The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-03-16


Crandall. white with rage.
whacked his cane across the
head of the Wilson man, broke
the cane to bits, and as the
crowd howled Its Joy at the fight,
the claquers went on, according
to schedule, with the demonstra-
ton. 1t was a great day for
Mr.. Wilson's thoughtful Demo.
Gratis"
Receive Convention Claque.
Mayor Frank Katzenbach's
name, when presented, also
rocked the building. The other
candidates were named. Silver
with the others received the
conventional claque. Then a
third delegate from Atlantic city
j. Thompson Baker, unknown to
those controlling the convention.
rose and began to make "a man
who' speech setting forth glow.
ingly the virtues Of his candi.
date, but withholding his name.
The tired, sweaty, nervous dele
gates rebelled. Name him.
they cried, and Put I'm outg'
and other disrespectful yowlings.
The little old, bald-headed man,
hurt and scared, answered, His
name is Woodrow Wilson" The
tension snapped. The convention
I. roared. then howled. then organ
lied a demonstration of it's own,
and the opposition knew by the
sportaneity OF the clamor that
Wilson had the votes They came
in the first ballot: Smiths 500
prediction made the evening be-
fore was only little short. Will
son got TAT and a half, the op.
position got $50 and a half VIII.
. son had forty more than ma
jority, a narrow squeak!
Upon notification Wilson motored
quickly over the twelve well-paved
lies between Princeton and .Tren-
ton, but in that trip he crossed q
chasm abysmal. He waited for q
time in the room Of the hotel across
the street from the hall. Then
when the convention was ready he
came into 1t. At the door OF the
Taylor Opera. House he met the
to the hall. Eagerly he asked:
"Well. how was Il? BY what major
ity?" The Irish committeeman, re-
aIizing that majority OF forty in
vote Of / 400 was not a Dragging
matter, shook patronizing head
and said: "Enoughm Then, taking
the neophyte by the arm, led him
to the altar. ~
Begin To WhOop and CIamOf. III
AS the crowd saw the committee
come into the hall with their hero.
the thoughtful Democrats. began
to whoop and selamor. They did
not know their candidate, but they
did know George Harvey and Big
Jim Smith and Little Bob Davis,
when they came crowding down
the aisle with stranger, the Dem
ocrats knew 1t was time TO yell.
Wilson mounted the platform and
put out his hand gayly to-quiet the
crowd, and in his slowly articulated,
carefully chosen words began to
talk to the red-faced, disheveled
roomful of bog trotters, the great
unwashed Democracy before him.
He reached them.
The supporters of the orgauiza-
ton who had accepted him without
conviction at the dictates OK the
bosses came first. Then he got the
Missionaries the progressives, the
anti-machine Irish and bound them
to his wheel. Indeed, he turned
the steam roller into a triumphal
chariot.
When he spoke a few minutes
they surrendered, gathered about
him, regenerated by his faith in
life and hope for it's dignity. They
knew their master right gladly.
And In that hour when he stood,
upon the stage OF the opera house
in Trenton 1t was as IL he had
walked upon a magic carpet. He
came up the opera house steps a
middle.aged college president, he
came down those steps into a new
order. He looked about him-the
college had vanished; the faculty
had changed-gravitatio values,
relations OF men, habits, stand
ards-eVerything was different.
The neophyte was puzzled at first.
He could talk; all that he held
over from the elder world was his
gift Of speech. As the hours be-
came days and weeks he talked
and talked.
Lived Among Scholars.
That we may know better this
man who walked out of one world
In his mid-fifties into another, let
US for moment consider the two
reared, and until he was fifty
four lived, among scnolars-exact
men was the words goes. They
knew things were true, because
they had examined the facts. He
had the scholars respect for facts
and upon assembled Facts founded
whatever truth, he held. That
was the academic way of acquir-
ing knowledge; even wisdom. The
laboratory, the library. the re-
search table, all sources of facts
were the SCHOLARS altar. Wilson
knew no other.
Politics is another world. Here
men base their actions upon in
tuition. Here men go for their
reasons, not to facts, but to the
Judgments of other men. Here
Royalties are changed from pom
derable things to friendships, Ito
prejudices, to hatreds, to tradi-
tons, to opinions.
When Wilson entered politics he
slammed the door on his whole
life, his training of fifty
years, his ambition. his friends,
his daily habits-wiping out every
thing. Is it wonder that he
was daZed sometimes as the years
wore on in his new world, a bit
timid at heart; seemed aloof, cold
and repellent often, and at the
end distracted at the antics of
mad men in the mad world where
in he wandered.
The Games the Thing,
One bright afternoon in early
autumn, 1910, after Woodrow VIII