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WtJODHow Wilson, Age 23 
 
 The picture was lakcii iti IST'J wlu-n he was a Senii)r in I'riacetuii 
 
 I'niversity 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 THE MAN AND HIS WORK 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY ' 
 
 BY 
 HENRY JONES FORD ' 
 
 PB0FES80B OF POLITICS IN PRINCETON UNIVEBSITT. 
 
 AtJTHOB OF " THE BISE AND GROWTH OF AMERICAN POLITICS," " THE COST 
 
 OF ODB NATIONAL GOVERNMENT," "THE 8COTCH-IBISH IN AMERICA," 
 
 "the NATIONAL EI8T0BT OF THE STATE," ETC., ETC., ETC. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 NEW YORK LONDON 
 
 1916 
 
■ F(,9 
 
 6yW ;: 
 
 COPTRIGHT, 1916, BT 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 Printed in iheftiited fijates of America 
 
 APR 24*1916 ^ 
 ©CI.A428G74 \ 
 
to ' 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 In this work I have tried to give a systematic account 
 of what Woodrow Wilson has done, and of the princi- 
 ples on which he acts. The latter is really the more 
 important, for information without insight is .of little 
 value and indeed may be a disadvantage. Besides re- 
 counting events I have therefore endeavored to exhibit 
 them in their bearing upon the public welfare, apart 
 from considerations of party advantage; and also to 
 point out their constitutional significance. These are 
 the things that count in the reckonings of history ; these 
 are the things that ought to determine present judg- 
 ment ; these are the things I have had in mind in writing 
 this biography. 
 
 H. J. F. 
 
 Princeton, March, 1916, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Birth and Education 1 
 
 II. His Career as an Educator .... 22 
 
 III. His Books and Essays 53 
 
 IV. Entrance into Public Life .... 86 
 V. Governor of New Jersey 122 
 
 VI. President of the United States . . . 155 
 
 VII. Tariff Legislation and Trust Control . 176 
 
 VIII. Currency Reform 195 
 
 IX. The Situation in the Philippines . . 211 
 
 X. The Mexican Question 230 
 
 XI. The War and Its Issues 245 
 
 XII. Personal Traits 280 
 
 XIII. A Mid-Career Appreciation .... 297 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PACINQ 
 PAGE 
 
 Woodrow Wilson, aged 23 . . . . Frontispiece 
 
 Woodrow Wilson, aged 41 56 
 
 Woodrow Wilson, aged 46 114 
 
 Woodrow Wilson, aged 54 . . . , . ~ . T . . . 148 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 IN his family descent Woodrow Wilson belongs 
 to the Scotch-Irish stock whose arrival in the 
 American colonies, at the time when the settle- 
 ments were only a narrow coastwise strip, gave 
 the first start to effective occupation of the in- 
 terior. His ancestors were not, however, among 
 these pioneers, but came from Ulster early in the 
 nineteenth century. The War of Independence 
 and the rise of American nationality had not 
 severed the ties between Ulster and America, and 
 emigration still flowed briskly along familiar 
 channels. 
 
 Among the emigrants in 1807 was a County 
 Down youth, James Wilson, who was bound for 
 Philadelphia, always a favorite port with the 
 Ulster people. He obtained employment at the 
 printing trade, in the office of William Duane's 
 
 [1] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 newspaper, the Aurora, with such good pros- 
 pects that he felt able to wed Anne Adams, an 
 Ulster girl who had come over in the same ship 
 with him. They were married November 1, 
 1808, by the Rev. Dr. George C. Potts, pastor 
 of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, of which 
 denomination they were both staunch adher- 
 ents. 
 
 With the restoration of peace after the War 
 of 1812, the movement of population to the West 
 was renewed with great vigor, and James Wilson 
 was caught by it. He went to Pittsburg, cast 
 about for an opening, and finally found one to 
 his mind at Steubenville, a river town in the then 
 new state of Ohio. Here he founded the Western 
 Herald, and in its office every one of his seven 
 sons was taught the printing trade. In 1832, he 
 founded a paper in Pittsburg, the Pennsylvania 
 Advocate, which was under the immediate charge 
 of his eldest son. James Wilson maintained edi- 
 torial supervision over both papers until his death 
 in 1857. He was a justice of the peace and hence 
 was commonly known as Judge Wilson. 
 
 Woodrow Wilson's father was the youngest 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 son of Judge Wilson, Joseph Ruggles, born at 
 Steubenville, February 28, 1822. In addition to 
 absorbing the printing craft like all his brothers, 
 he applied himself to scholarship, and after a 
 good preparatory training at an academy in 
 Steubenville, went to Jefferson College at Can- 
 onsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated 
 in 1844 as valedictorian. After a year's experi- 
 ence in teaching at Mercer, Pennsylvania, he 
 turned toward the Presbyterian ministry. He at- 
 tended the Western Theological Seminary at 
 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, for a year, and then 
 went for a year to Princeton Seminary. Al- 
 though now licensed to preach, he continued for 
 years thereafter to labor chiefly as an educator. 
 After receiving a B.D. degree from Princeton 
 Seminary in 1846, he taught for two years in the 
 Steubenville Male Academy. While there he be- 
 came acquainted with Miss Janet Woodrow, of 
 Chillicothe, Ohio, a pupil of the Steubenville 
 academy for girls. They were married on June 
 7, 1849. Her father was the Rev. Dr. Thomas 
 Woodrow, originally a Scotch Presbyterian min- 
 ister, who had settled at Carlisle, England, for 
 
 [3] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 sixteen years, and Janet was one of eight chil- 
 dren born to him there. Thence he removed to 
 Canada and was engaged in missionarj^ work 
 there when, in 1837, he was invited to the pas- 
 torate of the First Presbyterian Church of Chilli- 
 cothe. Two weeks after Joseph Wilson's mar- 
 riage to Doctor Woodrow's daughter, he was or- 
 dained by the Presbyterj'^ of Ohio, but his occupa- 
 tion still continued to be chiefly educational. For 
 a j^ear he served in Jefl'erson College as "profes- 
 sor extraordinary" of rhetoric. From 1851 to 
 1855 he was professor of chemistry and natural 
 science in Hampden Sj^dney College, Virginia. 
 In 1855 he took pastoral charge of a church at 
 Staunton, and here, on December 28, 1856, there 
 was born to him a son who received the family 
 names, Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow 
 was the third of the Wilson children, the two pre- 
 ceding being girls. His only brother was born 
 ten years later. 
 
 The Wilson family did not remain long in 
 Staunton but removed thence to Augusta, Geor- 
 gia, while Woodrow was in his second year. The 
 Rev. Mr. Wilson had a distinguished career in 
 
 [1] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 the Presbyterian Church, South. The degree of 
 D.D. was conferred upon him by Oglethorpe 
 University in 1857. He was pastor of the First 
 Presbyterian Church of Augusta 1858-1870; 
 professor of pastoral and evangelistic theology 
 in Columbia (S. C.) Theological Seminary, 1870- 
 74; pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of 
 Wilmington, N. C, 1874-85, and professor of 
 theology in the Southwestern Presbyterian Uni- 
 versity, Clarksville, Tennessee, 1885-93. He 
 served as permanent clerk of the general assembly 
 of the Presbyterian Church, South, 1861-5; as 
 stated clerk, 1865-1899; and as moderator, 1879. 
 His wife died April 15, 1888. He retained his 
 professor's chair at Clarksville until he was sev- 
 enty-one, when he retired from active labor and 
 went back to Columbia to reside. The last years 
 of his life were spent with his eldest son at Prince- 
 ton, where he died, January 21, 1903, in his 81st 
 year. He was well known and liked by Princeton 
 people, who noted in him the source of his son's 
 personal characteristics, particularly a turn for 
 anecdote, a flow of animal spirits, and sociability 
 of disposition. His pictures also indicate that 
 
 [5] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 Woodrow Wilson took after his father in phy- 
 sique as well as in temperament. 
 
 Although Woodrow Wilson's childhood was 
 spent in the South during the Civil War, he 
 escaped its severities. Augusta, then a city of 
 about fifteen thousand population, was never in 
 the actual track of the war and was never occu- 
 pied by the Federal troops until the Reconstruc- 
 tion Period. There were times when the food 
 supply became confined to a few staples, and 
 there were periods when war's alarms disquieted 
 the elders, but there was nothing so eventful as 
 to impress the mind of a child with memories of 
 the struggle. He was not quite nine years old 
 when the war ended, and if its incidents had any 
 special bearing on his childhood it was in post- 
 poning the beginning of his school days. 
 
 His first acquaintance with literature was ob- 
 tained in the home circle. The family had the 
 habit, quite common among educated people in 
 the old South, of having someone read aloud 
 when the home circle gathered about their eve- 
 ning employments. Not only the father and the 
 mother, but also the boy's two sisters, often read 
 
 [6] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 aloud, and in this way the boy heard and relished 
 passages from Scott, Dickens, and other authors, 
 before he knew his letters. The father was a 
 sociable, instructive, and communicative compan- 
 ion, and he laid well and durably the foundations 
 of the boy's education before a school book was 
 taken in hand. 
 
 Woodrow began his schooling at an academy 
 opened by a Confederate veteran who had re- 
 turned to civil pursuits after four years of sol- 
 diering. Notwithstanding its casual inception it 
 was a good school, numbering distinguished men 
 among its graduates. One of them was the late 
 Justice Lamar of the United States Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 The Wilsons moved from Augusta to Colum- 
 bia, South Carolina, in 1870, where Woodrow 
 went to school at a local academy. In spite of 
 his late start he advanced so well in his studies 
 that by the time he was seventeen he was ready 
 to go to college. In 1873 he entered Davidson 
 (N. C.) College. His career there was brief. 
 He joined the Eumenean literary society, and he 
 played baseball on the college team, but he did 
 
 [7] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 not finish out the year, as he fell ill and went 
 home to his family, now settled in Wilmington, 
 North Carolina. There Woodrow remained 
 for a year, building up his constitution, 
 which had been affected by an over-rapid 
 physical development, and meanwhile pursuing 
 studies to meet the entrance qualifications at 
 Princeton, whither it had been decided that he 
 should go. He matriculated there in September, 
 1875. 
 
 Although, since he has become famous, inter- 
 esting anecdotal details have been collected 
 about his school days, there is really little that is 
 significant. At one time he had had a passionate 
 fondness for sea stories, and had familiarized liim- 
 self with the rigging and navigation of vessels be- 
 fore he had ever seen the ocean, but such en- 
 thusiasms are characteristics of childhood. What 
 really counted was that he acquired a taste for 
 general reading, which is an appetite that once 
 developed tends to become insatiable. Indul- 
 gence of this taste seems to have been the sig- 
 nificant feature of his Princeton career. He 
 does not appear to have been prominent in stu- 
 
 [8] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 dent activities, and was connected with compara- 
 tively few organizations. In his freshman year 
 he joined "The Tarheels," which had been estab- 
 lished to commemorate the Mecklenburg Declara- 
 tion of Independence. His eating club was "The 
 Alligators," which he joined in his sophomore 
 year. In his senior year he was one of the five 
 directors of the football association and acted as 
 secretary of the board, but he did not play on the 
 team. In those days football did not have its 
 present prominence among college sports and but 
 five games were played during the season, only 
 three of which were with other college teams. At 
 that time he stood five feet eleven and weighed 
 one hundred and fifty-six pounds. His figure 
 has not varied much since. 
 
 His record for scholarship was sound without 
 being brilliant. His general average for the four 
 years was 90.3 and he stood thirty-eighth in a 
 graduating class of one hundred and six. His 
 highest standing in scholarship was attained dur- 
 ing his sophomore year and his poorest was dur- 
 ing his senior year. In philosophy, ethics, history, 
 political science, and English literature he always 
 
 [9] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 received a high rating, but in scientific branches 
 he received lower ratings and these brought do\Mi 
 his average. The poorest showing he made was 
 in astronomy, in which his senior rating was 73 
 — more than passable but not distinguished. 
 
 In view of the faculty for public speaking 
 which he subsequently developed, it is rather re- 
 markable that he did not figure more prominently 
 as an orator. He joined Whig Hall and received 
 its training in public speaking, but did not obtain 
 a place upon the college debating team; and his 
 only distinction in this field is the minor one of 
 winning a second prize in a Hall debate during 
 his sophomore year. His activities at Princeton 
 were chiefly literary, and it was only in this field 
 that he gained marked distinction. He was 
 elected a member of the editorial board of the 
 Princetonian for the term of April, 1877, to 
 April, 1878, was one of two managing editors 
 from November 15, 1877, to January 10, 1878, 
 and was the sole managing editor from IMay, 
 1878, to May, 1879. In addition to his work on 
 the Princetonian, he was a contributor to the 
 Nassau Literary Magazine and won a prize by 
 
 [10] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 an essay on William, Earl Chatham, published 
 in the nmnber for October, 1878. 
 ^The most remarkable and significant perform- 
 ance of his undergraduate period was an article 
 on "Cabinet Government in the United States,'* 
 contributed to the International Review and pub- 
 lished in the issue for August, 1879. ^ That a 
 youth of twenty-three should have been able to 
 get into a high-grade review with an elaborate 
 article on public policy was certainly a notable 
 literary exploit. It occupies nearly eighteen solid 
 pages and was evidently regarded by the editor 
 as an important article — as indeed it was. It is 
 marked by a breadth of knowledge, range of 
 vision, and independence of thought that is rarely 
 found in youth, however brilliant and gifted. Such 
 an article could never have been created merely 
 upon the basis of a college curriculum. It was 
 the outcome of personal observation and experi- 
 ence, and these are not the qualifications that one 
 is apt to acquire during the undergraduate period. 
 The matter becomes intelligible when it is consid- 
 ered what pungent occasion for interest in public 
 affairs was supplied by the impressions of his 
 
 [11] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 childhood during the Reconstruction Period in 
 the South, and how that interest presided over his 
 thought and reading. The reading of anyone 
 who reads to much purpose is apt to seem des- 
 ultor}% but that is because it seeks understanding 
 rather than information and in turning to every 
 quarter for light is led on into many fields. A 
 determination to figure in public affairs is not a 
 novel undergraduate ambition, but in this partic- 
 ular case it was allied with pertinacious industry. 
 Notions of politics derived from family tradition, 
 from the newspapers, and from college manuals 
 were corrected and improved by assiduous read- 
 ing of histories, memoirs, biographies, and period- 
 ical literature — not by set rule but in pursuit of 
 ideas and for the satisfaction of intellectual inter- 
 ests. In form and style the International Review 
 article is plainly modeled upon the pattern sup- 
 plied by the English quarterlies upon which the 
 youthful author was in the habit of browsing. 
 Then, too, there are passages that seem to have 
 been originally prepared for forensic use, and 
 that may have been utilized in debate before in- 
 corporation in the essay. But Avhat distinguishes 
 
 [12] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 this essay from the clever imitative work not in- 
 frequently done by young" authors is the inde- 
 pendent quality of the thought. 
 
 At that period politics and ethics were con- 
 fused in the accepted manuals, as indeed they 
 still are in schoolbooks on civics. The regular 
 way of treating constitutional arrangements was 
 to impute to them the merit of their intentions 
 and to account for their failure in practice by 
 the machinations of politicians or by the igno- 
 rance and perversity of the electorate. Hence the 
 people are always to blame when things go wrong, 
 and it follows that political improvement is to 
 be sought through moral improvement. In grasp- 
 ing the principle that the quality of power is 
 determined by the conditions under which it is 
 exercised, and that good management of the pub- 
 lic business is as much a matter of sound organiza- 
 tion as good management of private business, 
 young Wilson doubtless profited by studying 
 Bagehot's works; but the particular application 
 of that principle to the interpretation of Ameri- 
 can conditions was wholly his own. In a treatise 
 of singular force and vivacity Bagehot had 
 
 [13] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 knocked to pieces the old check and balance theory 
 of the English constitution. He showed that 
 its efficacy really depended upon concentration 
 of authority and that the mainspring" was the or- 
 ganic connection of the executive and the legis- 
 lative branches. Wilson probably took from 
 Bagehot his way of viewing politics from the 
 standpoint of actual practice, but that is alL 
 
 This article was so decisive in its influence upon 
 Wilson's career, and it contains in embrj^o so 
 much of his subsequent thinking and writing upon 
 government, that it deserves special considera- 
 tion. It begins with a reference to existing con- 
 ditions. 
 
 "Our patriotism seems of late to have been ex- 
 changing its wonted tone of confident hope for 
 one of desponding solicitude. Anxiety about the 
 future of our institutions seems to be daily be- 
 coming stronger in the minds of thoughtful 
 Americans. A feeling of uneasiness is undoubt- 
 edly prevalent, sometimes taking the shape of a 
 fear that grave, perhaps radical, defects in our 
 mode of government are militating against our 
 liberty and prosperity. A marked and alarming 
 
 ■ [14] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 decline in statesmanship, a rule of levity and folly 
 instead of wisdom and sober forethought in legis- 
 lation, threaten to shake our trust not only in 
 the men by whom our national policy is controlled, 
 but also in the very principles upon which our 
 Government rests. Both State and National leg- 
 islatures are looked upon with nervous suspicion, 
 and we hail an adjournment of Congress as a 
 temporary immunity from danger." 
 
 Proceeding to the consideration of causes, the 
 essayist notes a disposition "to cast discredit upon 
 that principle, the establisliment of which has 
 been regarded as America's greatest claim to po- 
 litical honor — the right of every man to a voice in 
 the government under which he lives." But he 
 j)rotests against the attempt to make universal 
 suffrage the scapegoat of our grievances and he 
 contends that the true cause lies in the defective 
 organization of public authority. . 
 
 "Congress is a deliberative body in which there 
 is little real deliberation ; a legislature which legis- 
 lates with no real discussion of its business. Our 
 Government is practically carried on by irre- 
 sponsible committees. Too few Americans take 
 " [15] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the trouble to inform themselves as to the methods 
 of Congressional management; and, as a conse- 
 quence, not many have perceived that ahnost ab- 
 solute power has fallen into the hands of men 
 whose irresponsibility prevents the regulation of 
 their conduct by the people from whom they de- 
 rive their authority." 
 
 The parceling of legislative initiative among 
 standing conmiittees, a system peculiar to the 
 United States, is due to the fact that the execu- 
 tive has no means of proposing and explaining 
 measures directly to Congress. 
 
 "There is no one in Congress to speak for the 
 nation. Congress is a conglomeration of inhar- 
 monious elements ; a collection of men represent- 
 ing each his neighborhood, each his local interest ; 
 an alarmingly large proportion of its legislation 
 is 'special' ; all of it is at best only a limping com- 
 promise between the conflicting interests of the 
 innumerable localities represented. There is no 
 guiding or harmonizing power. Are the people 
 in favor of a particular pohcy — what means have 
 they of forcing it upon the sovereign legislature 
 at Wasliington? None but the most imperfect. 
 
 [10] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 If they return representatives who favor it (and 
 this is the most they can do), these representa- 
 tives, being under no directing power, will find a 
 mutual agreement impracticable among so many, 
 and will finally settle upon some policy which sat- 
 isfies nobody, removes no difficulty, and makes 
 little definite or valuable provision for the fu- 
 tiu-e." 
 
 The remedy for this situation, he urges, is to 
 establish cabinet responsibility. 
 
 "When carrying out measures thrust upon 
 them by committees, administrative officers can 
 throw off all sense of responsibility ; and the com- 
 mittees are safe from punishment, safe even from 
 censure, whatever the issue. But in administer- 
 ing laws which have passed under the influence 
 of their own open advocacy, ministers must shoul- 
 der the responsibilities and face the consequences. 
 . . . The Executive is in constant need of legis- 
 lative cooperation; the legislative must be aided 
 by an Executive who is in a position intelligently 
 and vigorously to execute its acts. There must 
 needs be, therefore, as a binding link between 
 them, some body which has no power to coerce the 
 
 [17] 
 
WOODROW WILSCX 
 
 one and is interested in maintaining the inde- 
 pendent effectiveness of the other. Such a link 
 is the responsible cabinet." 
 
 After getting his A.B. degree from Princeton 
 in 1879, Woodrow Wilson matriculated in the 
 law school of the University of Virginia in the 
 autumn of the same year. While tliere he ap- 
 plied himself diligently to forensic training. He 
 developed his voice by joining the chapel choir 
 and the glee club. He was active in the JefFer- 
 sonian Society, and won its gold medal for ora- 
 tory. The University of Virginia magazine for 
 [March, 1880, contains a report of an oration on 
 John Bright, which Wilson delivered before the 
 Jeifersonian Society; and the number for April 
 contains an essay on Gladstone, signed "Atticus," 
 wliich was Wilson's pen name in writing for col- 
 lege periodicals. 
 
