Evening star., 1924-03-26
and less communicative with til
Tried to Treat Him Fairly.

press
Tried to Treat Him Fairly.
He rarely read the newspapers which
were bitterest in their attacks upon him.
The newspaper men in Washington were
disposed to be kindly and showed every
desire to give him fair treatment. For
many months he received them in semi
weekly conferences, answering aues-
tions literally, but not always compre-
hensive!y. He showed now and then
an Indignation over the character of the
interrogations and upon occasion fenced
with his callers very much as a witness
who was being cross-examined. Many
newspaper men lost faith in the candor
of Mr.. Wilson. They felt that he made
that back of his negatives was an
equivocal statement For instance, one
day, early in his administration. a
newspaper printed dispatch from
Washington stating that Attorney Cen
eral McReynolds had made a proposal
to Senate committee with reference
to legislation affecting the tobacco trust:
Mr.. Wilson was asked about it and
said he knew nothing about any pro-
posal. Silence followed the answer and
finally one of the newspaper men
inquired if he knew the Attorney Cen
eral had been in communica tion with
the Senate committee, and Mr.. wilson
replied:
"Oh, yes; he made some sugges-
tions"
A "Hair Splitting" Mind.
In Mr.. Wilson's mind a suggestion
and a proposal were altogether diff
ferent. Yet to the newspaper men IT
was a simple case of splitting hairs.
Mr.. Wilson did not long continue his
conferences with the correspondents.
In fact, it was inevitable that they
should come to an end when the
war broke out because the questions
relating 10 the war were OF such
delicate nature that impromptu an
swers were not, to Mr.. Wilson's ad-
vantage nor to the public generally,
because neutrality, and later war.
offered so much opportunity for mis-
understanding that only carefully
wcrdcd statements prepared IN ad-
vance were used to convey the gov
eminent viewpoint.
Contrary to the general impress
sion. Mr.. Wilson did not have any
fayorites among the newspaper men
when he was in the White House: He
did not believe in that kind of re-
lationship. President Roosevelt had
a favorite group and frequently in
spired certain stories in order TO test
out public opinion. Mr.. Wilson was
urged TO adopt such pol but he
would not do so. In all - eight
years he probably gave le$s time to
conference with individual news
paper men than did any President
preceding him, and certainly much
less than has any President since MS
administration. Mr.. Wilson had no
= ID - kifh he
cared to convey information about
his position and rather resented the
fact that some of his callers, espe-
cially members of the Senate and
House, discussed with the press mat
ters which had been taken UP IN
conference with him.
On one or two occasions Mr.. Will
son was so much disturbed by news
paper attacks made upon him that
he wrote to the newspapers and asked
that certain reporters be removed
from the White House assignment.
In no case did the newspapers comply
with his request.
Audiences n Handicap.
Mr.. Wilson was the type of Presi-
dent who rarely saw newspaper men
individually, but when he did he
usually asked them to retain in con-
fidence all that he had said. Ere
uuently the same information was
obtainable from other sources. The
author found it to his advantage
not to ask for audiences with the
President. but to get information
about Mr. Wilson's activities from
members of the cabinet and other
sources in Washington. This often ir-
ritated Mr.. Wilson because he dis
70 his n6 intanfjnnz
revealed premature1y, yet 1T was in
consonance with the newspaper prac-
tice of the day.
An interesting conversation with
Mr.. Wilson in Paris illustrates TO
some extent the attitude of the Presi-
dent on publicity at the peace con-
ference. One of the first steps taken
after the American newspaper corps
arrived was a decision on the part
of the allied statesmen to bar the
the peace conference. 1t was re-
ported that Mr.. Wilson had voted
in favor of secrecy. When the author
spoke to Mr.. Wilson about it and
asked him if it were true. he replied
that it was not, and that he did not
favor secrecy, but when urged to
make such a statement to the public
he said he believed the American peo-
pie knew his position well enough.
AS to the suggestion that people back
home. would not understand now
open covenants openly arrived at"
was discarded and that his action
would be felt politically, he replied
somewhat impatiently:
Il don't give a damn about the
politics of tiff this thing is a sue
cess we will get the benefit of it, and
if it isn't, we will be attacked
anyhow"
Suffered from Secrecy.
Had Mr.. Wilson known more
about the processes of news making
he would have probably developed a
more favorable public opinion on this
side of the Atlantic during the time
that he was at the peace conference.
The American newspaper men were
to a large extent at a disadvantage
in Paris The representatives of the
press from other countries were kept
closely informed and even were per-
mitted to read the documents of the
peace delegations. 1t looked for a
time as if the French press was being
given verbatim copies of everything
that occurred. Mr.. Wilson innocently
kept to the letter of the understand
ing between the allies with respect to
secrecy and not only did the American
press fail to report Mr.. Wilson's
valiant fights for a better peace, but