The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-04

1t was thought, too. that the out
going president would take up the
| business of literature which he left off
when he quit the presidency of
Princeton university to enter politics
| and become governor of New Jersey.
FlraiI in health, with his body racked
| by eighteen months of illness, it had
been supposed by wilson's closest
friends that he planned nothing else
than rest But Rear Admiral Cray
son, his personal physician, says he is
able to take up legal work and could
even possibly appear before the su-
preu1e court of the United States to
which the retiring president will soon
make application for admission to
practice.
Second Democrat Reelected.
The second Democratic president
since Andrew Jackson to fill two sue
cessive terms, Mr. Wilson's eight years
in the White House carried him thru
the range of human emotions. He was
almost blindly idoHzed and cordially
hated Profound peace, the most ter
rible of wars, death of a wife and help
mate, courtship and marriage, and
finally lingering illness all came in
turn to brighten or darken his days
Eight years of it whitened his hair,
racked his frame and impaired his
physical vigor, but did not rust his
mind
characterized by his friends as
much a wounded veteran of the world
war as if he had been shot in battle,
he goes back TO private life today re-
garded by his partisans as q living
sacrifice TO his ideals.
woodrow Wilson was not a well
man when he took up the presidency.
He was decidedly a sick man. He was
threatened with Bright's disease,
which physicians dia gnosed as having
l oh b1Ir a -
| treatment for frequent head colds to
which he and the first Mrs. Wilson
we're subject The wife died soon
after, but his case yielded to care
| Stricken Once Before.
| Some years before that. Mr.. Wilson
! had suffered a thrombosis. in one OF
his legs It was the lodging or a
| blood cIot in an artery, put because Oh
| its location not serious 1t was, now
| ever, complaint OF the same nature
| which caused his breakdown IN 1919,
when the cIot formed on the right SD
of his brain impairing the control OF
his left arm and leg
Little known also, is the fact that
Mr.. Wilson, like Roosevelt. was prac-
II ticaIIv sIightIess in one of his eyes
II Bursting blood vessels in the ret1na
| practically made it useless, al.ho the
| impairment was in part overcome oy
the use of eye glasses he suHered
also from nervous indigestion. with
| a predisposition to take cold easily
added 10 this list of trouble. woodrow
| Wilson took up the arduous duties OF
the president with far less physician
| eouipment than the public generally
| gave him credit for
| once in office the round or COM
| pIexities which brought Mr- Wilson
| praise on one side and damnatIon on
| the other was not long in starting, and
| like a snow ball rolling down hill con-
| tinued to take on volume until the day
Of his departure from the White
| House
Considered Third Term
Once. in the midst OF his siege OF
urostrati ton which accom- panied the
first stages of his present illness, he
debated with himself whether he
ought not to reIinquish his office and
give way to successor Later when
health had improved and the Demo-
cratic convention at San Francisco was
baIIoting night and day to agree on
presidential nominee. Mr.. Wilson de-
bated with himself whether he should
be a candidate for a third term II
could not be said that either subject
reached the stage of being consid-
cred" But it is known that Mr.. VIII
son gave the subject some thought
These with many other things form
the highly interesting unwritten chap
tiers of woodrow wilson's life They
would make a volume of far more en-
crossing reading than anything that
ever had been written about HIM
Such a volume might include the
INSIDE story Of the break with Col
oueI House, his former confidential
adviser; it might tell how Mr.. WiIso /
rousing Mr.. Clemenceau. the French
premier. from bed at > o'clock one
morning practically charged the
French delegates with tan1perinG with
the records of the peace conference
proceedings.