 Just before Christmas, 1880, Wilson left the 
 University of Virginia and returned home. Too 
 great concentration upon study, and insufficient 
 diversion, had brought on attacks of indigestion, 
 to recover from which change of scene was neces- 
 sary. During the ensuing year he remained at 
 
 [18] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 his home in Wilmington, resting, reading, exer- 
 cising, and restoring his health. In May, 1882, 
 he went to Atlanta to begin the practice of law. 
 In that year Atlanta received a visit from a tariff 
 commission created by Congress and Wilson was 
 among the witnesses who appeared before it. He 
 s;gioke in behalf of free trade, with a qualification 
 which he thus stated: 
 
 "No man with his senses about him would 
 recommend perfect freedom of trade in the sense 
 that there should be no duties whatever laid on 
 imports. The only thing that free traders con- 
 tend for is, that there shall be only so much duty 
 laid as will be necessary to defray the expenses of 
 the Government, reduce the public debt, and leave 
 a small surplus for accumulation. But that sur- 
 plus should be so small that it will not lead to 
 jobbery and corruption of the worst sort." 
 
 Wilson had not been attracted to Atlanta by 
 any personal associations but simply because the 
 city was growing so rapidly that it seemed to 
 offer a promising field for a young practitioner. 
 As matters turned out it did not give an opening 
 to Wilson. He formed a partnership with an- 
 
 [19] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 other young lawyer, waited for clients who did not 
 come, and meanwhile went on with the studies of 
 jurisprudence and politics that interested him so 
 deeply. Along with those studies went an in- 
 creasing conviction that they would not be favored 
 by the ordinary emploj^ments of a practicing law- 
 yer, and also that their continuance would not 
 aid him in getting business. Such considerations 
 had their final issue in a determination to quit the 
 practice of law in order to become a professed 
 student and educator in the field of jurispru- 
 dence. Johns Hopkins University was at that 
 time making a strong appeal to the South as an 
 institution for postgraduate work, and he went 
 into residence there in the autumn of 1883. The 
 following year he was appointed to a fellowship 
 in history. He spent two years at Johns Hopkins 
 University, during which he finished a thesis, 
 upon the acceptance of which the degree of Ph.D. 
 was conferred upon him, in 1886. His career at 
 Johns Hopkins was brilliantly successful. He 
 made a strong impression upon his associates, 
 both by his intellectual power and by his personal 
 traits. He acquired the sort of reputation in 
 
 [•20] 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 university circles that marks one as a coming man 
 and puts one forward for academic preferment. 
 The call, indeed, came before he had taken his 
 doctor's degree, and he left Johns Hopkins to 
 join the faculty of Bryn Mawr College in 1885. 
 But such was the appreciation of the university 
 authorities that they arranged to keep him still 
 associated with their work through a visiting lec- 
 tureship to which he was appointed in 1887. His 
 two years at Johns Hopkins closed the pupillary 
 stage of his career. It was rather protracted, as 
 he was in his thirtieth year before he had finished 
 his preparatory studies and was fairly launched in 
 his career as an educator. But it soon turned out 
 that the delay had not been disadvantageous, for 
 he had laid down broad and solid foundations 
 upon which he now rapidly erected a command- 
 ing reputation. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HIS C^VREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 IN entering upon the career of an educator, 
 Doctor Wilson at the same time entered upon 
 a period of intense activity. It was as if the pre- 
 paratory stage had been employed in assembling 
 materials and in setting up apparatus whose 
 products now came forth in remarkable quantity 
 and variety. Lectures, public addresses, books 
 and essays, closely stud the record of the ensuing 
 years. These varied activities went on concur- 
 rently, but for convenience of examination they 
 will be dealt with best by classes, and the present 
 chapter will be devoted to a consideration of his 
 work as an educator. 
 
 His original appointment at Bryn ]\Iawr Col- 
 lege in 1885 was that of an associate in history. 
 The following year he became associate professor 
 of history and political science. In 1888 he ac- 
 cepted a call to the chair of history and political 
 economy at Wesleyan University, and in 1890 he 
 
 [22] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 was called to the chair of jurisprudence at Prince- 
 ton University. In addition to the work of these 
 chairs he delivered a lecture course at Johns Hop- 
 kins University, and he was lecturer on constitu- 
 tional law at the New York Law School. His 
 work in history, jurisprudence, and politics was 
 amply recognized by the academic world. The 
 degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by 
 Lake Forest College in 1887, by Tulane Univer- 
 sity in 1898, by Johns Hopkins University in 
 1901, and Yale University conferred upon him 
 the degree of Litt.D. in 1901. He was elected 
 president of Princeton University in 1902, and 
 since then has received additional degrees. 
 
 Doctor Wilson's literary activities were what 
 first brought him into public notice, but those pur- 
 suits were not so engrossing as to prevent him 
 from giving thoughtful consideration to educa- 
 tional problems. As soon as his position in the 
 academic world was solidly established, addresses 
 upon educational topics became a marked feature 
 of his activities. In 1893 he dehvered an address 
 at the International Congress of Education at 
 Chicago on the question of whether an antecedent 
 
 [23] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 liberal education ought to be required of students 
 in law, medicine, and theology. This address af- 
 fords an instance of his facility in getting at the 
 heart of a subject. He began by observing: 
 
 "We shall, I think, escape entanglements if 
 we note at the very outset the two-fold aspect of 
 the subject. It may be discussed from the point 
 of view of the individual who is seeking profes- 
 sional instruction as a means of gaining a liveli- 
 hood, or from the point of view of society itself, 
 which must wish to be well served by its profes- 
 sional classes. The community will doubtless be 
 inclined to demand more education than the in- 
 dividual will be willing to tarry for before enter- 
 ing on the practice of his profession. To which 
 shall we give greater weight, the self-interest of 
 the individual, or the self-interest of the com- 
 munity?'* 
 
 The issue could hardly have been more con- 
 cisely or more exactly stated, and the ground was 
 cleared at once for an illuminating discussion of 
 the professional value of a liberal education, 
 pointing out the need and also the existing inap- 
 preciation of it. He remarked : 
 
 [24] 
 
HIS CAKEER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 "The practical side of this question is certainly 
 a very serious one in this country. That there 
 should be an almost absolute freedom of occupa- 
 tion is a belief very intimately and tenaciously 
 connected with the democratic theory of govern- 
 ment, and our legislators are very slow to lay 
 many restrictions upon it. Our colleges and uni- 
 versities, and our law and medical and theological 
 schools have seldom endowment enough to render 
 them independent of popular demands and stand- 
 ards. They are wholly independent, however, 
 of each other, and cannot be constrained to accept 
 any common scheme or standard. Even if the 
 public had made up its mind very definitely on 
 this subject, no means are at hand to facilitate 
 concerted action. Reform must come piecemeal, 
 and by example ; not all at once and by authority. 
 The remedy for the present state of affairs in 
 this country seems to me to lie in resolute inde- 
 pendent experiment by individual institutions. 
 Let leading universities and colleges that have or 
 can get money enough to make them free to act 
 without too much regard to outside criticism, first 
 erect professional schools upon a new model of 
 
 [25] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 scholarship, and then close the doors of those 
 schools to all who have not a first-rate college 
 training." 
 
 It is on those very lines that the effort to im- 
 prove professional qualifications in this country 
 is now being carried on. 
 
 At the meeting of the American Bar Associa- 
 tion at Saratoga Springs, August 23, 1894, Doc- 
 tor Wilson delivered an address on legal educa- 
 tion. This, as it was for a special audience, went 
 into technical detail, but in the main it was a 
 plea for breadth of preparation. Here is a typical 
 paragraph : 
 
 "To take a definite example, in order to make 
 my meaning clearer, it is a favorite idea of mine 
 that commercial law should be taught along with 
 the history of commerce, which will make it plain 
 what gave rise to the relations of business with 
 which the law deals, how the forms of commercial 
 negotiation and of commercial paper came into 
 existence, and how statutes and all the imperative 
 regulations of the law have come after the fact, 
 fixing obligations already habitually recognized, 
 or at any rate ready to be put into form, and so 
 
 [26] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 simply serving" merchants, not inventing transac- 
 tions for them. One portion of our law we al- 
 ready study in this way — the law of real property. 
 It has retained forms and phrases which we can- 
 not understand without turning back to examine 
 the feudal system and the social conditions of the 
 middle ages; and so we are happily obliged to 
 give heed to its genesis. We ought to do the 
 same for every portion of the law." 
 
 In an article contributed to the Foru7n for 
 September, 1894, he considered the relation of 
 university training to citizenship. In this he had 
 something to say on the relative values of a class- 
 ical training and a scientific, and also as regards 
 national ideal in the character of a university. 
 Truth is without geographical boundarj^, but 
 there can be a national selection of truth. 
 
 "In order to be national, a university should 
 have, at the center of all its training, courses of 
 instruction in that literature which contains the 
 ideals of its race and all the nice proofs and subtle 
 inspiration of the character, spirit, and thought of 
 the nation which it serves ; and, besides that, in- 
 struction in the history and leading conceptions of 
 
 [27] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 those institutions which have served the nation's 
 energies in the preservation of order and the main- 
 tenance of just standards of civil virtue and pub- 
 lic purpose. These should constitute the common 
 training of all its students, as the only means of 
 schooling their spirits for their common life as 
 citizens. For the rest, they might be free to 
 choose what they would learn. . . . 
 
 "The world in which we live is troubled by 
 many voices, seeking to proclaim righteousness 
 and judgment to come; but they disturb without 
 instructing us. . . . There is no corrective for it 
 all hke a wide acquaintance with the best books 
 that men have written, joined with a knowledge 
 of the institutions men have made trial of in the 
 past ; and for each nation there is its o\mi record 
 of mental experience and political experiment. 
 Such a record alwa3^s sobers those who read it. 
 It also steadies the nerves. If all educated knew 
 it, it would be as if they had had a revelation. 
 They could stand together and govern, witli open 
 eyes and the gift of tongues which other men 
 could understand. Here is like wild talk and 
 headlong passion for reform in the past, — here in 
 
 [28] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 the books, — with all the motives that underlay the 
 perilous utterance now laid bare: these are not 
 new terrors and excitements. Neither need the 
 wisdom be new, nor the humanity, by which they 
 shall be moderated and turned to righteous ends. 
 There is old experience in these matters, or rather 
 in these states of mind. It is no new thing to 
 have economic problems and dream dreams of ro- 
 mantic and adventurous social reconstruction. 
 And so it is out of books that we can get our 
 means and our self-possession for a sane and sys- 
 tematic criticism of life." 
 
 The concluding paragraph of this essay is par- 
 ticularly interesting in that it foreshadowed a re- 
 form which lie eventually had the opportunity of 
 making : 
 
 "The serious practical question is. How are all 
 the men of a university to be made to read Eng- 
 lish literature widely and intelligently, as this 
 plan presupposes ? For it is reading, not set lec- 
 tures, that will prepare a soil for culture : the in- 
 side of books, and not talk about them; though 
 there must be the latter also, to serve as a chart 
 and guide to the reading. The diiSculty is not in 
 
 [29] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 reality very ^eat. A considerable number of 
 young tutors, serving their novitiate for full uni- 
 versity appointments, might easily enough effect 
 an organization of the men that would secure the 
 reading. Taking them in groups of manageable 
 numbers, suggesting the reading of each group, 
 and by frequent interviews and quizzes seeing 
 that it was actual!}^ done, explaining and stimu- 
 lating as best they might by the way, they could 
 not only get the required tasks performed, but 
 relieve them of the hateful appearance of being 
 tasks, and cheer and enrich the whole life of the 
 university." 
 
 Here we have the essential character of the 
 Princeton preceptorial system, stated by Doctor 
 Wilson eight years before his election as president 
 of the university put him in a position to introduce 
 that system. 
 
 In his address on "Princeton in the Nation's 
 Service," delivered at the Princeton sesquicenten- 
 nial celebration, October 21, 1896, he went into 
 the matter of educational ideals with an emphasis 
 that resounded in current literature. It was pub- 
 lished in full in the Forum for December, 1896, 
 
 [30] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 but liberal extracts appeared in Science, the Re- 
 view of Reviews, Electrical Engineering, and the 
 Popular Science Monthly, as well as in the news- 
 paper press. There had been a strong tendency 
 tq^make science the leading intellectual discipline, 
 even to the extent of superseding the older cul- 
 tural apparatus. Doctor Wilson took advantage 
 of a conspicuous occasion to utter a criticism 
 upon this tendency and a warning against its 
 perils. He said : 
 
 "I have no laboratory but the world of books 
 and men in which I live ; but I am much mistaken 
 if the scientific spirit of the age is not doing us a 
 disservice, working in us a certain great degen- 
 eracy. Science has bred in us a spirit of experi- 
 ment and a contempt for the past. It has made 
 us credulous of quick improvement, hopeful of 
 discovering panaceas, confident of success in every 
 new thing. ... It has given us agnosticism in 
 the realm of philosophy, scientific anarchism in 
 the field of politics. . . . 
 
 "Let me say once more, this is not the fault of 
 the scientist ; he has done his work with an intelli- 
 gence and success which cannot be too much ad- 
 
 [31] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 mired. It is the work of the noxious, intoxicating 
 gas which has somehow got into the lungs of the 
 rest of us from out the crevices of his workshop — 
 a gas, it would seem, which forms only in the out- 
 er air, and where men do not know the right use 
 of their lungs. I should tremble to see social re- 
 form led by men who had breathed it; I should 
 fear nothing better than utter destruction from a 
 revolution conceived and led in the scientific 
 spirit. Science has not changed the laws of social 
 growth and betterment. Science has not changed 
 the nature of society, has not made history a whit 
 easier to understand, human nature a whit easier 
 to reform. It has won for us a great hberty in 
 the physical world, a liberty from superstitious 
 fear and from disease, a freedom to use nature as 
 a familiar servant; but it has not freed us from 
 ourselves. It has not purged us of passion or dis- 
 posed us to virtue^ It has not made us less covet- 
 ous or less ambitious or less self-indulgent. On 
 the contrary, it may be suspected of having en- 
 hanced our passions, by making wealth so quick to 
 come, so fickle to stay. It has wrought such in- 
 stant, incredible improvement in all the physical 
 
 [32] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 setting of our life, that we have grown the more 
 impatient of the unreformed condition of the 
 part it has not touched or bettered, and we want 
 to get at our spirits and reconstruct them in like 
 radical fashion by like processes of experiment. 
 We have broken with the past and have come into 
 a new world. 
 
 "Can anyone wonder, then, that I ask for the 
 old drill, the old memory of times gone by, the 
 old schooling in precedent and tradition, the old 
 keeping of faith with the past, as a preparation 
 for leadership in days of social change?" 
 
 On October 13, 1899, he delivered an address 
 at Cambridge, Massachusetts, before the New 
 England Association of Colleges and Prepara- 
 tory Schools on "Spurious versus Real Patriotism 
 in Education." The point he urged was that 
 while patriotism expresses itself in sentiment, it 
 does not consist of sentiment but is a principle of 
 devotion to the true interests of its object. 
 
 "We have forgotten the very principle of our 
 origin if we have forgotten how to object, how to 
 resist, how to agitate, how to pull down and build 
 up, even to the extent of revolutionary practices 
 
 [33] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 if it be necessary, to readjust matters. I have 
 forgotten my history if that be not true history. 
 When I see schoolrooms full of children, going 
 through genuflections to the flag of the United 
 States, I am willing to bend the knee if I be per- 
 mitted to understand what history has written 
 upon the folds of that flag. If you will teach the 
 children what the flag stands for, I am willing 
 that they should go on both knees to it. But 
 they will get up with opinions of their own ; they 
 will not get up with the opinions of those who are 
 instructing them. They will get up critical. 
 They will get up determined to have opinions of 
 their own. They will know that this is a flag of 
 liberty of opinion, as well as of political liberty in 
 questions of organization." 
 
 The address went on to consider to what extent 
 and by what means patriotism should be taught 
 in the schools and dwelt upon the necessity of 
 instructed opinion and critical judgment, in the 
 teacher, in respect of our history and our institu- 
 tions. 
 
 His inaugural address as president of Prince- 
 ton University was delivered on October 25, 1902. 
 
 [34] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 In this he made a mature and comprehensive 
 statement of educational views that he had formed 
 and expressed through his observation and ex- 
 perience as a student and as a college professor. 
 During those years there had been a marked set 
 of educational opinion against the old classical 
 discipline and in favor of the substitution of scien- 
 tific branches. At the same time there was a 
 tendency toward granting entire freedom of 
 choice in university studies, upon the theory that 
 any branch of knowledge pursued to its depths 
 would involve all knowledge. Doctor Wilson was 
 an opponent of these tendencies and their attend- 
 ant relaxation of standards. These tendencies 
 are now stayed and in this respect Princeton's 
 example has been very influential. When Doctor 
 Wilson became president of the university the 
 problem was to maintain the old standards and 
 yet broaden the curriculum so as to meet the needs 
 of a modern university. Although the university 
 is for the few rather than for the many, it has 
 a democratic function to perform in supplying 
 organizers and leaders for a democratic govern- 
 ment. Speaking of this, he said: 
 
 [35] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 "The college is not for the majorit}^ who carry- 
 forward the common labor of the world, nor even 
 for those who work at the skilled handicrafts 
 which multiply the conveniences and the luxuries 
 of the complex modern life. It is for the minority 
 who plan, who conceive, who superintend, who 
 mediate between group and group, and who 
 must see the wide stage as a whole. Democratic 
 nations must be served in this wise no less than 
 those whose leaders are chosen by birth and privi- 
 lege ; and the college is no less democratic because 
 it is for those who play a special part. . . . 
 
 "There are two ways of preparing a young man 
 for his life work. One is to give him the skill and 
 special knowledge which shall make a good tool, 
 an excellent bread-winning tool, of him ; and for 
 thousands of young men that way must be fol- 
 lowed. It is a good way. It is honorable. It is 
 indispensable. But it is not for the college, and 
 it never can be. The college should seek to make 
 the men whom it receives something more than 
 excellent servants of a trade or skilled practi- 
 tioners of a profession. It should give them elas- 
 ticity of faculty and breadth of vision, so that 
 
 [36] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 they shall have a surplus of mind to expend, not 
 upon their profession only, for its hberalization 
 and enlargement, but also upon the broader in- 
 terests which lie about them, in the spheres in 
 which they are to be, not breadwinners merely, 
 but citizens as well, and in their own hearts, where 
 they are to grow to the stature of real nobility. 
 It is this free capital of mind the world most 
 stands in need of, — this free capital that awaits 
 investment in undertakings, spiritual as well as 
 material, which advance the race and help all 
 men to a better life." 
 
 In considering the relative value of different 
 branches of study, he held that the classical lan- 
 guages of antiquity were still unsurpassed as a 
 discipline for the mind. 
 
 "But they are disciplinary only because of their 
 definiteness and their established method; and 
 they take their determinateness from their age 
 and perfection. It is their age and completeness 
 that render them so serviceable and so suitable for 
 the first processes of education. By this means 
 the boy is informed of the bodies of knowledge 
 which are not experimental but settled, definitive, 
 
 [37] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 fundamental. This is the stock upon which time 
 out of mind all the thoughtful world has traded. 
 These have been food of the mind for long gener- 
 ations. . . . 
 
 "Drill in mathematics stands in the same 
 category with familiar knowledge of the thought 
 and speech of classical antiquity, because in them 
 also we get the life-long accepted discipline of 
 the race, the processes of pure reasoning which 
 lie at once at the basis of science and at the basis 
 of philosophy, grounded upon observation and 
 physical fact and yet abstract and of the very 
 stuff of the essential processes of the mind, a 
 bridge between reason and nature. Here, too, as 
 in the classics, is a definitive body of knowledge 
 and of reason, a discipline which has been made 
 test of through long generations, a method of 
 thought which has in all ages steadied, perfected, 
 enlarged, strengthened, and given precision to 
 the powers of the mind. Mathematical drill is an 
 introduction of the boy's mind to the most defi- 
 nitely settled rational experience of the world." 
 
 The old discipline of Greek, Latin, mathemat- 
 ics, and English no longer comprises the funda- 
 
 [38] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 mental studies. Science is indispensable to a 
 liberal education. But special developments of 
 science, still involved in controversy, do not con- 
 stitute the proper subject matter of general edu- 
 cation. Undoubtedly the fundamental sciences 
 are physics, chemistry, and biology, and they are 
 entitled to a place at the foundation of liberal 
 training. Geology and astronomy also have 
 their place in general culture, in their exhibition 
 of nature in the mass and system of her structure. 
 "And when we have added to these the mani- 
 fold discipline of philosophy, the indispensable 
 instructions of history, and the enlightenments of 
 economic and political study, and to these the 
 modern languages which are the tools of scholar- 
 ship, we stand confused. How are we to marshal 
 this host of studies within a common plan which 
 shall not put the pupil out of breath. No doubt 
 we must make choice among them, and suffer the 
 pupil himself to make choice. But the choice that 
 we make must be the chief choice, the choice the 
 pupil makes the subordinate choice. . . . We 
 must supply the synthesis and must see to it that, 
 whatever group of studies the student selects, it 
 
 [39] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 shall at least represent the round whole, contain 
 all the elements of modern knowledge, and be 
 itself a complete circle of general subjects." 
 
