Evening star., 1932-01-31
Won't Seek Presidency.


Democratic nomination and the preSl
dency is concrete and clear. 1t is un-
usual, but there is no mystery about it.
for he has stated it in conversations.
and letters to friends. ard in some
public or Semi-publiC uttcranCeS. He
will take it If it is thrust upon him.
but he will not seek it and he-thiS is
his meaningfuI phraSe-"doeS not cher
| ish it." He feels that. as he wrote the
editor Of the WinStOnSalem, N c.,
! Journal, whether carrying the banner
or marching in the ranks seems to me
/ to make little difference In this at
| titude CT mind lies Mr.. Bakers charter
of independence of personal freedom.
He does not cherish the presidency.
and therefore does not. in the ordinary
sense, want it. Since he does not want
/ it, he does not seek it. Since he does
| not seek it, he need make no COM
promise to get it. Consequently. he
| is free to speak his mind. THAT mind
incidentally. is without doubt, one Of
the best five or six now functioning
within the boundaries Of the United
. States)
/ Mr.. Baker does not cherish the presi-
denCy, in the sense that he will not try
/ to grasp it. What has given him this
unique attitude toward the White
House? Partly his character. of course.
but partly also because he knows what
/ the presidency means. He knows what
1t means and the whole of what it
means. He has been close to it. and
seen some heavy burdens and harsh
conditions that lie behind the outward
glamour
Mr.. Baker, as Secretary of War. was
. closer to President Wilson. in the sense
OF sympathetic kinship with Wilson s
spirit, than any other man By that
. experience, and by his knowledge of
other preSldenCieS within his lifetime,
Mr.. Baker knows some of the things a
President must endure He knows the
way We treat our Presidents-or at least
the way some of us treat them while
the rest of us fail effectively to con-
demn it.
Mr.. Baker has seen President Wilson
/ subjected to the charge that a friend of
his had made S3,000O0O by specializing
( with inside information of Wilson'S de-
/ cSlOn to enter the war, to such an eX-
tent that the friend Chimself one of the
finest Americans Of our generatiOnJ was
4 Oblged to go on the witness stand be-
fore a Congressional Committee to DENY
the charge Mr.. Baker has seen Presi-
/ dent Wilson reduced literally to physical
/ collapse and driven to his grave, in
large part by Slander. He has seen Mr.
Wilson made the victim of what poli-
| tlclans call a ''WomanS story; every
| BODY living recalls the slander that Mr.
! Wilson'S appointment of one of the
J most hlgh-minded men in America to
one Of the Nations most exalted offices
was reward for the friends services in
settling a breach of promise suit and
/ getting possession of an embarrassing
letter. (The deriders, in several books.
OF President Hoover, current victim of
this aspect of the Presidency, have not
/ yet included woman story" about
him. but they have charged about
/ everything else and doubtless some one
will get around to that
Saw Case of Harding.
Mr.. Baker has seen a feIlow-citizen of
his own State, Warren C. Harding
when nominated for the Presidency
made the victim of a StCry that one
OF his ancestors was a Negro, and has
seen the story exploited in public prints
within four days preceding the Presi-
dency, at time dangerously late for
successful denial. He has seen. in Mr.
Hardmg's case, book circulated within
few months after HardIng'S Inaugural
ton, on which the whole substance was