Evening star., 1924-03-04
CHAPTER TX.
The Private Life Of Woodrow Wilson
and the Whispering Campaign.

The Private Life Of Woodrow Wilson
and the Whispering Campaign.
OF no phase of Woodrow Wilson's
life was there less actual knowledge
and at the same time more misrepre-
sentation than the personal side. The
true story has never appeared in
print largely because there never was
an occasion to take public notice of
that which originated in partisan
politics.
Almost from the beginning of his
political career Mr.. Wilson could not
bring himself to believe that what
he did In the privacy of his home
what the members of his family did
whom he entertained and whom he
did not, was of any business to the
newspapers or the public. On more
than one occasion he exhibited indig-
nation over the inquiries of the press
day to day-he never did become ac-
customed to the fact that just as the
secret service men We're constantly
In the company of President of the
United States. so also the repre-
sentat1Ves of the large press associa-
tons must keep their eyes on their
president, or at least know where he
is every minute of the day.
Reasons for Espionage.
. One of the reasons for this espio-
mage was a practical one. Strange as
1t may seem, there develops every
now and then a rumor that the Presi-
dent of the United States has been
assassinated. Unless it can be in
stantly investigated the rumor
travels onward. Just what the source
of these rumors really is no one has
ever determined, although newspaper
men suspect that the rumors are
originated by persons who are in
terested in playing the stock market
and hope that the rumor will gain
affected before the truth can be de-
termlned Perhaps the author is
superstitious. but in his experience
IN trailing Presidents for a large
news association nothing ever hap
pened except on those few occasions
when the newspaper men took a
chance and left their assignment be-
lieving all was we'll Not a news
paper man was with Mr. Wilson, for
instance, when he motored from
Red Bank, N. j., to Princeton on
the Saturday night before he was
elected President of the United States
His automobile struck an obstacle
and he was painfully injured At
another time when Mr.. Wilson had
become the presidential nominee he
objected to being followed to New
York one afternoon by a squad of
newspaper men. He said he did not
mind one man being selected to act
New York with Mr.. Wilson, who for
some peculiar reason insisted upon
taking street cars In travelling the
long route from the railroad station
to the University Club. AS he alighted
from a street car at Madison avenue
he stepped in front of a truck and
some one caught his arm in time to
prevent an accident. Needless to say.
! tried to convince Mr.. Wilson that he
would never be in personal danger If
he permitted the newspaper corre-
spondents to accompany him. His
ideas on the subject, however, never
changed.
But. after all. the newspaper men
movements after he came to the
White House, or checked up with the
secret service men whenever possible.
Foes Searched for Scandal.
When Mr.. Wilson first came into
national prominence in the cam
paign for the presidential nomina-
tion in the months preceding the
Baltimore convention, his personal
life was the subject of a penetrating
investigation on the part of a chain
of newspapers who were interested
other man. The investigators ma
turally went to the little town Of
Princeton to search for something in
Mr.. Wilson's private life which would
lend itself to scandalous exposure.
They supposed that Mr.. Wilson's
enemies in Princeton would be the
first to disclose facts which would
be damaging to his political future,
but they were mistaken.
'One of these newspaper men came
to me and offered large sum of
money" said Princeton professor
to the author in 1912. IF I would
write an article even limiting that
Mr.: Wilson's personal conduct in
know how bitterly I despise Wood
row Wilson, but I told that news
paper representative I not only
would not write anything for him,
but that there was nothing to write"
The pursuit of something that
would be Injurious did not end.
Through some irresponsible source
the newspaper representative learned
that Mr.. Wilson had at one time en-
gagged in a correspondence with a.
woman of brilliant intellect. This
was promptly maGnif1ed entirely out
of it's proportion and was whispered
about the corridors. of the democratic
national convention at Baltimore.
But it failed to hurt Mr.. Wilson's
candidacy.
Inasmuch as Baltimore Is only a
short distance from Washington, and
SPECIAL NOTICES.