 The principles of educational control stated 
 in this address have deeply influenced American 
 university methods. At the time they were for- 
 mulated they antagonized current tendencies; 
 since then there has been a reaction towards the 
 system of modified choice exemplified by Prince- 
 ton. A revision of studies took place during Doc- 
 tor Wilson's presidency, which, while retaining 
 the old standards, enlarged the curriculum in 
 adaptation to those standards. To obtani the A.B. 
 degree, the study of Greek is still essential, which 
 in these times has become rather a Princeton 
 peculiarity; but there is a Litt.B. degree which 
 does not call for Greek, and is largely taken by 
 students for whose purposes Latin is sufficient. 
 The studies pursued in the first two years are 
 embraced in prescribed courses ; but when pupils 
 become upperclassmen they obtain opportunities 
 of individual election. They can choose a depart- 
 ment in which to pursue a majority of the re- 
 quired courses, and they can complete the number 
 
 [40] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 by making their own choice of courses in other 
 departments. This system of group electives is 
 now quite general in American universities. It 
 would be too much to say that Princeton origi- 
 nated it ; but it is quite within bounds to say that 
 the example of Princeton was widely influential 
 in making it systematic. 
 
 On November 29, 1902, less than a month after 
 he stated his educational ideals in assuming the 
 presidency of Princeton, Doctor Wilson delivered 
 an address before the Commercial Club of Chi- 
 cago, on the "Relation of University Education 
 to Commerce." The address touched upon the 
 topics of the day, and it had the sparkle and allu- 
 siveness of extemporaneous utterance. He re- 
 marked : 
 
 "I have already said that it does not seem to 
 me any part of a university function to give men 
 a business education, to teach them, that is to 
 say, the methods of the business office. There is 
 no touch of the university in that. It always must 
 do something very different from that. I have 
 no doubt that technical schools of various sorts are 
 extremely serviceable, but technical schools of the 
 
 [41] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 narrow sort do not seem to me appropriate parts 
 of a university: We are apt to forget, gentlemen, 
 that the university is not intended for everybody. 
 The principle of power is a principle of differen- 
 tiation. We are in danger just now of supposing 
 that a university must include every kind of edu- 
 cation, and we are apt to lose distinctions of 
 thought and efficiency of result by confusing one 
 sort of education with another. There must be 
 various sorts of education, and when I say that 
 the field of the university is set apart and pe- 
 culiar, I am not meaning to imply that it is better, 
 that it is more noble, that it is more dignified than 
 other fields of education. I believe — as every 
 man born on this soil, I take it, must believe — 
 that the dignity of toil with the hands, provided 
 the heart goes into the work, provided the con- 
 science gets translated into the product, is enough 
 to dignify any man and give him a touch of nobil- 
 ity. There is no comparison in point of nobility ; 
 there ought to be no attempt to compare, in point 
 of nobility of work, the work of the head and the 
 work of the hands. It is not a question of nobil- 
 ity; it is a question of division of labor, of the 
 
 [42] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 separation of functions. It is a question of that 
 differentiation upon which the efficiency of the 
 modern world depends. . . . And the idea of a 
 university education is diiFerent from the idea of 
 a technical education. It seems to me that the 
 thing that the university must do is to make men 
 acquainted with the world intellectually, imagina- 
 tively." 
 
 An idea which formed in Doctor Wilson's mind 
 with increasing power during his experience as 
 student and teacher was the need of a more inti- 
 mate and effectual contact between teacher and 
 pupil than is afforded by lecture courses. The 
 established method was the delivery of lectures 
 upon which the students took notes. The chief 
 function of the lecture was therefore to impart 
 information, and to give the information in suffi- 
 cient detail and with precise statement it was gen- 
 erally the case that lectures would be written out 
 and read. This indeed has been the general prac- 
 tice of the academic world, fortified in the United 
 States by the practice of German universities to 
 which hosts of American students have resorted, 
 deriving thence laboratory and classroom meth- 
 
 [43] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ods for use at home. But unless one is specially 
 interested in the subject nothing is harder than 
 to give one's attention to what is read. The 
 thought wanders and students physically present 
 are nevertheless far away in the action of their 
 minds. A practical outcome of the situation was 
 that in numerous cases little or no attention would 
 be given to the subject until the examinations 
 were at hand, and then there would be a brisk 
 traffic in lecture notes and syllabi among the 
 students. Mere cranmiing to pass examinations 
 did not secure that famiharity with the subject 
 which Doctor Wilson had in view as an educa- 
 tional process, and one of the first matters he took 
 in hand was to make conferences rather than lec- 
 tures the chief informational agency. On De- 
 cember 13, 1902, he outlined his views to a meet- 
 ing of Princeton alumni in New York City. 
 
 He spoke extemporaneously, and at times en- 
 gaged in colloquy, so that the affair was rather 
 more of a free conference than a formal address. 
 In its course, he remarked : 
 
 "There are different sorts of subjects in a cur- 
 riculum, let me remind you; there are drill sub- 
 
 [44] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 jects, which I suppose are mild forms of torture, 
 but to wliich every man must submit. So far as 
 my own experience is concerned, the natural car- 
 nal man never desires to learn mathematics. We 
 know by a knowledge of the history of the race 
 that it is necessary by painful processes of drill 
 to insert mathematics into a man's constitution; 
 he cannot be left to get up mathematics for him- 
 self because he cannot do it. There are some drill 
 subjects which are just as necessary as measles 
 in order to make a man a grown-up person; he 
 must have gone through those things in order to 
 qualify himself for the experiences of life; he 
 must have crucified his will and got up things 
 which he did not intend to get up and reluctantly 
 was compelled to get up. That I believe is neces- 
 sary for the salvation of his soul. But there are 
 other subjects, those subjects which are out of the 
 field of the ordinary school curriculum and which 
 I may perhaps be permitted to say are more char- 
 acteristic in their kind of the university study. 
 They are what I call the reading subjects, like 
 philosophy, like hterature, like law, like history. 
 In those subjects it is futile to try to instruct men 
 
 [45] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 by mere classroom methods. The only way to 
 instruct them is to provide a certain number of 
 men sufficiently qualified as instructors, as schol- 
 ars, who will be the companions and coaches and 
 guides of the men's reading. . . . 
 
 "Gentlemen, if we could get a body of such 
 tutors at Princeton we could transform the place 
 from a place where there are youngsters doing 
 tasks to a place where there are men doing think- 
 ing, men who are conversing about the things of 
 thought, men who are eager and interested in the 
 things of thought ; we know that, because we have 
 done it on a small scale. Wherever you have a 
 small class and they can be intimately associated 
 with their chief in the study of an interesting sub- 
 ject, they catch the infection of the subject; but 
 where they are in big classes and simply hear a 
 man lecture two or three times a week, they can- 
 not catch the infection of anything, except it may 
 be the voice and enthusiasm of the lecturer him- 
 self. This is the way in which to transform the 
 place." 
 
 This describes the purpose of the preceptorial 
 system introduced during Doctor Wilson's ad- 
 
 [46] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 ministration at Princeton. Its effects have been 
 marked in raising the standards of scholarship. 
 It is impossible for a pupil to escape the educa- 
 tional influence of the system, for every week he 
 must meet a preceptor for conference upon as- 
 signed reading in the subject of the course. If 
 he does not attend such conferences he is debarred 
 from examinations; if he does attend he is sub- 
 ject to a steady and regular informational pro- 
 cess. The term grade which a pupil obtains from 
 his attendance on these conferences and the part 
 he takes in them, counts for more in his standing 
 than examination results. The system reacts 
 upon the character of the lectures. As they have 
 become of minor importance as a means of im- 
 parting information, they have tended to become 
 rather a source of inspiration and enlightenment. 
 Instead of a read dissertation, they have become 
 familiar talks to the students, calling attention to 
 the bearing and significance of particular phases 
 of the subject, for details upon which they must 
 have recourse to their textbooks. Doctor Wilson 
 himself lectured to classes of juniors on constitu- 
 tional government and jurisprudence. He pre- 
 
 [47] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 pared a printed syllabus for the use of his stu- 
 dents, and he prescribed a course of reading on 
 which they had weekly conferences with their pre- 
 ceptors. His own lectures were expository, mak- 
 ing frequent use of illustrative instances drawn 
 from current events. In an address to a gather- 
 ing of school teachers, he once remarked: "It is 
 one of the privileges of a teacher, I think, to be 
 bored, himself, with his own lecture and to allow 
 himself to depart once and again from the course 
 of the lecture in order to tell a story which has 
 more or less connection with what he is saying." 
 Dr. Wilson often availed himself of that privilege. 
 His students were too intent upon listening to 
 him to give attention to making notes, and in 
 general there has been a marked decline in the 
 practice of taking lecture notes since the precep- 
 torial system has been introduced. 
 
 On November 29, 1907, Doctor Wilson deliv- 
 ered an address before the Association of Col- 
 leges and Preparatorj' Schools of the ^Middle 
 States and JNIarj^land, in which he discussed the 
 relations of school and college and gave sharp ex- 
 pression to his ideas of the bad effects of the 
 
 [48] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 withdrawal of systematic control from higher edu- 
 cation. He remarked: 
 
 "We have just passed through a period in 
 education when everything seemed in process of 
 dissolution, when all standards were removed, 
 when there was a universal dispersion of every 
 established conception; when men did not hold 
 themselves to plans, but opened the whole field, 
 as if you drew a river out of its course and in- 
 vited it to spread abroad over the countryside. 
 . . . You know perfectly well what the result has 
 been ; you know that the children of the past two 
 or three decades in our schools have not been 
 educated. You know that the pupils in the col- 
 leges in the last several decades have not been 
 educated. You know that with all our teaching 
 we train nobody; you know that with all our in- 
 structing we educate nobody. . . . 
 
 "I wish to state these things, if need be, in an 
 extravagant form, in order to have you realize 
 that we are upon the eve of a period of reconstruc- 
 tion. We are upon the eve of a period when we 
 are going to set up standards. We are upon the 
 eve of a period of synthesis, when tired of this 
 
 [49] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 dispersion and standardless analysis, we are 
 going to put things together into something like 
 a connected and thought-out scheme of en- 
 deavor." 
 
 This address, which was a long and thoughtful 
 consideration of the subject, urged the point that 
 after all the chief object of education is discipline. 
 Many other citations might be made, as his ad- 
 dresses to educational associations were numer- 
 ous, but sufficient has been given to indicate his 
 views. Notice, however, should not be omitted 
 of the fact that he regarded religion as an integral 
 part of a sound educational system, an affirma- 
 tion which is a marked Princeton characteristic. 
 References to this matter frequently occurred in 
 his public addresses and in some instances it con- 
 stituted the main theme. On October 13, 1904, 
 he delivered an address to the fortieth annual con- 
 vention of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School 
 Association, at Pittsburg, on "The Young People 
 and the Church." In it he said that no knowledge 
 is of any particular consequence in this world 
 unless it is incarnate. All the wise saws and pru- 
 dent maxims and pieces of information that we 
 
 [50] 
 
HIS CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR 
 
 supply to the generation coming on are of no 
 consequence whatever in themselves unless they 
 get into the blood and are transmuted. 
 
 "And so of religion. Keligion is communica- 
 ble, I verily believe, aside from the sacred oper- 
 ations of the Holy Spirit, only by example. . . . 
 When we say that the way to get young people 
 into the church is to make the church interesting, 
 I am afraid we too often mean that the way to do 
 it is to make it entertaining. Did you ever know 
 the most excellent concert, or series of concerts, 
 to be the means of revolutionizing a life? Did 
 you ever know any amount of entertainment to 
 go further than hold for the hour that it lasted? 
 If you mean to draw young people by entertain- 
 ment there is only one excuse for it, and that is 
 to follow up the entertainment with something 
 that is not entertaining, but which grips the heart 
 like the touch of a hand. I dare say that there 
 is some excuse for alluring persons to a place 
 where good will be done them, but I think it 
 would be a good deal franker not to allure them. 
 I think it would be a great deal better simply to 
 let them understand that that is the place where 
 
 [51] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 life is dispensed, and that if they want life they 
 must come to that place." 
 
 Doctor Wilson's baccalaureate address to the 
 graduating class, June 9, 1907, was a sermon on 
 the text: "And be not conformed to this world: 
 but be 3"e transformed by the renewing of your 
 mind, that ye may prove "\\'hat is the good, and 
 acceptable, and perfect will of God." Rom. xii:2. 
 
 The theme exhibited in various asj^ects in this 
 address was that all individual human life, when 
 rightly understood and conducted, is a struggle 
 against yielding in weak accommiodation to the 
 changeful, temporary, ephemeral things about us, 
 in order that we may catch that permanent, au- 
 thentic tone of life which is the voice of the Spirit 
 of God. This sermon has been published as a 
 booklet, entitled "The Free Life." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 THE Princeton University library has a bib- 
 liography of the published writings and ad- 
 dresses of Woodrow Wilson from the time he en- 
 tered Princeton as a student to the time he left 
 it to become governor of New Jersey. This bibli- 
 ography is admitted to be incomplete, but it con- 
 tains seventy-five entries for the twenty-five years 
 intervening between his matriculation as a stu- 
 dent and his installation in the presidency of the 
 University. His career as a man of letters falls 
 almost wholly within that period. During it all 
 his books, with one exception, were written. 
 
 In examining this literary output one is im- 
 pressed with the evidence it affords of sustained 
 industry and concentration of purpose. The in- 
 tellectual interests which it reveals extend in un- 
 broken continuity from his undergraduate days. 
 When he gave up the practice of law to continue 
 his studies in history and jurisprudence his 
 
 [53] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 literary activities centered about the same sub- 
 ject that he had discussed in his International 
 Review article. In January, 1884, his essay on 
 "Committee or Cabinet Government," in which 
 there was a detailed examination of Congressional 
 procedure, appeared in the Overland Monthly. 
 Both these articles were preliminary studies lead- 
 ing up to a systematic treatise published in 1885, 
 with the title "Congressional Government: A 
 Study in American Politics." It was submitted 
 to Johns Hopkins University as the thesis re- 
 quired among the conditions on which the Ph.D. 
 degree was granted, but it differed widely from 
 the ordinary thesis, which rarely makes its way 
 out of academic records into the general field of 
 literature, in that it took rank at once as a political 
 classic. It was issued in book form by a publish- 
 ing house and passed rapidly through numerous 
 editions, a new one being called for nearly every 
 year. Up to 1912 twenty-four impressions of 
 this work had been printed. In American litera- 
 ture it occupies a place like that of Bagehot's trea- 
 tise in English literature. In vivacity and in- 
 cisiveness of style it equals Bagehot's work and 
 
 [54] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 perhaps excels it in literary charm. In structure 
 there is no basis of comparison as the American 
 publicist had to deal with a peculiar set of prob- 
 lems which never were presented to Bagehot, and 
 the only point on which there is identity of method 
 is that the treatment goes directly to the realities 
 of the case. The traditional treatment was to 
 start with things as they ought to be, and to view 
 the Constitution from the standpoint of theory. 
 The new treatment was to start with things as 
 they really are, and to view the Constitution from 
 the standpoint of practice. The conventional 
 method was to begin with an account of the con- 
 stitutional scheme as inferable from the intentions 
 of the Fathers. Wilson began with an examina- 
 tion of the way in which the public business is 
 actually transacted. The book is an analysis of 
 legislative procedure, exhibiting the part in it 
 taken respectively by the House of Representa- 
 tives, the Senate, and the Executive. A novel fea- 
 ture of the work was the disclosure of the secret 
 springs of action coiled in the system of standing 
 committees, now for the first time shown to be the 
 principal working parts of the actual Constitu- 
 
 [55] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 tion, although altogether ignored by traditional 
 constitutional theorj'-. 
 
 The publication of "Congressional Govern- 
 ment" coincides with the beginning of Woodrow 
 Wilson's career as an educator. He now became 
 busy preparing lecture courses, organizing 
 classes, and engaging in the varied activities that 
 so easily consume a college professor's time unless 
 he seizes and retains mastery over his inclinations. 
 A seductive solution of the problem to a man of 
 scholarly tastes is to become a reticent, self- 
 absorbed solitary. But affability was hereditary 
 with Wilson, and by birth and training he had 
 the cordiality of manner that is a Southern trait. 
 He was much too fond of social intercourse ever 
 to become a scholastic recluse, and in his case the 
 problem was solved by such an economical man- 
 agement of his time that while he seemed to have 
 plenty of leisure he was able to give stead}'- ap- 
 plication to his literary tasks. He had become the 
 master-workman who does not lose time by false 
 motions but makes all his strokes tell. His sus- 
 tained interest in the problems of American gov- 
 ernment was evinced by a series of magazine ar- 
 
 [56] 
 
WooDROw Wilson, Age 41 
 
 The picture was taken in 1897 while he was a professor in Princeton 
 
 University 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 tides, every year adding to the number. Some 
 of these exhibited new facets of the particular 
 theme to which his thought had been constant 
 since his undergraduate days, presenting the same 
 order of thought with fresh brilHancy of state- 
 ment. These essays eventually supplied most of 
 the matter of two books: "An Old Master and 
 Other Political Essays," published in 1893, and 
 "Mere Literature," published in 1896. / 
 
 Concurrently with this literary output he was 
 making close studies of political structure and 
 function in various countries, originally for use in 
 his lectures upon political science. Their first 
 literary form was that of a syllabus for classroom 
 use, but this was gradually expanded into a text- 
 book upon government, first published in 1889, 
 with the title, "The State: Elements of Historical 
 and Practical Politics." This is a comprehensive 
 manual, tracing government to its origins and 
 describing its ancient, medieval, and modern 
 types. The actual organization of public author- 
 ity is its theme, and in dealing with the modern 
 period a detailed account is given of the mechan- 
 ism of government in France, Germany, Switzer- 
 
 [57] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 land, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Eng- 
 land, and the United States. It was a pioneer 
 work of this character and it established a de- 
 partment of political science to w^hich man}^ im- 
 portant contributions, facilitating the study of 
 constitutional documents and actual govern- 
 mental procedure, have since been made. The 
 study of political science has been revolutionized 
 by the historical method, and Wilson's manual 
 was the first systematic embodiment of that 
 method for school use in America. The work was 
 revised and largely rewritten in 1898, and a new 
 edition has been called for nearly everj^ year. 
 The section devoted to the United States has been 
 separately issued as a school manual, and this too 
 has passed through numerous editions. 
 
 Although "The State" is a voluminous work, 
 covering a great tract of history, one may discern 
 an organic connection between it and that political 
 essay of his senior j-ear. Viewing them as literary 
 products the difference is great, but it is like the 
 diiference between the spreading oak and the 
 little acorn in which the potentiality of that 
 growth was once infolded. The plan of the man- 
 
 [58] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 ual precluded anything like advocacj^ Its pur- 
 pose was wholly informative. But the section on_ 
 '' Relat ions of the Executive to Congress" gave >jC 
 an occasion for the expression of his views, put , 
 so concisely that it may be quoted in its entirety : 
 
 "The only provisions contained in the Constitu- 
 tion concerning the relation of the President to 
 Congress are these : That 'he shall, from time to 
 time, give to the Congress information of the 
 state of the Union, and recommend to their con- 
 sideration such measures as he shall judge neces- 
 sary and expedient' ; and that 'he maj% on extraor- 
 dinary occasions, convene both houses, or either 
 of them,' in extra sessions, 'and, in case of dis- 
 agreement between them, with respect to the time 
 of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such 
 time as he shall think proper.' His power to in- 
 form Congress concerning the state of the Union 
 and to recommend to it the passage of measures 
 is exercised only in the sending of annual and 
 special written 'messages.' 
 
 "Washington and John Adams interpreted the 
 clause to mean that they might address Congress 
 in person, as the sovereign in England may do; 
 
 [59] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 their annual communications to Congress were 
 spoken addresses. But Jefferson, the third Pres- 
 ident, being an ineffective speaker, this habit was 
 discontinued and the fashion of written messages 
 was inaugurated and firmly established. Pos- 
 sibly, had the President not so closed the matter 
 against new adjustments, this clause of the Con- 
 stitution might legitimately have been made the 
 foundation for a much more habitual and in- 
 formal, and yet at the same time much more pub- 
 lic and responsible, interchange of opinion be- 
 tween the Executive and Congress. Having been 
 interpreted, however, to exclude the President 
 from any but the most formal and ineffectual ut- 
 terance of perfunctory advice, our federal execu- 
 tive and legislature have been shut off from 
 cooperation and mutual confidence to an extent 
 to which no other modern system furnishes a 
 parallel. In all other modern governments the 
 heads of the administrative departments are given 
 the right to sit in the legislative body and to 
 take part in its proceedings. The legislature and 
 executive are thus associated in such a way that 
 the ministers of state can lead the houses without 
 
 [CO] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 dictating to them, and the ministers themselves 
 be controlled without being mismiderstood, — in 
 such a way that the two parts of the government 
 which should be most closely coordinated, the 
 part, namely, by which the laws are made and 
 the part by which the laws are executed, may be 
 kept in close harmony and intimate cooperation, 
 with the result of giving coherence to the action 
 of the one and energy to the action of the other." 
 
