little conference
ended without apparent evidence
that anything untoward had hap
pened that might lead to a break in
their relations. We then discussed
at length the seriousness of the sit
uation, and as result of our talk
the governor wrote Colonel Harvey
and endeavored to make clear what
he had in mind when he answered
the question put to him by the colo
mel at the conference a few days
before, not, indeed, by way of apol-
ogy, but simply by way Of explana-
ton. This letter to the colonel and a
subsequent one went long way to-
ward softening the unfortunate i'm
preston that had been created by
the publication of the Harvey-Wat-
terson correspondence.
The letters are as follows:
PersonaD.
University Club,
Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth
street, Dec. 81, 1911.
My Dear Colonel:
INrarIy dow ON o01o