Atlanta tri-weekly journal., 1924-02-28

Authors Task Defended
This chronicle and analysis of the
man whose words during the World
war were broadcast to the four cor
ners of the earth, as had happened
to no other American in history, is
either to those who saw in Wood
row Wilson an empirical orportunist
OF boundless ambition, arbitrary and
tyrannical in the exercise of his
power or those who with partisan
zeal placed the stamp of unqualified
approval on his acts personal and
political, his singular concepts of
party discipline or international in
tercourse.
The author essays task OF his
tOrical disclosure because in all the
years of his acquaintance with
Woodrow Wilson no favor was
sought and none given. No obliga-
ton was incurred, no political al
le2iance established. Most of the
time it fell to the authors lot as
newspaper reporter to see behind
the curtain of events. 1T was
scrutiny based upon d professional
labor prompted by the never-ending
demands of preSent-day journalism,
a scrutiny resented at times by Mr..
Wilson himself, tolerated upon occa-
SiOns as u necessary evil, but never
wholly accepted by him as the corol
larry of that "pitiless publicity"
which in an unguarded moment of
impromptu speech he coined as
slogan for his first administration.
Books no doubt will be written
revealing various aspects of Wood
row Wilson's life hitherto made
quately outlined. Letters, docu-
ments, conversations. passing re-
marks-these will serve to chart
more accurately the turbulent course
Of his extraordinary career, but
there can be no departure by those
who know the truth from the ines |
capable facts which made him to
some wrathful chieftain impatient
and headstrong and to others the
harassed prorhet of new day.
The Turning Points
Turning points there were in the |
carer of Woodrow Wilson, sep
arated, indeed by intervals of be-
setting circumstance, but cllmaXes
which marked assured /
ly his progress from the clustered !
of the college to the |
forefront of the world stage itself in |
the greatest crisis of modern times.
They were like acts in drama with |
a touch of comedy here and there,
a triumphant rise over enemies who
wished him ill and plotted his de-
feat. and a tragic collapse at the
moment he most needed the physical
strength to carry forward his great
est battle.
Seemingly connected as if by pre-
destination were the major occur
rences in Woodrow Wilson'S life. De
feat at Princeton forced him reluc-
tantlv into the realm Of national
politics. PepudiatiOn of the man who
had practically made possible his
as governor Of New Jer-
sew in 1910 won nation wide atten.
ton even as the cry of migrate
was raised. His sensational victory
at the national convention in 1912
after an Unprecedented series Of bal
lots took on the fervor Of a crusade.
The college professor who had be-
come in his day the most noted au.
-hority on the doctrines of conGtitu
-ional government had the unexam
pied opportunity to put his theory
INTO actual practice.
BIunders Always Averted
Again and again Woodrow Wilson.
sure footed, confident, self-reliant, so
TAR as the outside world was con
:erned. seemed on the verge of
great blunder only to be saved
herefrom by the insistent counsel
If his cOllea CUES and advisers. AS
fascinating is the tale of what Wool
'ow Wilson wanted to do but did
rot as the story of the spectacular
hinss ne did do some of them too
n direct opposition TO his most
aithful friends and counsellors
Romance, which in the lives of all J
great men has played n domina ting
ole. runs through the drama Of the
career, affecting him at !
lines most profoundly. In all his F.;
.Ory perhaps there is no statesman
who was as deeply Influenced or as 4
quickly stimulated In intellectual
yigor by an atmosphere OF feminine =
orilliance. 1t raised him to the loft
eEt heights. I
Ehivalrous. always wholesome, '
TO the charms Of those Z
he loved. the unpublished writings
" Woodrow Wilson apart from af-