 By this time Wilson had made for himself such 
 an assured position in literature that his services 
 were much in request by editors, and he produced 
 a number of historical works in response to over- 
 tures. He prepared the third and concluding 
 volume of a series entitled "Epochs of American 
 History." It covered the period 1829-1889, with 
 the title, "Division and Reunion." The first edi- 
 tion was issued in March, 1893, and another edi- 
 tion was gotten out in May. Three editions wxre 
 issued the following year, and up to 1912 twenty- 
 five editions had been issued. The work has been 
 several times revised and remains in steady de- 
 mand. 
 
 His historical labors were carried on concur- 
 [61] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 rently with the producing of magazine and re- 
 view articles and the making of occasional public 
 addresses. An address on the course of Ameri- 
 can history, delivered at the semicentennial anni- 
 versary of the New Jersey Historical Societj^ 
 Newark, New Jersey, IMay 16, 1895, made a pro- 
 found impression upon its hearers and acquired 
 prompt celebrity. The address is so closely knit, 
 its parts so interdependent, that it is impossible 
 to give a fair idea of it by extracts, and j^et it is 
 too important to be passed bj'- with merely general 
 notice. The address pointed out that the con- 
 ventional method of writing American history 
 was to treat it as an expansion of New England 
 historj'. This view gives so fine an unity to our 
 national epic that one almost wishes it were true. 
 But perhaps, after all, the real truth is more in- 
 teresting. 
 
 "What, in fact, has been the course of Ameri- 
 can history? How is it to be distinguished from 
 European history? What features has it of its 
 own, which give it its distinctive plan and move- 
 ment? We have suffered, it is to be feared, a 
 very serious limitation of view until recent years 
 
 [62] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 by having all our history written in the East. It 
 has smacked strongly of a local flavor. It has 
 concerned itself too strongly with the origins and 
 Old- World derivations of our story. Our his- 
 torians have made their march from the sea with 
 their heads over shoulder, their gaze always back- 
 ward upon the landing places and homes of the 
 first settlers. In spite of the steady immigra- 
 tion, with its persistent tide of foreign blood, they 
 have chosen to speak often and to think always of 
 our people as sprung after all from a common 
 stock, bearing a family likeness in every branch, 
 and following all the while old, familiar family 
 ways. The view is the more misleading because 
 it is so large a part of the truth without being all 
 of it. The common British stock did first make 
 the country, and has always set the pace. There 
 were common institutions up and down the coast; 
 and these had formed and hardened for a per- 
 sistent growth before the great westward migra- 
 tion began which was to reshape and modify every 
 element of our life. 
 
 "But, the beginnings once safely made, change 
 set in apace. . . . Until they had turned their 
 
 [63] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 backs once for all upon the sea; until they saw 
 our western borders cleared of the French ; until 
 the mountain passes had grown familiar, and the 
 lands beyond had become the central and constant 
 theme of their hope, the goal and dream of their 
 young men, they did not become an American 
 people. . . . The 'West' is the great word of 
 our histor3\ The 'Westerner' has been the type 
 and master of our American life." 
 
 The address closed with a detailed appreciation 
 of the character of Abraham Lincoln. "You have 
 in him the type and flower of our growth. It is as 
 if Nature had made a typical American and then 
 added with liberal hand the royal quality of gen- 
 ius, to show us what the type could be." 
 
 A long extract from this address was included 
 in the anthology of "jNIodern Eloquence," edited 
 by the then Speaker Reed; and a long extract 
 was included in the "Library of the World's Best 
 Literature," edited by Charles Dudley Warner, 
 a compilation that includes other extracts from 
 Wilson's essays and speeches. 
 
 In the same year in which this notable address 
 was made, Wilson began a series of studies of 
 
 [04] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 Washington's career, magazine publication be- 
 ginning in January, 1896. This series was illus- 
 trated by Howard Pyle, Harry Fenn, and others, 
 and as the artists were successful in catching the 
 spirit of the text the whole made a handsomely 
 embellished work which was issued in book form 
 in 1897. In 1900 a large popular edition was 
 issued. The work exhibits Washington in the 
 proper setting of his own times. The reader does 
 not have to glimpse him through the smoke of 
 Fourth-of-July celebrations — a vague, grandiose 
 figure — but sees him as he really was, Virginia 
 country gentleman, frontier surveyor, and mili- 
 tary commander. Half the work is devoted to 
 Washington's career prior to the movement for 
 national union. The War of Independence and 
 of the setting up of the national government come 
 into the story only as incidental to the personal 
 theme, but this mode of treatment makes the work 
 singularly vivid. It is a history of the times writ- 
 ten as an epic, the events being grouped about 
 one noble and elevated personality. 
 
 Among the magazine articles published in 
 1897 is an essay upon "Mr. Cleveland as Presi- 
 
 [65] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 dent," which appeared in the March number of 
 the Atlantic Monthly simultaneously with the 
 close of Mt. Cleveland's career in what at the time 
 looked like personal defeat and party calamit3\ 
 This essay, which contains over eight thousand 
 words, must have been composed while the pas- 
 sions of the conflict were still boiling hot, but one 
 finds in it the measured judgment and calm de- 
 tachment of the scientific historian. It begins by 
 saying that it is much too early to assign to JNIr. 
 Cleveland his place in history. 
 
 "It is plain, however, that INIr. Cleveland has 
 rendered the country great services, and that his 
 singular independence and force of purpose have 
 made the real character of the Government of the 
 United States more evident than it ever was be- 
 fore. He had been the sort of President the mak- 
 ers of the Constitution had vaguely in mind : more 
 man than partisan, with an independent will of 
 his own; hardly a colleague of the Houses so 
 much as an individual sen^ant of the country ; ex- 
 ercising his powers like a chief magistrate rather 
 than like a party leader." 
 
 The essay proceeds to consider in detail the 
 [CO] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 leading measures of Cleveland's administration, 
 and in reading it now after the lapse of many 
 j^ears one feels that Wilson's immediate estimate 
 anticipated the final verdict of history. A telling- 
 portion of the essay is that which vindicated Mr. 
 Cleveland against the censure of impatient re- 
 formers. 
 
 "Outsiders could not know whether the criti- 
 cism cut or not; they only knew that the Presi- 
 dent did not falter or suffer his mind to be shaken. 
 He had an enormous capacity for work, shirked 
 no detail of his busy function, carried the Govern- 
 ment steadily upon his shoulders. There is no an- 
 tidote for worry to be compared with hard labor 
 at important tasks which keep the mind stretched 
 to large views; and the President looked upon 
 himself as the responsible executive of the nation, 
 not as the arbiter of policies. There is something 
 in such a character that men of quick and ardent 
 thought cannot like or understand. They want 
 all capable men to be thinking, like themselves, 
 along lines of active advance ; they are impatient 
 of performance which is simply thorough without 
 also being regenerative, and Mr. Cleveland has 
 
 [67] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 not commended himself to them. They them- 
 selves would probably not make good presidents. 
 A certain tough and stubborn fiber is necessary, 
 which does not easily change, which is unelasti- 
 cally strong." 
 
 The reader will observe the pertinence of these 
 remarks to some of the criticisms that ]Mr. Wilson 
 himself has had to endure since he became presi- 
 dent. The passage quoted is evidence that long 
 before he entered life and when the presidency 
 was still an undreamed-of possibility, he had 
 firmly grasped the principle that the first duty 
 of a responsible statesman is to act, not in the 
 spirit of an adventurer, or of an experimentalist, 
 or even of a reformer, but in the spirit of a trus- 
 tee. This noble and inspiring essay concluded 
 with the following appreciation of ]Mr. Cleve- 
 land's personalitj^: 
 
 "We need not pretend to know what histor}'' 
 shall say of INIr. Cleveland ; we need not pretend 
 that we can draw any common judgment of the 
 man from the confused cries that now ring every- 
 where from friend and foe. We know only that 
 he has played a great part; that his greatness is 
 
 [C8] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 authenticated by the passion of love and hatred he 
 has stirred up ; that no such great personality has 
 appeared in our politics since Lincoln; and that, 
 whether greater or less, his personality is his own, 
 unique in all the varied history of our Govern- 
 ment. He has made policies and altered parties 
 after the fashion of an earlier age in our history, 
 and the men who assess his fame in the future will 
 be no partisans, but men who love candor, cour- 
 age, honesty, strength, unshaken capacity, and 
 high purpose such as his." 
 
 In close succession to his masterly analysis of 
 President Cleveland's administration, Mr. Wil- 
 son prepared an analysis of our governmental 
 mechanism, which was published in the Atlantic 
 Monthhj for July, 1897, with the title, "The Mak- 
 ing of the Nation." In this, as in so many of his 
 political essays, one may observe the flowering of 
 ideas originally formed in his undergraduate 
 days. In this respect his career closely corre- 
 sponds to that of James Madison, extending to 
 such a minute particular as that each of these 
 Princeton students acquired shorthand to facili- 
 tate his records. The dominating interest of each 
 
 [69] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 was the study of politics, and both ransacked the 
 Princeton Hbrary for food for that appetite. 
 From such studies JNIadison acquired the exten- 
 sive knowledge of political history that he applied 
 to the drafting of our national Constitution and 
 poured forth in the essays collected in the Fed- 
 eralist. A like pertinacity and industry in giving 
 practical application to conclusions reached 
 through careful observation and assiduous study 
 is the most outstanding feature of Wilson's ca- 
 reer. In considering his books and essaj^s one is 
 impressed by the frequency with which the same 
 theme is presented and also by the continual 
 freshness of the presentation. The theme itself 
 was so copious as to admit of great variety of 
 treatment, but the way in which the possibilities 
 were utilized indicates an unflagging interest in 
 the subject and an unquenchable ardor in studies 
 upon it. 
 
 "The INIaking of the Nation" is a survey of the 
 Avhole course of our constitutional development. 
 It is an article, about ten thousand words in 
 length, particularly interesting in its clear pres- 
 entation of political problems and in its indication 
 
 [70] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 of the means of solving them. The following is 
 from the concluding portion : 
 
 "To the uninitiated Congress is simply a mass 
 of individuals. It has no responsible leaders 
 known to the system of government, and the lead- 
 ers recognized by its rules are one set of individ- 
 uals for one sort of legislation, another for an- 
 other. The Secretaries cannot address or ap- 
 proach either House as a whole; in dealing with 
 committees they are dealing only with groups of 
 individuals; neither party has its leader, — there 
 are only influential men here and there who know 
 how to manage its caucuses and take advantage 
 of parliamentary openings on the floor. . . . 
 
 "It is with such machinery that we are to face 
 the future, find a wise and moderate policy, bring 
 the nation to a common, a cordial understanding, 
 a real unity of life. The President can lead only 
 as he can command the ear of both Congress and 
 the country, — only as any other individual might 
 who could secure a like general hearing and ac- 
 quiescence. Policy must come always from the 
 deliberations of the House committees, the de- 
 bates, both secret and open, of the Senate, the 
 
 [71] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 compromises of committee conference between 
 the Houses ; no one man, no group of men, lead- 
 ing; no man, no group of men, responsible for 
 the outcome. . . . We shall work out a remedy, 
 for work it out we must. We must find or make, 
 somewhere in our sj^stem, a group of men to lead 
 us, who represent the nation in the origin and re- 
 sponsibility of their power; who shall draw the 
 Executive, who makes choice of foreign policy 
 and upon whose abilitj'^ and good faith the hon- 
 orable execution of the laws depends, into cor- 
 dial cooperation with the legislature, which, un- 
 der whatever form of government, must sanction 
 law and policy. Only under a national leader- 
 ship, by a national selection of leaders, and by 
 a metliod of constructive choice rather than of 
 compromise and barter, can a various nation be 
 peacefully led. Once more is our problem of 
 nation-making the problem of a form of govern- 
 ment." 
 
 Wilson's political essays and historical \mt- 
 ings were interspersed with more purely literary 
 productions. His interests were broad, his read- 
 ing took a wide range, his sociability brought to 
 
 [72] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 him the varied stimulus of personal contacts, and 
 his style had developed into a masterly instru- 
 ment of expression adaptable to any literary pur- 
 pose. An essay "On Being Human," published 
 in the Atlantic Monthly for September, 1907, 
 was widely quoted. The following passage has 
 a present interest in its revelation of character: 
 "Let us remind ourselves that to be human is, 
 for one thing, to speak and act with a certain 
 note of genuineness, a quality mixed of spon- 
 taneit}^ and intelligence. This is necessary for 
 wholesome life in any age, but particularly 
 amidst confused affairs and shifting standards. 
 Genuineness is not mere simplicity, for that may 
 lack vitality, and genuineness does not. We ex- 
 pect what we call genuine to have pith and 
 strength of fiber. Genuineness is a quality which 
 we sometimes mean to include when we speak of 
 individuality. Individuality is lost the moment 
 you submit to passing modes or fashions, the 
 creations of an artificial society; and so is gen- 
 uineness. No man is genuine who is forever 
 trying to pattern his life after the lives of other 
 people, — unless indeed he be a genuine dolt. 
 
 [73] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 But individuality is by no means the same as 
 genuineness; for individuality may be associated 
 with the most extreme and even ridiculous eccen- 
 tricity, while genuineness we conceive to be al- 
 ways wholesome, balanced and touched with dig- 
 nity. It is a quality that goes with good sense 
 and self-respect. It is a sort of robust moral 
 sanity, mixed of elements both moral and intel- 
 lectual. It is found in natures too strong to be 
 mere trimmers and conformers, too well poised 
 and thoughtful to fling off into intemperate pro- 
 test and revolt." 
 yf "A Lawyer with a Style," contributed to the 
 Atlantic Monthly for September, 1898, is an ap- 
 preciation of the career of the philosophical 
 jurist, Sir Henry Maine. Here is a passage 
 which recalls the fact that Wilson had a legal 
 education and is familiar with the juristic point 
 of view : 
 
 "Persons who suppose that iNIaine's 'Ancient 
 Law' is merely a textbook for la^\yers will be 
 very much and very deliglitfully surprised if they 
 will take it down from the shelf and read it, — 
 as much surprised as young law students are 
 
 [74] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 who plunge into Blackstone because they must, 
 and find to their astonishment that those deep 
 waters are not a little refreshing, and that the 
 law, after all, is no dismal science." 
 
 Consideration of Maine's "Popular Govern- 
 ment" gives the essayist occasion for some com- 
 ments upon democracy for which Maine had ex- 
 pressed profound distrust: 
 
 "But he is wrong — and the error is very radi- 
 cal — in supposing that democracy really rests on 
 a theory, and is nothing but 'a form of gov- 
 ernment.' It is a form of character, where it is 
 successful, — a form of national character; and 
 is based, not upon a theory, but upon the steady 
 evolutions of experience. . . . The stability of 
 the Government of the United States is, he ad- 
 mits, 'a political fact of the first importance ; but 
 the inferences which might be drawn from it,' 
 he says, 'are much weakened, if not destroyed, 
 by the remarkable spectacle furnished by the 
 numerous republics set up from the Mexican 
 border-line to the Straits of Magellan.' The 
 democracy of North America — to be found in 
 Canada no less than in the United States — is as 
 
 [75] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 natural, as normal, as inevitable a product of 
 steady, equable, unbroken history as the Corpus 
 Juris of Justinian; and the heady miscarriages 
 of attempted democracy in Spanish countries are 
 as easily and as satisfactorily explicable as the 
 principles of contract or the history of inheri- 
 tance by will. Xo champion of the comparative 
 method of historical study ought to have discred- 
 ited his own canons by comparing things incom- 
 parable." 
 
 Along with such literary labors Wilson con- 
 tinued his historical studies. In January, 1901, 
 the Atlantic Mo nthlij published his essay on "The 
 Reconstruction of the Southern States," and 
 Harper s Magazine for the same month pub- 
 lished the first of a series entitled, "Colonies and 
 Nation." This series was the leading feature of 
 Harper's Magazine for over a year and a half, 
 and was eventually published in book form as "A 
 History of the American People," in five vol- 
 umes, richly illustrated. The latest of his dis- 
 tinctly historical treatises was the chapter on 
 "State Rights," prepared for the volume of the 
 "Cambridge Modern History" devoted to the 
 
 [76] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 United States. The chapter is long enough to 
 form a treatise of itself, as it covers the important 
 decade 1850-1860, and explains the causes of the 
 Civil War. 
 
 After he took office as president of Princeton 
 University, he was too much occupied by his ad- 
 ministrative tasks, and also by the increased de- 
 mand for his services as a public speaker, to con- 
 tinue the sustained application to literary tasks 
 that had previously been his habit. 
 
 Contributions to the literary periodicals be- 
 came less frequent but they did not cease alto- 
 gether. He prepared for the fiftieth anniversary 
 number of the Atlantic Monthly, November, 
 1907, an article on "Politics (1857-1907) ." The 
 period considered required a survey of the na- 
 tional life from an era of distress and perplexity 
 over the slavery problem to an era of distress and 
 perplexity over social and economic problems, 
 and as the country has not yet emerged from the 
 latter era, the essay has timely appositeness at 
 the present day. After describing the vast scope 
 of modern business organization, he continues : 
 "There is a great and apparently growing 
 [77] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 body of opinion in the country which approves a 
 radical change in the character of our institutions 
 and the objects of our law, which wishes to see 
 Government, and the Federal Government at 
 that, regulate business. Some men who entertain 
 this wish perceive that it is socialistic; some do not. 
 But of course it is socialistic. Government can- 
 not properly or intelligenth^ regulate business 
 without fully comprehending it in its details as 
 well as in its larger aspects ; it cannot comprehend 
 it except through the instrumentality of expert 
 commissions; it cannot use expert commissions 
 long for purposes of regulation without itself by 
 degrees undertaking actually to order and con- 
 duct what it began by regulating. We are at 
 present on the highroad to Government owner- 
 ship of many sorts, or to some other method of 
 control which will in practice be as complete as 
 actual ownership. 
 
 "On the other hand, there is a great body of 
 opinion, slow to express itself, sorely perplexed 
 in the presence of modern business conditions, but 
 very powerful and upon the eve of an uprising, 
 which prefers the older and simpler methods of 
 
 [78] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 the law, prefers courts to commissions, and be- 
 lieves them, if properly used and adapted, better, 
 more efficacious, in the end more purifying, than 
 the new instrumentalities now being so unthink- 
 ingly elaborated. The country is still full of men 
 who retain'a deep enthusiasm for the old ideals of 
 individual liberty, sobered and kept within 
 bounds by the equally old definitions of personal 
 responsibility, the ancient safeguards against 
 license ; and these men are right in believing that 
 those older principles can be so used as to control 
 modern business and keep government outside 
 the pale of industrial enterprise. The law can 
 deal with transactions instead of with methods of 
 business, and with individuals instead of with 
 corporations. It can reverse the process which 
 creates corporations, and instead of compounding 
 individuals, oblige corporations to analyze their 
 organization and name the individuals responsible 
 for each class of their transactions. The law, 
 both civil and criminal, can clearly enough char- 
 acterize transactions, can clearly enough deter- 
 mine what their consequences shall be to the in- 
 dividuals who engage in them in a responsible 
 
 [79] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 capacity. New definitions in that field are not 
 beyond the knowledge of modern lawyers or the 
 skill of modern law-makers, if they will accept 
 the advice of disinterested lawj^ers. We shall 
 never moralize society by fining- or even dissolv- 
 ing corporations; we shall only inconvenience it. 
 We shall moralize it only when we make up our 
 minds as to what transactions are reprehensible, 
 and bring those transactions home to the indi- 
 viduals with the full penalties of the law." 
 
 In the N orth American Review for jNIay, 1908, 
 there is an article by Mr. Wilson on "The States 
 and the Federal Government." He pointed out 
 that the actual distribution of authorit}^ "is not, 
 at bottom, a question of sovereignty or of any 
 other political abstraction; it is a question of 
 vitality. 
 
