Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-18
Partisan Politics Blamed for
"Whisperings'' About War
President Which Were
Scattered Over Nation
BY DAVID LAWRENCE

4
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Copyright, 1924, by the George Il. Dorar
| company in the United States, Canada,
South America. World publication rights
reserved by Current News Feature, Incor-
| porated.)
CHAPTER TX
| ~ no phase of Woodrow Will
sons life was there less actual
~ knowledge and at the sans
time more misrepresentation 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 in
press relative to his personal plans
from day to day-he never did be-
come accustomed to the fact that
just as the secret service men were
constantly in the company of a presi-
dent of the United States, so also the
representatives Of the large press as
their president or at least know
where he is every minute of the day.
One of the reasons for this espio-
mage was a practical one. Strange
as it may seem, there develops every
now and then a rumor that the presi-
dent Of the United States has been
stantly investigated. the rumor tray
els onward. Just what the source
of these rumors really is no one has
ever determined, although neWspa-
per men suspect that the rumors are
originated by persons who are inter
ested in playing the stock market
and hope that the rumor will gain
currency and that the stocks will be
affected before the truth can be de-
termined. Perhaps the author is
superstitious, but in his experience
in trailing presidents for 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 well.
In Auto Accident
Not a newspaper man was with
Mr.. Wilson, for instance, when he
motored from Red Bank, N. j., to
Princeton on the Saturday night be-
fore he was elected president of the
United States. His automobile struck
an obstacle, and he was painfully in
jured. At another time when Mr..
Wilson had become a presidential
nominee he objected to being follow
ed to New York one afternoon by
squad Of newspaper men. He said
he did not mind one man being Sc
lected to act for the group. The au-
thor went to New York with Mr.. Will
son 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 street
car at Madison avenue he stepped in
| front of q truck and some one
caught his arm in time to prevent
an accident. Needless to say I tried
to convince Mr.. Wilson that he
would never be in personal danger
| if he permitted the newspaper cor
respondents to accompany him. His
! ideas on the subject, however, never
changed.
But after all, the newspaper men
! did keep close tabs on Mr. Wilson
movements after he came to the
White House or checked up with the
secret service men whenever pos
Sible.
When Mr.. Wilson first came into
national prominence in the cam
paiSn for the presidential nomination
in the months preceding the Balti
more convention, his personal lif,
was the subject Of a penetrating in
vestSation on the part of a chair
of newspapers who were interested
in advocating the candidacy of an
other man. The investigators nat
Crally went to the little town O
Princeton to search for something il
Mr.. Wilson'S private life which
would lend itself to scandalous expos
ure. They supposed that Mr.. viii
sons enemies in Princeton would bt
the first TO disclose facts which
would be damaging to his politica
future but they were mistaken.
Sought to Buy Scandal
lone of these newspaper men came
to me and offered a large sum o