Evening star., 1924-02-04
DEATH MAY ALTER
POLITICAL OUTLOOK
Wilson Had Planned Hard
Fight for Principles in
Party Councils.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
What will be the political effect of
the passing Of former President Will
son is a question that only time can
answer.
kept a keen eye on the fortunes of
the party over which he once exer-
cised not only undisputed leadership,
but almost dictatorial control. He
told his friends that he looked to
1924 as a year of vindication at the
polls for the democratic principles
that went into eclipse in 1920, but he
never revealed to any one how far he
might be prepared to go in reassert-
ing his claim to a place in party
councils.
1t is certain there was no truth in
widely circulated reports that the
former President planned to again
become candidate for the nOmina-
tion. And if he had any preference
among those who are seeking to in
herit his mantle of leadership he kept
it from some Of his closest friends.
Had Program Planned.
He did plan, however. to make a
very definite effort to align his party
behind the policies that he believed
to his dying day to constitute the
paramount issues before the country
and the world. He expected to place
before the democratic convention in
concrete form a declaration Of prin-
ciples whose adoption, to his mind,
would signalize a reconsideration to
hH Il al
only in regard to foreign affairs, but
In domestic questions as well, he was
preparing to lay before his party the
fruits Of his long months Of retire.
ment and reflection.
To the last he never wavered in his
bel1ef In the league of nations that
he did so much to create. but it must
remain one of the problems of his
tory whether in his declining days
there was any softening of the de-
termined stand he had taken against
compromise in the form of Amer
lean participation in the leagues
activities. Almost his last public ut
terance was a reaffirmation of his
complete contempt for those who had
blocked the way of his proposals in
the Senate. but in the two days of
his last illness, after he saw the end
nearing. he appeared to put out Of
his thoughts entirely all the public
questions that for so long had been
the meat and bread of the keen in
tellect.
Months of Waiting.
His plan to place his policies
squarely before his party and ask for
a decision was long in maturing dur
ing the months of waiting for the OPP
portunty he saw in the offing. But
before he died he had made up his
mind. and the very few confldents to
whom he impaired his intentions
knew that once Woodrow Wilson had
reached determination. nothing but
the hand of death could stop him
from putting it into execution.
For his power of will remained un-
broken to the end-as militant as it
was In the days of his dominant lead
ership; as determined as 1t was in
1916, when he threatened to pack his
grip and go to st. Louis unless the
in session there to renomi-
nate him agreed to accept the kind
of plank he wanted regarding the
German n-AmericanS: as virile as IL
was in 1920, when he conferred in his
sickroom with the newly nominated
democratic candidate and astonished
and sorely disappointed his enemies
by making a thoroughly convincing
presentation of his views, followed a
few hours later by an announcement
were in complete accord
once he had put his declaration of
principles before the national con-
vention. the former President expect
ed to call on the party leaders to
nominate a man who could stand
foursquare in such a platform. But
If he had any desire to actually select
the candidate the name of the man
he favored must remain locked for
ever in the tomb.