 "The old theory of the sovereigntj^ of the 
 States, which used to engage our passions, has 
 lost its vitality. The war between the states es- 
 tablished at least this principle, that the Federal 
 Government is, through its courts, the final judge 
 of its own powers. Since that stern arbitrament 
 it would be idle, in any practical argument, to 
 
 [80] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 ask by what law of abstract principle the Federal 
 Government is bound and retained. Its power is 
 'to regulate commerce between the states,' and 
 the attempts now made during every session of 
 Congress to carry the implications of that power 
 beyond the utmost boundaries of reasonable and 
 honest inference show that the only limits likely 
 to be observed by politicians are those set by 
 the good sense and conservative temper of the 
 country. 
 
 "The proposed Federal legislation with regard 
 to the regulation of child labor affords a striking 
 example. If the power to regulate commerce be- 
 tween the states can be stretched to include the 
 regulation of labor in mills and factories, it can 
 be made to embrace eveiy particular of the in- 
 dustrial organization and action of the countrj'-. 
 
 "We are too apt to think that our American 
 political system is distinguished by its central 
 structure, by its President and Congress and 
 courts, which the Constitution of the Union set 
 up. As a matter of fact, it is distinguished by its 
 local structure, by the extreme vitality of its 
 parts. . . . The remedy for ill-considered legis- 
 
 [81] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 lation by the states, the remedy ahke for neglect 
 and mistake on their part, lies, not outside the 
 states, but within them. The mistakes which they 
 themselves correct will sink deeper into the con- 
 sciousness of their people than the mistakes which 
 Congress maj'^ rush in to correct for them, thrust- 
 ing upon them wliat they have not learned to de- 
 sire. They will either themselves learn their mis- 
 takes, by such intimate and domestic processes 
 as will penetrate very deep and abide with them 
 in convincing force, or else they will prove that 
 what might have been a mistake for other states 
 or regions of the country was no mistake for 
 them, and the country will have been saved its 
 wholesome variety. In no case will their failure 
 to correct their own measures prove that the Fed- 
 eral Government might have forced wisdom upon 
 them." 
 
 The only book produced during ]Mr. Wilson's 
 career as university president was his "Constitu- 
 tional Government in the United States," issued 
 by the Columbia University Press in 1908. This 
 Mork was made up of lectures dehvered at Colum- 
 bia University from a schedule of topics upon 
 
 [82] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 which Mr. Wilson spoke extemporaneously. The 
 work as published was a revision of the stenogra- 
 phic report. In this book, which is the most com- 
 plete expression of his political ideas, he considers 
 the nature of constitutional government, the place 
 of the United States in constitutional develop- 
 ment, and the functions of the various organs of 
 our Government. As to the Presidency he re- 
 marked : 
 
 "The makers of the Constitution seem to have 
 thought of the President as what the stricter 
 
 o 
 
 Whig theorists wished the King to be: only the 
 legal executive, the presiding and guiding au- 
 thority in the application of law and the execu- 
 tion of policy. His veto upon legislation was 
 only his 'check' on Congress, — was a power of 
 restraint, not of guidance. He was empowered 
 to prevent bad laws, but he was not given an op- 
 portunity to make good ones. As a matter of 
 fact he has become very much more. He has be- 
 come the leader of his party and the guide of the 
 nation in poUtical purpose, and therefore in legal 
 action. The constitutional structure of the Gov- 
 ernment has hampered and limited his action in 
 
 [83] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 these significant roles, but it has not prevented it." 
 The detailed examination of the characteristics 
 of the House and the Senate, is extremely vivid 
 and interesting; but to get a fair notion of it, 
 it should be read in its entirety. In view of Mr. 
 Wilson's present position the following passage 
 is particularly interesting: 
 
 "The President has not the same recourse when 
 blocked by the Senate that he has when opposed 
 by the House. AVhen the House declines his 
 counsel he may appeal to the nation, and if public 
 opinion respond to his appeal the House may 
 grow thoughtful of the next congressional elec- 
 tions and yield; but the Senate is not so imme- 
 diately sensitive to opinion and is apt to grow, if 
 anything, more stiff if pressure of that kind is 
 brought to bear upon it. 
 
 "But there is another course which the Presi- 
 dent may follow, and which one or two Presidents 
 of unusual political sagacity have followed, with 
 the satisfactory results that were to have been ex- 
 pected. He may himself be less stiff and offish, 
 may himself act in the true spirit of the Constitu- 
 tion and establish intimate relations of confidence 
 
 [81] 
 
HIS BOOKS AND ESSAYS 
 
 with the Senate on his own initiative, not carry- 
 ing his plans to completion and then laying them 
 in final form before the Senate to be accepted or 
 rejected, but keeping himself in confidential com- 
 munication with the leaders of the Senate while 
 his plans are in course, when their advice will be 
 of service to him and his information of the great- 
 est service to them, in order that there may be 
 veritable counsel and a real accommodation of 
 views instead of a final challenge and contest.'* 
 A curious incident of this lecture course was 
 the effect produced by one of the humorous allu- 
 sions so often made by Mr. Wilson when speak- 
 ing extemporaneously. He was talking of the 
 individual flavor of public opinion in rural coun- 
 trysides, around comfortable stoves in crossroad 
 stores, where discussion is as constant a pastime 
 as checkers ; and he made a passing reference to 
 the incidental consumption of tobacco at such 
 exercises. The allusion was featured in news- 
 paper reports, and tobacco samples and tobacco 
 literature suddenly became a feature of the mail 
 of the Princeton president, who does not himself 
 use tobacco in any form. 
 
 [85] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 MR. WILSON'S public career has been 
 coeval with his literary career. If either 
 has priority it is rather his public career, for that 
 was the original aim of his purpose in life, and 
 intentional preparation for it began in his under- 
 graduate days. His ability as a public speaker 
 is not so much a matter of natural gifts, al- 
 though he was well endowed in that respect, as 
 it is a result of steady practice and cultivated 
 method. Indeed, he had to contend with an op- 
 pressive nervous tension in rising to speak, and 
 great as his oratorical resources have become, 
 that physical condition has never been quite abol- 
 ished. This, however, is a circumstance which 
 orators have to endure much more than is com- 
 monly known. Both at Princeton and at the 
 University of Virginia he cultivated his faculty 
 for public speaking with a view to public serv- 
 ice, and with characteristic thoroughness he gave 
 
 [80] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 special attention to the mechanics of oratory. 
 His voice has great carrying power not because 
 it is so loud but because he speaks deliberately, 
 articulates with perfect distinctness, and man- 
 ages his respiration so that every syllable has 
 fuU resonance. In turning aside from the prac- 
 tice of law to become an educator specializing in 
 jurisprudence, he did not abate his predilections 
 for a public career, nor did he decrease his atten- 
 tion to oratorical training and equipment. The 
 literary production described in the previous 
 chapter was interspersed with public addresses 
 and lecture engagements. Of most of these no 
 record remains. By the time his reputation had 
 become such as to bring him many invitations to- 
 the lecture platform, his power of extemporane- 
 ous utterance had become so quick and flexible 
 as to be immediately adaptable to any occasion, 
 and his lectures had the easy, spontaneous flow 
 of intimate conversation. From time to time, 
 however, he made, upon some special topic, an 
 address that has been preserved. 
 
 At the meeting of the Virginia State Bar 
 Association, held at Hot Springs, Virginia,. 
 
 [87] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 beginning August 3, 1897,, he made a frank ex- 
 position of his views on governmental structure. 
 V His topic was "Leaderless Government," by 
 which, he said, "I mean to describe the Govern- 
 ment of the United States. 
 
 "I do not believe it a necessary feature of our 
 Government that we should be without leaders; 
 neither do I believe that we shall continue to be 
 without them ; but as a matter of fact we are with- 
 out them, and we ought to ask ourselves, whj^? 
 I mean, of course, that we are without official 
 leaders — without leaders who can be held imme- 
 diately responsible for the action and policy of 
 the Government, alike upon its legislative and 
 upon its administrative side. Leaders of some 
 sort we, of course, alwaj^s have; but they come 
 and go like phantoms, put forward as if by acci- 
 dent, withdrawn, not by our choice, but as if 
 upon some secret turn of fortune which we 
 neither anticipate nor as a nation control — some 
 local quarrel, some obscure movement of poli- 
 tics within a single district, some manipulation 
 of a primary or some miscarriage in a conven- 
 tion. They are not of the nation, but come and 
 
 [88] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 go as if unbidden by any general voice. The 
 Government does not put them forward, but 
 groups of men formed we hardly know where, 
 planning we hardly know what ; the Government 
 suffers no change when they disappear — that is 
 the private affair of some single constituency and 
 of the men who have supplanted them. 
 
 "The President may, no doubt, stand in the 
 way of measures with a veto very hard to over- 
 leap ; and we think oftentimes with deep comfort 
 of the laws he can kill when we are afraid of the 
 majority in Congress. Congressional majori- 
 ties are doubtless swayed, too, by what they know 
 the President will do with the bills they send 
 him. But they are swayed sometimes one way 
 and sometimes the other, according to the tem- 
 per of the times and state of parties. They as 
 often make his assured veto a pretext for reck- 
 lessness as a reason for self-restraint. They take 
 a sort of irresponsible and defiant pleasure in 
 'giving him the dare': in proposing things they 
 know many people want and putting upon him 
 the lonely responsibility of saying that they shall 
 not have them. And if he stand for long in the 
 
 [89] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 way of any serious party purpose, they heat opin- 
 ion against him and make his position more and 
 more unpleasant, until he either yields or is finally 
 discredited. It is a game in which he has no 
 means of attack and few effective weapons of 
 defense. 
 
 "Of course he can send a message to Congress 
 whenever he likes — the Constitution bids him to 
 do so 'from time to time,' in order to 'give Con- 
 gress information of the state of the Union, 
 and to recommend to their consideration such 
 measures as he shall deem necessary and expe- 
 dient' ; and we know that, if he be a man of real 
 power and statesmanlike initiative, he may often 
 hit the wish and purpose of the nation so in the 
 quick in what he urges upon Congress that the 
 Houses will heed him promptly and seriously 
 enough. But there is a stubborn and very nat- 
 ural pride in the Houses with respect to this 
 matter. They, not he, are the nation's repre- 
 sentatives in the making of law; and they would 
 deem themselves subservient were they too often 
 to permit him leadership in legislative policy. It 
 is easy to stir their resentment by too much sug- 
 
 [90] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 gestion; and it is best that a message should be 
 general, not special — best that it should cover a 
 good many topics and not confine itself too nar- 
 rowly to one, if a President would keep in credit 
 with those who shape matters within the House 
 and Senate. In all ordinary times the President 
 recognizes this and preserves a sort of modesty, 
 a tone as if of a chronicler merely, and setter 
 forth of things administrative, w^ien he addresses 
 Congress. He makes it his study to use only a 
 private influence and never to seem a maker of 
 resolutions. And even when the occasion is ex- 
 teordinary and his own mind definitely made up, 
 he argues and urges — he cannot command. In 
 short, in making suggestions to Congress the 
 President of the United States has only this ad- 
 vantage over any other influential person in the 
 nation who might choose to send to Congress a 
 letter of information and advice. It is the duty 
 of Congress to read what he says; all the larger 
 newspapers will print it ; most of them will have 
 editorial comments upon it; and some will have 
 letters from their Washington correspondents 
 devoted to guessing what effect, if any, it will 
 
 [91] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 have upon legislation. The President can make 
 Jiis message a means of concentrating public 
 opinion upon particular topics of his own choos- 
 ing, and so force those topics upon the atten- 
 tion of the House. But that is all; and under, 
 ordinary' circumstances it is not much." 
 
 The address contains a clear and thorough 
 analysis of the master\^ over public policy and the 
 course of legislation then exercised by the 
 Speaker, but which has been overthrown by the 
 parliamentary revolution that has shorn the 
 Speaker of his autocratic power and reduced him 
 to his proper function of a moderator. With 
 respect to the Senate, he remarked: 
 
 "The Senate unquestionably, whatever we may 
 think about the House of Representatives, stands 
 unique among legislative bodies in the modern 
 time. Whether we relish its uniqueness in the 
 present generation quite as much as it was rel- 
 ished among our fathers is an open question, but 
 its individuality is indubitable. This singular 
 body has assumed of late what I may, perhaps, 
 be allowed to call a sort of Romo-Polisli charac- 
 ter. Like the Roman Senate, it has magni fied its 
 
 [92] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 administrative powers and its right of negative 
 in the great fields of finance and foreign affairs, 
 as well as in all ordinary legislation ; and, follow- 
 ing Polish precedents, it has seemed to arrogate 
 to its members the right of individual veto. Each 
 senator, like each prince of ancient Poland, in- 
 sists, it would seem, upon consulting his own in- 
 terests and preferences before he will allow meas- 
 ures to reach their final consideration and pas- 
 sage. In the field of administration, it seems 
 plain, the Senate expects the executive very gen- 
 erally to submit to its oversight and suggestion, 
 as Roman magistrates submitted to the Senate 
 of their singular republic. I am anxious not to 
 distort the true proportions of the picture, even 
 in pleasantry; and, if to put the matter as I 
 have just put it savors too much of exag- 
 gerating temporary tendencies into established 
 practices, let us rest content with saying merely 
 that this noted assembly has at almost every crit- 
 ical juncture of our recent political history had 
 an influence in affairs greater, much greater, 
 than that of the House of Representatives; and 
 that the methods by which this great council is 
 
 [93] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 led are likely to be of the utmost consequence to 
 the nation at every turn in its fortunes. Who 
 leads the Senate? Can anyone say?" 
 
 It is true that in the past the Government had 
 gotten on somehow, without formal leadership 
 and by casual methods of adjustment between its 
 separate organs, but a vast change in conditions 
 has taken place. 
 
 "Where conditions are comparatively simple 
 and uniform, constructive leadership is little 
 needed. JNIen readily see things alike and easily 
 come to a common opinion upon the larger sort 
 of questions ; or, at any rate, to two general opin- 
 ions, widespread and definite enough to form 
 parties on. For well-nigh a generation after the 
 war, moreover, the problems which the Govern- 
 ment of the Union had to settle were ver}^ defi- 
 nite problems indeed, which no man could mis- 
 take, and upon which opinion could readil}^ be 
 concentrated. I think the country sadly needed 
 responsible and conscientious leadership during 
 the period of Reconstruction, and it has suffered 
 many things because it did not get it — things of 
 which we still keenly feel the consequences. But 
 
 [94] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 the tasks, at least, were definite and unmistak- 
 able, and parties formed themselves upon sharp- 
 cut issues. 
 
 "Since then, how has the scene changed! It 
 is not now fundamental matters of structure and 
 franchise upon which we have to center our 
 choice ; but those general questions of policy upon 
 which every nation has to exercise its discretion: 
 foreign policy, our duty to our neighbors, cus- 
 toms tariffs, coinage, currency, immigration, the 
 law of corporations and of trusts, the regulation 
 of railway traffic and of the great industries 
 which supply the necessaries of life and the staffs 
 of manufacture. These are questions of eco- 
 nomic policy chiefly; and how shall we settle 
 questions of economic poHcy except upon 
 grounds of interest? These are not questions 
 upon which it is easy to concentrate general opin- 
 ion. It is infinitely difficult to effect a general 
 enlightenment of the public mind in regard to 
 their real merits and significance for the nation 
 as a whole. Their settlement in any one way af- 
 fects the several parts of the country unequally. 
 They cannot be settled justly by a mere com- 
 
 [95] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 pounding of differences, a mere unguided inter- 
 pla}' of rival individual forces, without leadership 
 and the courage of definite party action. Such 
 questions are as complex and as difficult of ade- 
 quate comprehension as the now infinitely varied 
 life of the nation itself; and we run incalculable 
 risks in leaving their settlement to the action of 
 a House of Representatives whose leaders are 
 silent and do not tell us upon what principle they 
 act, or upon what motive; to a Senate whose 
 members insist upon making each an individual 
 contribution to the result; and to a President 
 chosen b}^ processes which have little or nothing 
 to do with party organization or with the solu- 
 tion of questions of State. . . . 
 
 "Successful governments have never been con- 
 ducted safely in the midst of complex and criti- 
 cal affairs except when guided by those who were 
 responsible for carrj-ing out and bringing to an 
 issue the measures they proposed ; and the separa- 
 tion of the right to plan from the duty to exe- 
 cute has always led to blundering and ineffi- 
 ciency. ... If you would have the present error 
 of our S3^stem in a word, it is this, that Congress 
 
 [90] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 is the motive power in the Government and yet 
 has in it nowhere any representative of the na- 
 tion as a whole. Our Executive, on the other 
 hand, is national; at any rate may be made so, 
 and yet has no longer any place of guidance in 
 our system. It rex^resents no constituency, but 
 the whole people; and yet, though it alone is na- 
 tional, it has no originative voice in domestic na- 
 tional policy. . . . We should have not a little 
 light thrown daily, and often when it is least ex- 
 pected, upon the conduct of the departments, if 
 the heads of the departments had daily to face 
 the representatives of the people, to propose, de- 
 fend, explain administrative policy, upon the 
 floor of the Houses, where such a plan would put 
 them : and heads of departments would be happy 
 under such a system only when they were very 
 straig-htforward and honest and able men." 
 
 This address has been considered at some 
 length because of the simplicity and directness 
 with which he states opinions which run all 
 through his political essays. The occasion was 
 an inspiring one. Himself a lawyer and a Vir- 
 ginian, he was speaking to a gathering of Vir- 
 
 [97] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ginia lawyers, and he began by expressing his 
 keen gratification at finding himself in such con- 
 genial company, and his feeling that he might 
 speak his mind frankly without being misunder- 
 stood. However, this significant address, al- 
 though it made a signal impression upon its hear- 
 ers and was dulj' reported and preserved in the 
 /transactions of the Virginia State Bar Associa- 
 tion, did not receive such general publicity as has 
 attended his books and essaj^s, and it deserves 
 more notice than it has hitherto received. 
 
 After his election to the presidency of Prince- 
 ton in 1902, he made many addresses on educa- 
 tional topics, in the main expository of the ideas 
 and principles he was introducing into university 
 management. His utterance, apart from the 
 subjects evoked b}' his duties and aims as an edu- 
 cator, was devoted to public affairs. His repu- 
 tation as a publicist was now so widespread that 
 calls for advice upon public problems and appeals 
 for addresses upon political questions reached 
 him from all parts of the country. Literary 
 themes do not figure in the publications of this 
 period, but, instead, reports of addresses deliv- 
 
 [98] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 ered upon various occasions. A number of mag- 
 azine articles belong to this time, but the struc- 
 ture and style indicate that they too originated 
 as oral addresses and not as written essays. 
 Some important addresses on public aif airs were 
 delivered upon such short notice that they had the 
 appearance of an improvisation, but as a rule 
 there was preparation as to ideas and spontaneity 
 as to diction. Mr. Wilson's habitual use of short- 
 hand greatly facilitates his preparation. By this 
 means his argument can be skeletonized in a brief 
 space. Some important addresses were written 
 out in shorthand and then dictated to an amanu- 
 ensis, but even such elaborate preparation did 
 not confine the delivery, and the address as spoken 
 would differ in order and diction from the ad- 
 dress as previously written. A stenographer who 
 has reported many of Mr. Wilson's addresses, and 
 has often had the use of his preliminary draft, 
 told the present writer that Mr. Wilson was not 
 a rapid shorthand writer, but that his characters 
 were so perfectly formed that anyone acquainted 
 with the system could read the notes with ease. 
 It was rarely the case that the address as deliv- 
 
 [99] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ered was quite the same as the draft. There was 
 the same general matter and line of thought, but 
 often differently put and in another order, and 
 with new illustrations. ]Mr. Wilson's mastery of 
 Iiis powers ])ecame such that he excelled in that 
 supreme capacity of the public speaker — the abil- 
 ity to deal with casual incidents or interruptions 
 so as to turn them to account. He became dis- 
 tinctly a figure in the public life of the country 
 years before he actuallj'- accepted public office. 
 He laid down a principle upon which he himself 
 acted, when he told the Cleveland Chamber of 
 Commerce that "public life does not consist 
 merely of the transaction of public business. It 
 consists of the formation of public opinion, of 
 the guidance of public jDurpose, of the promot- 
 ing of progress and of the criticizing of rem- 
 edies." 
 
 In this Cleveland address which was delivered 
 November 16, 1907, he gave special attention to 
 the problem of corporation control, and spoke 
 ver\^ frankly about it, as in the following: 
 
 "For my part I don't believe that fining cor- 
 porations is of the least use for the ends we seek. 
 
 [100] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 If you fine a corporation twenty-nine million 
 dollars, what happens is that you take twenty- 
 nine million dollars, if you get it — it has not been 
 paid yet — but if you get it you put it into the 
 public treasury and take it out of the business of 
 the country, and the same thing will be done the 
 next day that was done the day before and was 
 the antecedent of the fine. If a chauffeur goes 
 too fast, I have heard some of my fellow-citizens 
 propose that we lock up the machine. I had a 
 great deal rather lock up the chauffeur. I sup- 
 pose that if a railway accident occurs you will 
 lock up the locomotive presently — you will lock 
 up our tools because we do not have sense 
 enough or humanity enough to use them prop- 
 erly. Corporations, those imaginary persons, 
 are our tools. And the responsibility is not to 
 rest upon them to the incommoding of the whole 
 business development of the country, but is to 
 rest upon the individuals who are misusing 
 them." 
 
 In an address delivered at the annual conven- 
 tion of the American Bankers' Association, at 
 Denver, September 30, 1908, Mr. Wilson con- 
 
 [101] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 sidered the social and political functions of bank- 
 ing. He told his hearers : 
 
 "It is the duty of the banker, as it is the duty 
 of men of every other class, to see to it that there 
 be in his calling no class spirit, no feeling of an- 
 tagonism to the people, to plain men whom the 
 bankers, to their great loss and detriment, do not 
 know. It is their duty to be intelligent, thought- 
 ful, patriotic intermediaries between capital and 
 the people at large; to understand and serve the 
 general interest; to be public men sending the 
 country as well as private men serving their de- 
 positors and the enterprises whose securities and 
 notes they hold. How capital is to draw near 
 to the people and serve them at once obviously 
 and safely is the question, the great and now 
 pressing question, which it is the particular duty 
 of the banker to answer. No one else can an- 
 swer it so intelligently; and if he does not an- 
 swer it others will, it may be, to his detriment 
 and to the general embarrassment of the coun- 
 try." 
 
 In an address delivered before the Southern 
 Society of New York, December 9, 1908, Mr. 
 
 [102] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 Wilson made a comprehensive survey of public 
 questions. That was just after the election of 
 Mr. Taft. With a prescience that subsequent 
 events abundantly justified, Doctor Wilson de- 
 clared that the campaign had settled nothing ex- 
 cept the question of who should be President of 
 the United States; that it left the country in a 
 condition wherein serious problems arising out 
 of new economic conditions demanded immediate 
 attention — problems of capital and labor, pro- 
 tection and the tariff, centralized authority, etc. 
 He characterized as a false conservatism "that 
 sort of conservatism which proposes a return to 
 old measures and expedients intended for other 
 circumstances, or to old formulas now in large 
 part emptied of their meaning. For example, 
 the old formula 'tariff for revenue only' has a 
 barren sound to our ears in existing circum- 
 stances, because the tariff as we know it is not 
 a system of taxation; it is, rather, a vast body 
 of economic expedients which have been used 
 under the guise of taxation for the purpose of 
 building up various industries great and small, 
 and enriching the nation as a body of individuals. 
 
 [103] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 rather than as a Government. It would be per- 
 fectly futile to propose out of hand a tariff for 
 revenue onl\% because you cannot get out of a 
 system except by systematic effort and adjust- 
 ment, and the point to determine at present is 
 not, how may we best secure the necessary rev- 
 enue for the maintenance and conduct of our 
 Government by means of duties on imports, but 
 how shall we adjust our duties on imports to the 
 present real circumstances of the nation and the 
 present interests of our economic development as 
 a whole?" 
 
 In an address before the Universitj'- of Xorth 
 Carolina on the anniversary of Lee's birthday, 
 he called attention to the significance of the fact 
 that General Lee is accepted as a national hero. 
 
 "It means simply this delightful thing, that 
 there are no sections in this country any more; 
 that we are a nation and are proud of all the 
 great heroes whom the processes of our national 
 life have elevated into conspicuous places of 
 fame. I believe that the future lies with all those 
 men who devote themselves to national thinking, 
 who eschew those narrow calculations of self- 
 
 [104] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 interest which affect only particular communities 
 and try to conceive of communities as a part of 
 a great national life which must be purified in 
 order that it may be successful." 
 
 In the course of this address he touched on the 
 problem of corporation control. He remarked: 
 
 "There is onty, historically speaking, one pos- 
 sible successful punishment of abuses of law, and 
 that is, that when a wrong thing is done you find 
 the man who did it and punish him. You can fine 
 all the corporations there are, and fine them out 
 of existence, and all you will have done will be 
 to have embarrassed the commerce of the coun- 
 try. You will have left the men who did it free 
 to repeat it in other combinations. 
 
 "I am going to use an illustration which you 
 can easily misunderstand, but I am going to ask 
 you not to misunderstand it. Suppose I should 
 incorporate an association of burglars with the 
 assurance that you would restrain their actions, 
 not as individuals, but only as a corporation. 
 They would be very much pleased with that ar- 
 rangement, because it would leave them the serv- 
 ice of their most accomplished burglars, who 
 
 [105] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 could fool j'ou half the time and not be found out. 
 Such a corporation would be willing to pay you 
 a heavy fine for the privilege. Now I do not 
 mean to draw a parallel between our great cor- 
 porations and burglars, — -that is where you are 
 likely to misunderstand me (laughter), because 
 I do not hold the prevalent belief that the ma- 
 jority of the business men of this country are 
 burglars; I believe, on the contraiy, that the 
 number of malicious men engaged in corpora- 
 tions in this country is very small. But that 
 small number is singularly gifted (laughter), 
 and until you have picked them out and distin- 
 guished them for punishment you have not 
 touched the process by which they succeed in 
 doing what they wish. You may say that this is 
 a very difficult thing, that there is so much covert, 
 so much undergrowth, the nation is so thickset 
 with organizations that you cannot see them. 
 Perhaps j'^ou are right; but that does not make 
 any difference to my argimient ; whether difficult 
 or not it has got to be done." 
 
 In the following month Doctor Wilson deliv- 
 ered an address at the Chicago celebration of the 
 
 [lOG] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. It was a congenial employment as 
 the character and achievements of Lincoln have 
 been a theme on which he has often touched with 
 loving appreciation. In closing his address he 
 said: 
 
 "God send us such men again! We are con- 
 fused by a war of interests, a clash of classes, a 
 competition of powers, an effort at conquest and 
 restraint, and the great forces which war and toil 
 amongst us can be guided and reconciled only by 
 some man who is truly a man of the people, as 
 Lincoln was, not caught in the toils of any spe- 
 cial interest, united by wide sympathy with many 
 kinds of men, familiar with many aspects of life, 
 and led, through many changes, to a personal ex- 
 perience which unites him with the common mass. 
 . . . The only way in which we can worthily cele- 
 brate any great man is not by a mere tribute of 
 words, not by the weak and futile tribute of imi- 
 tation, but by the convincing tribute of those who 
 seek to see and execute their task with the same 
 free hand and untainted motive. . . ." 
 
 In an address at the annual meeting of the 
 [107] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 Civic League of St. Louis, March 9, 1909, Doc- 
 tor Wilson dissected the fallacy that in order 
 to control their Government the people must 
 them selves administer it. This address abounded 
 with anecdote and illustration, enforcing the 
 point that npt further complication but great 
 simplification is necessar}^ to give the Govern- 
 ment a democratic character. 
 
 "You have given the people of this country 
 socman}" persQiis to select for office that thej ^ have 
 not tirne _to select them, and have to leave it to 
 professionals, that is to say, the professional poli- 
 ticians; which, reduced to its simplest term, is the 
 boss of the district. When j-ou vote the Repub- 
 lican or Democratic ticket you either vote for the 
 names selected by one machine or the names se- 
 lected by the other machine. This is not to lay 
 any aspersion upon those who receive the nomi- 
 nations. I for one do not subscribe to the opin- 
 ion that bosses under our Government deserve 
 our scorn and contempt, for we have organized a 
 system of government which makes them just 
 as necessary as the President of the United 
 States. They are the natural, inevitable fruit 
 
 [108] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 of the tree, and if we do not like them we have 
 got to plant another tree. The boss is just as 
 legitimate as any member of any legislature, be- 
 cause by giving the people a task w^hich they can- 
 not perform, you have taken it away from them, 
 and have made it necessary that those who can 
 perform it should perform it. . . . 
 
 "The remedy is contained in one word. Sim- 
 plification. Simplify your processes, and you 
 will begin to control; complicate them, and you 
 will get farther and farther away from their con- 
 trol. Simplification! Simplification! Simplifi- 
 cation! is the task that awaits us: to reduce the 
 number of persons voted for to the absolute work- 
 able minimum, — knowing whom you have se- 
 lected; knowing whom you have trusted, and 
 having so few persons to watch that you can 
 watch them. That is the way w^e are going to 
 get popular control back in this country, and that 
 is the only way we are going to get popular con- 
 trol back. ... I am for the real rights and not 
 the rhetorical rights of the people. I am for 
 those things which are really and practically in 
 the interest of self-government; and I say that 
 
 [109] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the interests of self-government are served by 
 nothing except by reducing the number of elec- 
 tive officers to the absolute minimum of effi- 
 ciency." 
 
 The North American Beview for October, 
 1909, had a long article by Doctor Wilson on 
 the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, giving a detailed 
 expression of views that he had stated in public 
 on various occasions. He observed : 
 
 "The methods by which tariff bills are con- 
 structed have now become all too familiar and 
 throw a significant light upon the character of 
 the legislation involved. Debate in the Houses 
 has little or nothing to do with it. The process 
 by which such a bill is made is private, not public ; 
 because the reasons which underlie many of the 
 rates imposed are private. The sjt^ronger faction 
 of the Ways and INIeans Committee of the House 
 makes up the preliminary bill, with the assist- 
 ance of 'experts' whom it permits the industries 
 most concerned to supply for its guidance. The 
 controlling members of the Committee also deter- 
 mine what amendments, if any, shall be accepted, 
 either from the minority faction of the Conmiit- 
 
 [110] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 tee or from the House itself. It permits itself 
 to be dictated to, if at all, only by the imperative 
 action of a party caucus. The stronger faction 
 of the Finance Committee of the Senate, in like 
 fashion, frames the bill which it intends to sub- 
 stitute for the one sent up from the House. It is 
 often to be found at work on it before any bill 
 reaches it from the popular chamber. The com- 
 promise between the two measures is arranged 
 in private conference by conferees drawn from 
 the two committees. What takes place in the 
 committees and in the conference is confidential. 
 It is considered impertinent for reporters to in- 
 quire. It is admitted to be the business of the 
 manufacturers concerned, but not the business of 
 the public, who are to pay the rates. The debates 
 which the country is invited to hear in the open 
 sessions of the Houses are merely formal. They 
 determine nothing and disclose very little. It is 
 the policy of silence and secrecy, indeed, with re- 
 gard to the whole process, that makes it abso- 
 lutely inconsistent with every standard of public 
 duty and political integrity." 
 
 After an examination of the tariff schedules, 
 [111] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 and their social and economic consequences, he 
 asks: 
 
 "What, then, shall we do? Shall we adopt 
 'Thorough' as our motto and sweep the whole sys- 
 tem away, be quit of privilege and favors at once, 
 put our industries upon their own resources and 
 center national legislation wholly upon the busi- 
 ness of the nation? By no means. The system 
 cannot be suddenly destroyed. That would 
 bring our whole economic life into radical danger. 
 . . . Constitutional lawers long ago determined 
 that it was certainly within the choice of Con- 
 gress to lay import duties, if it pleased, with a 
 view to the incidental benefit of traders and man- 
 ufacturers within the country; and, if that inci- 
 dental object has in later daj's become the chief 
 and only guiding object of the rates of duty, 
 that, I take it, is only a question of more or less, 
 not a question which cuts so deep as to affect 
 the power of Congress or draw it seriously into 
 debate again. . . . For when you have the gen- 
 eral benefit of the country as your standard, you 
 have a principle upon which it is as legitimate to 
 withdraw protection as to give it. . . . Existing 
 
 [112] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 protection should not be suddenly withdrawn, 
 but steadily, and upon a fixed program upon 
 which every man of business can base his definite 
 forecasts and systematic plans." 
 /' So continuous was Doctor Wilson's attention 
 to public affairs and so frequent were the occa- 
 sions on which he gave his views, that it is im- 
 possible to point to any event that marked his 
 entrance into public life. It wasa thing of grad- 
 ual development. Its beginnings are traceable 
 to his undergraduate period, and public recogni- 
 tion of it is coeval with his whole career as an 
 educator. But the time when all perceived what 
 the well-inforaied had all along discerned came 
 when he was made president of Princeton Uni- 
 versity. ViscountJBryc^, in his well-known trea- 
 tise on "The American Commonwealth," notes 
 the exercise of public influence by university 
 presidents as a characteristic feature of American 
 politics. "No university dignitaries in Great 
 Britain are so well known to the public, or have 
 their opinions quoted with so much respect, as 
 the heads of the seven or eight leading universi- 
 ties of the United States." This characteristic 
 
 [113] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 attitude of American public opinion may, per- 
 haps, be due to the fact that the need of inde- 
 pendent and disinterested advice upon pubhc af- 
 fairs is felt with special keenness. 
 
 Doctor Wilson's term as a university president 
 was a period of great uneasiness in the public 
 mind. The authority of the Government had 
 apparently passed under private control, and it 
 seemed as if the only practical effect of elections 
 was to change the players without changing the 
 game. In the presidential campaign of 1904, 
 the Democratic candidate charged that the party 
 ilI._PP^'^£- was being financed by contributions 
 from corporations and trust magnates. He de- 
 clared that such methods had transformed the 
 government of the people mto "a government 
 whose officers are practically chosen bj^ a handful 
 of corporate managers, who levy upon the assets 
 of the stockholders whom they represent such 
 sums of money as they deem requisite to place 
 the conduct of the Government in such hands as 
 they consider best for their private interests." 
 The general charge of the financing of party 
 management by trust magnates was abundantly 
 
 [114] 
 
WooDROw Wilson, Age 46 
 
 The picture was taken in 1902, the year he was elected president of 
 
 Princeton University 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 substantiated by subsequent disclosures, but it 
 was shown that their bounty was not confined by 
 party lines, so that as between the national party 
 organizations it was merely a case of the kettle 
 and the pot, while from the standpoint of govern- 
 ment it was a case of general foulness in the 
 instiniments of popular rule. 
 
 During this period of agitation and perplexity, 
 Doctor Wilson had clear and positive opinions to 
 express upon all the issues of the times. National 
 knowledge and appreciation of his leadership 
 gradually acquired a volume that naturally gravi- 
 tated to the channels of action. During 1910 
 invitations became frequent in which political 
 intention was noticeable. On March 29 he was 
 the principal speaker at a Democratic gathering 
 at Elizabeth, New Jersey. In this address he 
 made a searching examination of Democratic 
 party duties and responsibilities. Emphatically 
 disclaiming the notion that the getting of office 
 was anything but a means of public service, he 
 proceeded to inquire as to what are the standards 
 of the Democratic party. "Why do we assure 
 ourselves that we can advise and lead the country 
 
 [115] 
 
WOOD ROW WILSON 
 
 better than the Repubhcans can?" To this ques- 
 tion he gave a categorical answer, defining the 
 Democratic party position and distinguishing it 
 from the Repubhcan partj-- position. He held 
 that Republican party behavior had shown that 
 "their confidence was not in the views and desires 
 of the people as a whole, but in the promotion of 
 the interests of the country' at the hands of those 
 who chief ly controlled its resources,. It has been 
 their first thought to safeguard property and es- 
 tablish enterprise." The Democratic position, 
 while not hostile to property or enterprise, was 
 one of faith in the people as a whole, and of deter- 
 mination to serve the people "not in groups and 
 sections but as a whole." Another fundamental 
 principle of Democracy is that "society must be 
 organized so that the individual will not be 
 crushed, will not be unnecessarily hampered. 
 Every legal instrumentality created for his con- 
 venience, like the corporation, must be created 
 only for his convenience and never for his govern- 
 ment or suppression." Still another fundamental 
 principle is adherence to the Constitutional divi- 
 sion of power as between the states and the federal 
 
 [110] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 Government. "A party at once conservative in 
 respect of the law and radical in respect of the 
 service we mean to render the people ; our policies 
 do not cut to the alteration of institutions, but to 
 the effectuation of measures." 
 
 Doctor Wilson did not stop short with a state- 
 ment of principles; he went on to consider their 
 practical application. He held that in curbing 
 the trusts, we should not assume management of 
 them. "It is imperatively necessary, if govern- 
 ment is to be kept pure and impartial, that its 
 officers should not themselves be made partners 
 or managers of the great corporate enterprises 
 through which the public is served. Our regula- / 
 tion of public interests must be legal regulation// 
 and not direct management." In respect of tariff 
 legislation, he said it was clearly the duty of the 
 party to put an end to the system that has long 
 since "ceased to be a policy of protection and 
 become a policy of patronage, a policy of ar- 
 rangement by which particular interests in the 
 country may be sure of their profits, whether the 
 country profits by their enterprise or not." In 
 conclusion he remarked: "And, finally, it seems 
 
 [117] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 to me that it is the duty of the Democratic party 
 to challenge the people by every possible means 
 to depend upon themselves rather than fostering 
 powers lodged in groups of individuals. There 
 have been many encouraging signs in recent 
 years, particularly in some of our smaller cities, 
 that we have at last come upon a time when the 
 people are arousing themselves to give over being 
 dependent upon men whom they cannot watch 
 and are taking direct charge, at any rate, of their 
 local governments. There is no reason wh}'- this 
 process should not extend to the governments of 
 the states and in effect to the government of the 
 nation. A simplification of electoral processes 
 will do much to accomplish this. Government 
 can be put in such a form as to be easy to under- 
 stand, easy to criticize, easy to restrain. It 
 should be the study of every sincere Democrat to 
 promote the measure bj" which these things can be 
 accomplished." 
 
 During the summer of 1910 the question of the 
 Democratic nomination to the governorship of 
 New Jersey was up for an answer. Doctor Wil- 
 son held himself aloof from any contrivance to 
 
 [118] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 obtain that nomination, but there was a growing 
 demand for his candidacy, and this not merely 
 with regard to New Jersey interests but far more 
 with regard to national interests. The long- 
 established system of government by private ar- 
 rangement had been shattered by the successful 
 revolt against Speaker Cannon, but no system 
 of responsible government had been devised to 
 take its place. American politics seemed to be 
 
 Wandering between two worlds, one dead, 
 The other powerless to be born. 
 
 There was a widely held belief that by training, 
 attainments, and character, Woodrow Wilson 
 was particularly well qualified to serve as a popu- 
 lar leader at this juncture, and organization in 
 furtherance of that purpose began in many parts 
 of the country. Expressions of desire were fre- 
 frequently heard that New Jersey Democrats 
 should present his candidacy. Doctor Wilson 
 took no part in these movements but went his 
 way as usual, speaking frankly on public affairs, 
 without troubhng himself in the least as to 
 whether his openness might impair his availabil- 
 
 [119] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ity. The matter eventually acquired an urgency 
 that he felt bound to recognize. It was pointed 
 out to him that to deal intelligently with the situa- 
 tion, those disposed to support him were entitled 
 to know whether he would accept the nomination 
 if it could be had. This argument broke his re- 
 serve and on July 25 he issued a statement in 
 \vhich he said: 
 
 "I need not say that I am in no sense a can- 
 didate for the nomination, and that I would not 
 under any circumstances do anything to obtain 
 it. My present duties and responsibilities are 
 such as should satisfy any man desirous of render- 
 ing public service. They certainly satisfy me, and 
 I do not wish to draw away from them. 
 
 "But my wish does not constitute mj'^ duty, 
 and, if it should turn out to be true, as so many 
 well-informed persons have assured me they be- 
 lieve it will, that it is the wish and hope of a 
 decided majority of the thoughtful Democrats 
 of tlie state tliat I should consent to accept the 
 party's nomination for the great office of Gover- 
 nor, I shoidd deem it my duty, as well as an 
 honor and a privilege, to do so." 
 
 [120] 
 
ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 When the Democratic State Convention met 
 on Thursday, September 15, Doctor Wilson was 
 nominated on the first ballot. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 GOA^ERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 DOCTOR WILSON remained absolutely 
 quiescent during the canvass for the elec- 
 tion of delegates to the state convention, except on 
 one occasion, when he wrote a letter for publica- 
 tion in reply to charges that he was hostile to 
 organized labor. These charges did not them- 
 selves elicit the letter, but the editor of a Labor 
 paper wrote to him desiring to know his opinions, 
 and received a frank reply. Doctor Wilson 
 wrote, August 23, 1910: 
 
 "Itjs^ in my opinion, not only perfectly legit- 
 imate, but absolutely necessary that labor should 
 organize if it is to secure justice from organized 
 capital, and everj^thing that it does to improve 
 the condition of workingmen, to obtain legislation 
 that will impose full legal responsibility upon the 
 employer for his treatment of his emploj^ees and 
 for their protection against accident, to secure 
 just and adequate wages, and to put reasonable 
 
 [122] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 limits upon the working day and upon the exac- 
 tions of those who employ labor, ought to have 
 the hearty support of all fair-minded and public- 
 spirited men; for there is a sense in which the 
 condition of labor is the condition of the nation 
 itself. 
 
 "I have criticized some of the things organized 
 labor has occasionally done, but I have criticized 
 them as a friend and because I thought them 
 harmful to the laborers themselves and harmful 
 to the country. I know of no other standard by 
 which to judge these things than the interest of 
 the whole community. The laboring man cannot 
 benefit himself by injuring the industries of the 
 country. . . . 
 
 "I am much more afraid that the great cor- 
 porations, combinations and trusts will do the 
 country deep harm than I am that the labor or- 
 ganizations will harm it, and yet I believe the 
 corporations to be necessary instruments of mod- 
 ern business. They are good things so long as 
 as they act in the common interest, and very bad 
 things when they do not. . . . 
 
 "But our object, in the one case as in the 
 [123] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 other, should not be hostile. There has been hos- 
 tihty enough all around. What we need now is 
 to take common counsel as to what is for the com- 
 mon benefit, for the good of the country and of 
 the several communities in which we live and 
 earn our bread, and also our happiness." 
 
 Doctor Wilson did not varj'' from his ordinary 
 occupations during the canvass. He spent his 
 summer vacation at Lyme, Connecticut, as had 
 been his habit for some years, and he was not back 
 in New Jersey until his duties as president of the 
 University called him thither. He was playing 
 golf on the Princeton links when the news came 
 that he had been nominated for governor on the 
 first ballot, and that the convention would like 
 to hear from him. A powerful touring car had 
 been sent to bring him. The eleven miles be- 
 tween Princeton and Trenton were covered so 
 rapidly that in about half an hour after the an- 
 nouncement of the ballot the candidate was on 
 the platform. The address he delivered is unique 
 in the exactness with which it described a pro- 
 gram of action which his administration did ac- 
 tually put through. Rarely has there been such 
 
 [124] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 close correspondence between pledges made to ~ 
 the people before an election and the fulfillment 
 of them after the election. One may refer to the 
 address as a directory of the measures of his ad- 
 ministration as governor. After mentioning the 
 fact that the nomination had come to him un- 
 solicited and that he was under no pledges of any 
 kind to prevent him from serving the people of 
 the state with singleness of purpose, he said: 
 
 "I take the three great questions before us to 
 be reorganization and economy in administration, 
 the equalization of taxation, and t]ie control gf 
 corporations. There are other very important 
 questions that confront us, as they confront all 
 the other states of the Union in this day of read- 
 justment: the question of the proper hability of 
 employers, for example ; the question of corrupt 
 practices in elections; the question of conserva- 
 tion; but the three I have named dominate all 
 the rest. It is imperative that we should not 
 only master them, but also act upon them, and 
 act very definitely. 
 
 "It is first of all necessary that we should act 
 in the right spirit. And the right spirit is not a 
 
 [125] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 spirit of hostility. We shall not act either justly 
 or wisely if we attack established interests as pub- 
 lic enemies. There has been too much indictment 
 and too little successful prosecution for wrongs 
 done. It is eas}" to condemn wrong and to ful- 
 minate against WTOng-doers in effective rhetorical 
 jthrases, but that does not bring either reform or 
 ease of mind. . . . 
 
 "The question of the control of corporations 
 is a very difficult one, upon which no man can 
 speak with confidence ; but some things are plain. 
 It is plain, so far as New Jersey is concerned, 
 that we must have a public service commission 
 with the amplest powers to oversee and regulate 
 the administration of public service corporations 
 throughout the state. . . . The regulation of cor- 
 porations is the duty of the state much more 
 Ni directly than it is the dutj' of the Government of 
 y the United States. It is my strong hope that 
 New Jersey may lead the way in reform by scru- 
 tinizing very carefully the enterprises she con- 
 sents to incorporate: their make-up, their objects, 
 the basis and method of their capitalization, their 
 organization with respect to liability to control 
 
 [12G] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 by the state, their conformity to state and federal 
 statutes. This can be done, and done eiFectually. 
 I covet for New Jersey the honor of doing it." 
 The contrast between such straight talk and 
 the vague rhetoric that is the ordinary staple 
 of political speech-making made a strong im- 
 pression upon the audience and was an auspicious 
 start of the campaign. Doctor Wilson went all 
 over the state, addressing the people in the same 
 direct and simple way, and the progress of the 
 campaign attracted national attention. Its cli- 
 max was the reply of the candidate to some un- 
 usually pungent interrogatories propounded by 
 George L. Record, a veteran reformer whose 
 persistent agitation had made him well known 
 throughout the state. The interrogatories were 
 sharply pointed so as to either insure definite 
 reply or else make plain the candidate's avoidance 
 of the issue. The answers were as pointed as the 
 questions, and every issue was met squarely. 
 Many of the questions were disposed of by simply 
 replying "yes," but when further explanation 
 was required to make his position clear that was 
 supplied. The interrogatories did not deal with 
 
 [127] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 abstractions but witb particulars. Doctor Wil- 
 son was asked not mereh^ whether he Avas opposed 
 to the boss s^'stem, but further whether he was 
 opposed to the domination of certain individuals 
 mentioned by name. And he replied that he was. 
 
 "I have made it my business for years to ob- 
 serve and understand that system, and I hate it 
 as thoroughly as I understand it. You are quite 
 right in saying that the sj^stem is bi-partis/m ; 
 that it constitutes 'the most danf^erous condition 
 in the i:)ublic life of our state and nation today'; 
 and that it has virtually, for the time being, 
 'destroj'ed representative government and put in 
 its place a government of privilege.' I would 
 propose to abolish it by the above refoiTns, by 
 the election to office of men who will refuse to 
 submit to it and bend all their energies to break 
 it up, and bj^ pitiless publicitj\" 
 
 As to what his relations would be to his o^vn 
 party managers, Doctor Wilson remarked that jf 
 he should be elected he Mould understand that to 
 mean that he had been chosen leader of the party 
 **and th^ direct representative of the whole peo- 
 ple in the conduct of the Government." 
 
 [128] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 Mr. Record was such a prominent figure and 
 the catechism he had prepared was so trenchant 
 that public attention was riveted upon the affair. 
 The way in which Doctor Wilson met the test 
 was decisive in its effect upon the campaign. In 
 the November election he received a plurality of 
 49,056, although only two years before the Re- 
 publican plurality was 82,776. The legislature, 
 in which there had been a Republican majority 
 of 31 on joint ballot, in a total of 81, had now 
 a Democratic majority of 21 on joint ballot, al- 
 though the Republicans retained control of the 
 Senate. 
 
 Almost immediately after the election Gover- 
 nor Wilson was confronted by a situation com- 
 mon enough in American politics and readily 
 intelligible by those who understand American 
 politics, but it is so hard for the uninitiated to 
 comprehend that some general explanation is de- 
 sirable, particularly since the matter is essential 
 to a just estimate of the entire course of Gov- 
 ernor Wilson's administration. All American 
 constitutions have been deeply impressed by the 
 old French doctrine of the separation of the pow- 
 
 [129] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ers, construed as meaning not onl^^ that the pow- 
 ej;;s should be separately constituted, but that they 
 should also be disconnected as far as possible 
 in their actual operation. This theory has long 
 since been extinct in Europe and has no place 
 in the constitution of the present French re- 
 public, but its most comi)lete and logical formji- 
 lation is to be found in the French constitution 
 of_1791, adopted during the revolutionarj" period. 
 In that it is declared to be the exclusive function 
 of the representative assembh^ to propose and 
 ^act the laws, while the Executi^ e "can only in- 
 v^e the legislative bodj'- to take the matter under 
 consideration." This also describes a traditional 
 opinion of the proper attitude of an American 
 executive, although it is not so described in 
 American constitutions. The constitution of 
 'New Jersey, however, approximates the French 
 revolutionary type in this respect more closely 
 than other American state constitutions. It 
 says that the governor "shall comnmnicate by 
 message to the legislature at the opening of each 
 session, and at such other times as he may deem 
 necessary, the condition of the state, and recom- 
 
 [130] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 mend such measures as he may deem expedient." 
 The usual American practice is to treat this duty 
 of recommendation as amounting to no more than 
 a written request that the matter be taken under 
 consideration. This tends to make legislation a 
 matter of casual combination and adjustment 
 among the particular interests represented by the 
 members of the legislature. To subject the pro- 
 cess to management and control, lobby influence 
 has been systematized in American politics. The 
 practical guidance and leadership omitted by the 
 constitutional system is privately supplied by 
 groups of undertakers who find their account in 
 engrossing and dispensing political influence. 
 Although the traditions and prejudices of the 
 people are enlisted in support of the constitu- 
 tional system that provides such undertakers with 
 their opportunities, yet at the same time the peo- 
 ple resent the use made of those opportunities. 
 In Mr. Record's campaign catechism he referred 
 to one such group as "the Republican Board of 
 Guardians" and to another as "the Democratic 
 Overlords." 
 
 Usually the election of a political outsider con- 
 [131] 
 
 ^/7 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 firms the authoritj^ of such undertakers, since 
 unfamiliarity with official method incUnes him to 
 be receptive of assistance and advice that will 
 be tactfully proffered, and to be acquiescent in 
 their mediation of his relations with the legisla- 
 ture, not merely from its convenience, but also 
 from scruples as to the constitutional propriety 
 of maldng any direct exertion of his official influ- 
 ence. Some such expectations seem to have been 
 entertained when the university president was 
 elected governor of the state, but they were soon 
 dissipated. Governor Wilson soon showed that 
 he was familiar with practical politics and could 
 find his way about without a guide. He was 
 familiar with the nature of all the constitutional 
 obstructions that could be put in his way and 
 was ready to cope witli tliem. Before he was 
 inaugurated as governor he was involved in a 
 struggle that incidentally involved the question 
 of party leadership, and as soon as he perceived 
 that the issue was impending he raised it him- 
 self. 
 
 At that time United States Senators were 
 elected by state legislatures. The Xew Jersey 
 
 [132] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 legislature had passed a law by which the party 
 nomination to the office was to be made at a 
 popular election in which all members of the 
 party were entitled to vote. The candidate chosen 
 at the direct primary could therefore plead party 
 obligation in his favor and yet the legislature was 
 not legally bound. It was contended that the 
 direct primarj" was a new thing and had not been 
 taken seriously by the people ; that had it been, 
 a different sort of man would have been nomi- 
 nated ; and that it was a matter for the legislature 
 to decide without interference or dictation. It 
 became known that jin jnfluential candidate was 
 in the field against the primary nominee. Gov- 
 ernor Wilson advised the new candidate to with- 
 draw, and when he refused to comply, forthwith 
 made an open appeal to the people. He said : 
 
 "I realize the delicacy of taking any part in 
 the discussion of the matter. As governor of 
 New Jersey I shall have no part in the choice of 
 Senator. Legally speaking it is not my duty 
 even to give advice with regard to the choice. 
 But there are other duties beside legal duties. 
 The recent campaign has put me in an unusual 
 
 [133] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 position. I offered, if elected, to be the political 
 spokesman and advisor of the people. I even 
 asked the voters who did not care to make their 
 choice of governor upon that understanding not 
 to vote for me. I believe that the choice was 
 made upon that understanding and I cannot es- 
 cape the responsibility involved. I have no desire 
 to escape it. It is my duty to say, with a full 
 sense of the peculiar responsibility of my posi- 
 tion, what I deem to be the obligation of the legis- 
 lature to do in this gravely important matter." 
 
 He then referred to the fact that at a legally 
 held direct primary- a party candidate for the 
 Senatorship had been nominated, and he held 
 that that was conclusive upon the legislative 
 representatives of the party. "Absolute good 
 faith in dealing with the people, an unhesitating 
 fidelity to ever\'' principle avowed, is the highest 
 law of political morality under a constitutional 
 government." 
 
 This public statement, made a month before 
 the meeting of the legislature, was followed up 
 by a vigorous campaign, during which Governor 
 Wilson again went on the stump and also com- 
 
 [134] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 municated directly with the members of the legis- 
 lature. In so doing he antagonized long-estab- 
 lished political interests that had been active and 
 influential in compassing his own nomination as 
 governor, provoking from them the charge of 
 ingratitude and exciting their lasting enmity, 
 but he did not flinch from his ideals of duty, and 
 the action of the legislature accorded with his 
 advice. 
 
 The definition of his attitude that he made on 
 this issue extended also to the legislative issues 
 of the session. He actively exerted his influence 
 in shaping and conducting legislation. Early in 
 the session he was charged with holding a secret 
 conference at a New York hotel, in which George 
 L. Record, the progressive Republican leader, 
 took part. Governor Wilson at once admitted 
 that a conference had been held, and gave the 
 names of those present. He said that it was a 
 continuation of the policy he had followed ever 
 since his election, of "consulting everyone who 
 was interested in reforms which concern the whole 
 state." He added: 
 
 "Mr. Record is well known to be one of the 
 [135] 
 
^vooDRO^Y wilson 
 
 best informed men in this state with regard to 
 the details involved in most of the reforms pro- 
 posed, lie is particularly versed in legislation 
 elsewhere, as well as in New Jersey, with regard 
 to ballot reform and corrupt practices, as well as 
 with regard to the regulation of primaries. He 
 generously consented to put his unusual store of 
 information at the service of the conference, Avhich 
 was non-partisan in its purpose and was in the 
 public interest." 
 
 In its effect upon legislation the election of 
 Governor Wilson was, indeed, like a channel cut 
 through a swamp. Waters that had been vainly 
 seeking an outlet now poured into it from all 
 quarters. Reform elements in the Republican 
 party moved towards him with offers of service 
 that were freel}'' utilized, along with those coming 
 from his own party associates. Governor Wil- 
 son's jndividual function became chiefly that of 
 selection and guidance. His part}' had some ex- 
 ce^^tionally strong and cajjable representatives in 
 the legislature, who could champion the party 
 policy with vigor and effect, and although the 
 party was in a minority in the state senate, suffi- 
 
 [136] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 cient Republican support was obtained to admit 
 of the enactment of a series of reform measures. 
 A typical instance of Governor Wilson's man- 
 agement is afforded by a legislative conference 
 held on the evening of March 8, 1911. The sub- 
 jects considered were the election reform bill, the 
 employers' liability law, the public utilities com- 
 mission bill and the corrupt practices act. The 
 conference lasted over four hours, the election 
 bill occupying the most time. Governor Wilson 
 took an active part in the discussion and an agree- 
 ment was reached which insured the passage of 
 all four measures. Governor Wilson himself was 
 made a member of a committee appointed to 
 draft the election reform bill in accord with the 
 conclusions reached at the conference. As a re- 
 sult of the impartial consultation that was sought 
 and the expert assistance secured in perfecting 
 details, all these measures were embodied in such 
 mature and considerate enactments that they im- 
 mediately took rank as models. The employers' 
 liability law was a particularly difficult measure, 
 inasmuch as the juristic basis of action was ex- 
 tremely uncertain. A carefully drawn act drafted 
 
 [137] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 upon principles which had been successfully 
 applied in English jurisprudence was declared 
 unconstitutional by the New York Court of 
 Appeals in 1910, and doubts were expressed by 
 legal authorities whether the courts would permit 
 any liability to be put upon emploj^ers that they 
 themselves would not voluntarily accept. It was 
 generally recognized that if Governor Wilson's 
 administration w^as able to handle this issue suc- 
 cessfully the results would be far-reaching in 
 their effect upon American jurisprudence. A 
 legal magazine, the Green Bag, in its issue for 
 JNIay, 1911, pointed to the New Jersey statute as 
 providing a practical solution of the problem. 
 That statute introduced an elective system of 
 conij^ensation, under which a contract is pre- 
 sumed to exist unless either the emploj^ee or the 
 employer gives notice to the contrar3\ The 
 Green Bag remarked : 
 
 "The outcome of the New Jersey experiment 
 will be watched with interest. We believe that 
 under an elective system a large number of in- 
 dustries are likely to come voluntarily imder the 
 act, on account of its reciprocal benefits. Any- 
 
 [138] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 thing tending, by proper means, to diminish the 
 volume of personal injury litigation, and to 
 afford simpler and more certain relief to em- 
 ployees without injustice to the employer is 
 strongly supported by every consideration of 
 public policy." 
 
 As a matter of fact the New Jersey statute did 
 in fact accomplish all these benefits. The law 
 was not only carefully drawn, but it was also 
 carefully applied. A conmiission was appointed 
 to supervise its operation, and the matter was 
 so judiciously handled that acceptance of the 
 system by the industries of the state soon became 
 general. In its issue for September, 1912, the 
 Green Bag summed up the situation as follows: 
 
 "More than 90 per cent of the employers of 
 industrial labor in New Jersey have virtually sub- 
 scribed to the provisions of the elective workmen's 
 compensation act now in operation. The dis- 
 favor of manufacturers, intense when the law was 
 in the throes of enactment, has been practically 
 eliminated after studying the operation for the 
 last twelve months. It is said that there are now 
 only two large manufacturing concerns in the 
 
 [139] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 state not operating under the provisions of the 
 compensation schedule of the act; of those, one 
 has a compensation rate of its own, in excess, in 
 most classes of accidents, of the state's sched- 
 ule." 
 
 Indeed, it may be remarked as a general char- 
 acteristic of the measures enacted during Gover- 
 nor Wilson's administration, that they have 
 worked well in practice. The direct primary 
 jaw and tjie corru2)t practices act have met with 
 general acceptance as established features of the 
 I)olitical sj'stem. The stringent control over cor- 
 porations established by the law creating the pub- 
 lic utilities commission is now generally recog- 
 nized as a salutary extension of public authority 
 which will be a permanent administrative func- 
 tion. Another signal event in Governor Wilson's 
 administration was a reorganization of ^le school 
 S};^tem of the State. A large board, constituted 
 on the basis of district representation, was abol- 
 ished, and was succeeded by a small unpaid com- 
 mission of large power, representing the State 
 as a whole, working in conjunction with a state 
 superintendent. In selecting this superintendent, 
 
 [140] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 Governor Wilson gave a shock to local office- 
 seekers by going out of the State to obtain an 
 educational expert. 
 
 While he was actively championing the passage 
 of these measures, in which he had to contend with 
 ingenious and persistent opposition, he had also 
 occasion to send in some veto messages. One of 
 these made a firm assertion of home rule princi- 
 ples. A bill had been passed providing for an 
 increas^e in the pay of firemen and other em- 
 ployees in municipal service. It was vetoed on 
 the ground that "the bill deprives the proper re- 
 sponsible officers of the city of the power to deter- 
 mine whether or not the expenditure provided for 
 is within the resources of the taxpayers or is a 
 proper measure of local administration." 
 
 Governor Wilson asserted the same principle 
 of home rule with respect to the liquor traffic. 
 Under date of May 1, 1911, he wrote a letter 
 making the following statement of his position: 
 
 "I am in favor of local option. I am a thor- 
 ough believer in local self-government and be- 
 lieve that every self-governing community which 
 constitutes a social unit should have the right to 
 
 [141] 
 
V/OODROW WILSON 
 
 control the matter of the regulation or the with- 
 holding of licenses. 
 
 "But the questions involved are social and 
 moral, not political, and are not susceptible of 
 being made parts of a party program. When- 
 ever they have been made the subject-matter of 
 party contests, they have cut the lines of party 
 organization and party action athwart, to the 
 utter confusion of political action in every other 
 field. They have thrown ever}' other question, 
 however important, into the background and 
 have made constructive part}'' action impossible 
 for long years together. 
 
 "So far as I am mj'^self concerned, therefore, I 
 can never consent to have the question of local 
 option made an issue between political parties in 
 this state. ]My judgment is very clear in this 
 matter. I do not believe that party programs of 
 the highest consequence to the political life of the 
 state and of tlie nation ought to be thrust on one 
 side and hopelessly embarrassed for long periods 
 together bj^ making a political issue of a great 
 question which is essentiall}'- non-political, non- 
 partisan, moral and social in its nature." 
 
 [142] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 The work of this memorable session of the New 
 Jersey legislature reached a brilliant conclusion 
 in the E5:?.s^g6 of a bill enabling cities to adopt 
 the commission plan of government. The bill is 
 optional but a number of New Jersey cities have 
 adopted that form of government, including 
 Trenton, the state capital. 
 
 The active part taken by Governor Wilson in 
 promoting legislation was in accord with constitu- 
 tional principles that had been his study all the 
 years since he had arrived at manhood. He did 
 not act upon impulse, or from casual opportunity, 
 but of set purpose and upon mature convictions 
 of constitutional propriety. In putting his prin- 
 ciples into practice, he had to contend with the 
 virulent opposition of a faction in his own party 
 incensed by his course in the struggle over the 
 United States Senatorship. His action in cau- 
 cusing with members of the legislature in regard 
 to legislative action was denounced to his face as 
 a breach of official propriety and as a violation of 
 American principles of constitutional govern- 
 ment. 
 
 It is a decided loss to constitutional history 
 [143] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 that the parliamentary leadership assumed by 
 Governor Wilson had to be exercised in the party 
 caucus instead of in the open forum in the full 
 view and hearing of the people. Something of 
 the character of the discussion that took place 
 in the party caucus was revealed in newspaper 
 reports of the caucus of JNIarch 13, 1911, on the 
 election reform bill, commonh^ known as the 
 Geran Act. The bill had stuck on the ways and 
 when the Governor exerted his influence there 
 were some who in effect told him to mind his own 
 business. As to this Governor Wilson replied 
 that it was his clear prerogative under the state 
 constitution to suggest at any time measures for 
 their consideration, and that it was clearh^ within 
 the meaning of the constitution that his sugges- 
 tions might be in the form of regularlv formu- 
 lated bills. Therefore it would have been within 
 his choice to send the pending primary and elec- 
 tion law to them in a special message and ask 
 them to vote upon it directly. 
 
 Having vindicated his constitutional right to 
 j:ecommend measures, he discussed the pending 
 measure on its merits. He said that so far as his 
 
 [144] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 own preference was concerned he would greatly 
 relish going to the people on the issue, except it 
 would seem to bring him into collision with and 
 oblige him to criticize the action of certain mem- 
 bers of the legislature. In conclusion he said : 
 
 "You can turn aside from the measure if you 
 choose; you can decline to follow me; you can 
 deprive me of office and turn away from me, but 
 you cannot deprive me of power so long as I 
 steadfastly stand for what I believe to be the 
 interests and legitimate demands of the people 
 themselves. I beg you to remember, in this which 
 promises to be an historic conference, you are 
 settling the question of the power or impotence, 
 the distinction or the ignominy of the party to 
 which the people with singular generosity have 
 offered the conduct of their affairs." 
 
 This strikes a note in American politics so rare 
 that it sounds new, although precedents in favor 
 of such a^nnistraiiye initiative, and leadership 
 extend to^ the foundation of the _GrQYernment. 
 The innovation made by Governor Wilson was 
 remarkable not so much as a new formulation of 
 constitutional principles, as it was for the readi- 
 
 [145] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ness with which he came forward to accept re- 
 sponsihiHties which he could have easily avoided, 
 and the energy and success with which he asserted 
 his leadership. In these respects he set an exam- 
 ple ^\hich has advanced the standards of official 
 behavior. 
 
 From the standpoint of constitutional govern- 
 ment it may be noted as a deficiency that Gover- 
 nor Wilson's leadership was outside the legis- 
 lature, but that was no fault of his. He w^ent 
 as far as he had a right to go, and he used such 
 means as he could reach. The constitutional 
 aspects of the situation were discussed by him 
 in a speech delivered at Portland, Oregon, ]May 
 18, 1911. It was the first important public ad- 
 dress made by him after the close of the legisla- 
 tive session and its experiences naturally in- 
 formed his remarks. The following gives an 
 idea of the views he expressed: 
 
 "The ijicreasing dependence of the country 
 upon its executive officers is thrusting upon them 
 a_ double function. They must inidcrtake the 
 business of agitation, that is to say, tlie Imsiness 
 of forming and leading opinion, and it will not 
 
 [UG] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 be very efFectiial or serviceable for them to do 
 that unless they take the next step and make 
 bold to fomuilate the measures by which opinion 
 is to be put into effect. 
 
 "Moreover, it is still further belittling to our 
 legislature that the discussions led by our execu- 
 tives should be held outside of the legislative 
 chambers. Undoubtedly the hope of the imme- 
 diate future is that by getting rid of machine 
 control and the control of secret interests of other 
 kinds inside our legislative chambers, they may 
 thoroughly regain their self-possession and their 
 self-respect, and in regaining these may return 
 to their one-time practice of debate and put every- 
 thing they do to the public ordeal. In that way 
 lies the recovery of their prestige. . . ." 
 
 Among those who knew Governor Wilson's 
 views there was an expectation that before his 
 term expired he would do something towards sys- 
 tematizing the relations between the executive 
 and the legislature, particularly with respect to 
 the process of recommending legislation. The 
 lack of any public means by which the administra- 
 tjon may propose and bring to determination the 
 
 [147] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 particular measures recommended, provides an 
 opportunit}' for pjh'ate enterprise to operate in 
 this field. This is the explanation of the im- 
 portance of the lobby in American legislative ses- 
 sions, and also of its ineradicable character despite 
 all opposition to it. It is in fact an irregular 
 and imj^ure performance of a necessarj^ public 
 function, and it was not a mere coincidence that 
 wjien Governor Wilson asserted administrative 
 initiative in legislation the professional lobby dis- 
 appeared. The corporations that had been in the 
 habit of feeing agents to look after their interests 
 in the legislative hurly-burly promptly desisted 
 when it was seen that a responsible direction of 
 affairs had been established. But Governor Wil- 
 son did not have the opportunity of introducing 
 any formal change of system as the necessary 
 basis of j)olitical support could not be obtained. 
 Although his own views on such matters are 
 clearly defined, he is wary of any assumption of 
 authority unless it is clearly an incident of his 
 position as a public trustee. Party grounds upon 
 which he could act in this important but delicate 
 matter were provided by the Democratic State 
 
 [14.8] 
 
WooDROw Wilson, Age 54 
 The picture was taken in 1910, after his election as governor of New 
 
 Jersey 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 Convention which met October 3, 1911. Gover- 
 nor Wilson himself was a member and served 
 on the platform committee. Among the resolu- 
 tions adopted by the convention was the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 "We pledge ourselves to a revision of the rules 
 of order of the Senate and General Assembly of 
 the State of New Jersey so as to make them more 
 conformable to the state constitution, more fit to 
 protect the people against the evils of slipshod 
 lawmaking, and more apt to secure proper legis- 
 lative provision for the general welfare. The 
 conditions under which power is exercised are 
 more important than the conditions under which 
 power is gained, and the work which the Demo- 
 cratic party of this state has done and is doing 
 to restore popular government will be incomplete 
 unless accompanied by approj)riate reforms in 
 legislative methods." 
 
 With this party mandate to warrant the exer- 
 tion of his influence, Governor Wilson might have 
 been able to apply himself with as great energy 
 and success in improving the whole legislative 
 process as he had displayed in carrying through 
 
 [149] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the legislative program of his party, but the op- 
 portunity was not forthcoming. In New Jersey 
 the peculiar arrangement exists that representa- 
 tives are elected not by districts but by county 
 general ticket. Hence, although the Democratic 
 party had a plurality of 3,103 in the State in 
 the 1911 elections, the Republican party obtained 
 control of both branches of the legislature. This 
 turn-over was chiefly due to one county, in which 
 the party organization was controlled by the fac- 
 tion that had been fighting Governor Wilson ever 
 since he took the stand he did on the senatorship 
 question. Its twelve members were transferred 
 from the Democratic to the Republican side. 
 New Jersey has annual legislative sessions and 
 only during the first j^ear of his term did Gover- 
 nor Wilson have a legislative majority in political 
 accord with him. He met the situation frankly 
 and made the best of it. In his message to the 
 legislature which met in January, 1912, he said: 
 "When the legislative session opens we become 
 colleagues in a common service, and our standard 
 is not party advantage but the welfare of New 
 Jersey. We are, first of all, citizens and public 
 
 [150] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 servants; our party differences are secondary to 
 our duty as representatives and trustees. I ven- 
 ture upon this preface to my recommendations 
 in order to afford myself the opportunity to say 
 with how much pleasure I shall cooperate with 
 the present legislature in carrying out every pro- 
 gram that is judged to be for the common benefit. 
 It is my duty as governor of the state and repre- 
 sentative of all its people, to be the leader of my 
 party in the state, indeed, but not a partisan 
 or a strategist for mere party benefit. I am glad 
 to think, therefore, that the matters to which I 
 shall call your attention do not lie within the field 
 of party debate. They are matters which we can 
 approach without party bias or prejudice. 
 Whatever differences of judgment may arise 
 with regard to them, they need have no flavor 
 of party feeling about them." 
 
 The leading topic of this message was the 
 necessity of reducing to economic system the cha- 
 otic miscellany of state boards and commissions. 
 He suggested the creation of an economj^ and 
 efficiency commission, and remarked that in his 
 judgment "the majority of the commission 
 
 [151] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 should be experienced and trusted business men, 
 and they should have the advice of men who have 
 made a special study of scientific efficiency in 
 practical administration." The legislature, how- 
 ever, preferred to turn the matter over to a com- 
 mission, in part appointed by the President of 
 the Senate, in part by the Speaker of the House, 
 and in part by the Governor. The efforts of this 
 tripartite commission did not effect any change 
 of system. In view of the number and strength 
 of the vested interests that would be disturbed, no 
 systematic reorganization of state departments is 
 ever likely to be accomplished except through 
 such a concentration of agency and an energy 
 of purpose as Governor Wilson might have sup- 
 plied, had psiTty opportunity brought the matter 
 within his control. 
 
 The leading topic of Governor Wilson's second 
 annual message, transmitted on January 14, 
 1913, was the need of fetter control of. corpora- 
 tions.. After pointing out the laxity of the exist- 
 ing system and the resultant abuses, he urged: 
 
 "It is our duty and our present opportunity 
 to amend the statutes of the state, not only in this 
 
 [152] 
 
GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 matter, but also in such a way as to jDrovide 
 some responsible official supervision of the whole 
 process of incorporation and provide, in addition, 
 salutary checks upon unwarranted and fictitious 
 increases of capital and the issuance of securities 
 not based upon actual bona fide valuation. The 
 honesty and soundness of business alike depend 
 upon such safeguards. No legitimate business 
 will be injured or harmfully restricted by them. 
 These are matters which affect the honor and 
 good faith of the state. We should act upon 
 them at once and with clear purpose." 
 
 In pursuance of this recommendation bills 
 were prepared which from their number became 
 popularly known as the "Seven Sisters." The ac- 
 tion of New Jersey in refusing asylum to bogus 
 corporations and get-rich-quick schemes at- 
 tracted national attention, and the laws are serv- 
 ing as legislative models in other states. 
 
 In this message, jury reform was energetically 
 commended to the attention of the legislature, 
 now again Democratic in both branches. On 
 February 25, 1913, he sent in a brief special mes- 
 sage in which he said: 
 
 [153] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 "Many honorable and notable men have occu- 
 pied the office of sheriff in our several counties; 
 many men of the highest character now fill that 
 office, but again and again by obtaining control 
 of the office of sheriff the interests which have 
 corrupted this state, which have defied the laws, 
 w^hich have built up selfish private interests, which 
 have sought to get the state in the clutch of per- 
 sonal political machines, have bent the law to their 
 uses ; and I speak with absolute knowledge when 
 I say that I know the public opinion of this state 
 now cries out for and demands reform of no hesi- 
 tating or doubtful character, which shall take the 
 selection of grand juries out of the hands of the 
 sheriffs and place it elsewhere." 
 
 This appeal, which bore fruit in the legislation 
 of the session, was Governor Wilson's last im- 
 portant official act as the New Jersey executive. 
 On the same day he filed his resignation, to take 
 effect March 1, 1913. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 FOR convenience of examination, Woodrow 
 Wilson's career as governor of New Jersey 
 has been considered in its entirety. In its chrono- 
 logical order it overlapped his candidacy for the 
 presidency of the United States and his election 
 to that office. Indeed, the movement whose force 
 transferred him from the presidency of Princeton 
 to the governorship of New Jersey had the presi- 
 dency of the nation as its ultimate objective. The 
 movement was remarkable for its spontaneity. 
 Mr. Wilson had no organization and made no 
 effort to create one. A motion nominating him 
 for the presidency was made in the Democratic 
 State Convention of 1911, of which he was a 
 member, but he opposed it as a proceeding incon- 
 sistent with the principle of the direct primary. 
 He said: 
 
 "While I realize that this resolution may be 
 taken as an expression of confidence by the gen- 
 
 [155] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 tlemen who vote for it, I nevertheless feel that 
 we would be making a mistake to make this use 
 of this convention when we have provided so 
 much more appropriate means of finding out the 
 preference of the people with regard to national 
 affairs. So I enter my earnest but respectful 
 protest to this meeting and move that the resolu- 
 tion lie upon the table." 
 
 At one time it looked as if the resolution would 
 be passed anyhow, but Governor Wilson's in- 
 sistence prevailed. His only direct connection 
 with the canvass was to give some increase to his 
 usual practice of addressing the public frankly 
 and fully upon public issues. His course as 
 governor of New Jersey had attracted national 
 attention and invitations poured in upon him 
 whose acceptance involved visits to the different 
 sections of the countrj^ including the Pacific 
 slope. Everywhere there was a strong movement 
 of popular sentiment in his favor, and national 
 organization was provided for it by individual 
 action quite as spontaneous. William F. Mc- 
 Combs, Jr., a Princeton graduate of the class of 
 1898, practicing law in New York, of his own 
 
 [156] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 motion started a bureau in aid of Wilson's can- 
 didacy. From the most modest beginnings the 
 organization thus effected spread over the coun- 
 try, and in every state local committees sprang 
 up, working in correspondence with the Mc- 
 Combs bureau. This amateur organization had 
 to cope with the experienced campaigners who 
 were managing presidential booms of the regula- 
 tion type. The schism that had developed in the 
 Kepublican party had caused a general belief 
 that the Democratic nominee would be the next 
 president, and there was a large field of candi- 
 dates. The eventual selection of Governor Wil- 
 son to be that nominee is to be attributed to the 
 pervasive influence of the strong popular senti- 
 ment in his favor. It permeated delegations com- 
 mitted to other candidates, so that when the con- 
 vention met at Baltimore the strength of the Wil- 
 son movement was far greater than appeared on 
 the surface. Nevertheless his nomination was 
 not regarded as probable by most political ob- 
 servers and in the end it came rather unexpect- 
 edly. The baEoting was preceded by an event in 
 which Governor Wilson made a characteristic 
 
 [157] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 display of his unflinching attachment to principle 
 at a time when calculations of personal expedi- 
 ency would have counseled a different course. 
 Indeed, in pursuing the course he did, he had 
 to reject the advice of sincere friends who were 
 laboring to effect his nomination. His action was 
 generally regarded as fatal to his chances and he 
 himself was quite prepared to take that view of 
 it, but nevertheless he thought it the right thing 
 to do, be the personal consequences what they 
 might. In a struggle that took place between the 
 progressive and conservative elements of the con- 
 vention over the temporary organization. Gover- 
 nor Wilson alone among the candidates took an 
 open stand against the existing party control. 
 He declared: 
 
 "The Baltimore convention is to be a conven- 
 tion of progressives, of men who are progressive 
 in principle and by conviction. It must, if it is 
 not to be put in a wrong light before the country, 
 express its convictions in its organization, and in 
 its choice of the men who are to speak for it." 
 
 This action in a measure antagonized the exist- 
 ing official management of the party organiza- 
 
 [158] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 tion, which emerged victoriously from the trial 
 of strength on that issue, and controlled the or- 
 ganization of the convention. The situation was 
 such that Wilson's nomination now seemed to be 
 out of the range of practical politics, but when 
 the balloting began, the convention drifted into a 
 deadlock, its sessions were unusually protracted, 
 and meanwhile from all over the country came 
 manifestations of popular sentiment in favor of 
 Wilson. Able political tacticians did their best 
 to arrange a combination upon some other can- 
 didate, but they were unable to withstand the 
 rising tide. Balloting began on June 28 and con- 
 tinued until July 2, when Woodrow Wilson was 
 nominated on the forty-sixth ballot. 
 
 Governor Wilson received the formal notifica- 
 tion at Seagirt, New Jersey, where the state has 
 provided a summer home for its Chief Executive, 
 although it does not provide him with a residence 
 at Trenton, the capital city. In making his 
 formal reply the candidate gave a characteristic 
 instance of his entire frankness by remarking that 
 he did not know enough about currency reform 
 "to be dogmatic about it," but the plan adopted 
 
 [159] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 should be one that would meet the requirements 
 of merchants and farmers as well as of bankers, 
 and he referred incidentally to the existence of 
 conditions whose "existence gives rise to the sus- 
 picion of a '^Nlonej^ Trust,' a concentration of the 
 control of credit, which may at any time become 
 infinitely dangerous to free enterprises." With 
 regard to the general situation he observed: 
 
 "The nation has awakened to a sense of neg- 
 lected ideals and neglected duties ; to a conscious- 
 ness that the rank and file of the people find life 
 very hard to sustain, that her young men find 
 opportunity embarrassed, and that her older men 
 find business difficult to renew and maintain be- 
 cause of circumstances of privilege and private 
 advantage which have interlaced their subtle 
 threads throughout almost every part of the 
 framework of our present law. She has awak- 
 ened to the knowledge that she has lost certain 
 cherished liberties and wasted priceless resources 
 M'hich she had solemnly undertaken to hold in 
 ti*ust for posterity and for all mankind; and to 
 the conviction that she stands confronted with an 
 occasion for constiiictive statesmanship such as 
 
 [100] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 has not arisen since the great days in which her 
 Government was set up. 
 
 "What is there to do?" he asked. In reply he 
 instanced "two great things." One was "to set 
 up the rule of justice and right" in matters that 
 concern the present, such as the tariff, trust regu- 
 lation, currenc}^ and labor laws. The other was 
 to protect our people and our resources, now and 
 in the future, by proper adjustment of questions 
 of conservation, development, and trade. 'Private 
 interests have had too much to do with governing 
 us, and we must "effect a great readjustment and 
 get the forces of the whole people once more into 
 play." Xevertheless "we need no revolution, we 
 need no excited change ; we need only a new point 
 of view and a new method and spirit of counsel." 
 
 While advocating immediate downward revi- 
 sion of the tariff he held that it should be man- 
 aged so as not to disturb business too suddenly 
 or too radically. "It should begin with the 
 schedules which have been most obviously used 
 to kill competition and to raise prices." In so 
 far as the high cost of living has been arranged 
 by private understanding, it may be checked by 
 
 [161] 
 
WOODROW WILSOX 
 
 proper regulation of trusts and monopolies. He 
 observed : 
 
 "Big business is not dangerous because it is 
 big, but because its bigness is an unwholesome 
 inflation created by privileges and exemptions 
 which it ought not to enjoy. While ^nrpetition 
 can not be created by statutory enactment, it can 
 in large measure be revived b}' changing the laws 
 and forbidding the practices that killed it, and by 
 enacting law^s that will give it heart and occasion 
 again. ... It wdll be necessary to supplement 
 the present law with such laws, both civil and 
 criminal, as will effectually punish and prevent 
 those methods, adding such other laws as may be 
 necessary to provide suitable and adequate judi- 
 cial processes, whether civil or criminal, to dis- 
 close them and follow them to final verdict and 
 judgment. They must be specifically and di- 
 rectly met by law as they develop." 
 
 The conclusion of his speech of acceptance was 
 regarded as an apt reference to the personal 
 phase of the contest, which seemed likely to be 
 charged with unusual bitterness from the trian- 
 gular contest that had developed. He remarked : 
 
 [102] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 "It is not a partisan fight we are entering 
 upon. ... A presidential campaign may easily- 
 degenerate into a mere personal contest and so 
 lose its real dignity and significance. There is 
 no indispensable man. The Government will not 
 collapse and go to pieces if any one of the gen- 
 tlemen who are seeking to be entrusted with its 
 guidance should be left at home." 
 
 The disruption of the Republican party by 
 the Progressive movement caused Governor Wil- 
 son to receive an extraordinary majority in the 
 electoral college. He received 435 electoral votes 
 as against 88 for Roosevelt and 8 for Taft. He 
 had a^plurality of 2,134,499 in the popular vote 
 but no majority over all, in which respect his case 
 was like that of Abraham Lincoln." The distribu- 
 tion of the popular vote was as follows : Wilson, 
 6,303,063; Roosevelt, 4,168,564; Taft, 3,439,529. 
 The most remarkable feature of the election was 
 really not the success of Wilson, but was the 
 strength displayed by Roosevelt with a new party 
 and an improvised organization. 
 
 Governor Wilson took an active part in the 
 campaign, going before the people and discussing 
 
 [163] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the issues with the same moderation and good 
 sense that had been displayed in his speech of 
 acceptance. The period between the nomination 
 and the election was that in which his duties as 
 governor were lightest. An anomaly of our po- 
 litical system is that after an administration is 
 dismissed from power bj'- the people it continues 
 to hold office through still another legislative ses- 
 sion. The administration that had received only 
 8 electoral votes remained in office during four 
 months after its rejection at the polls, and the 
 Congress whose successors had been elected met 
 and held a legislative session before passing off 
 the scene. In ordinary course a newly elected 
 Congress does not convene until over a year after 
 the election. It once happened in recent years 
 that a general election in Canada took place 
 within a few daj's of the presidential election in 
 this country. The Dominion Parliament met and 
 held an important session in which tariff action 
 was taken, completed its business, and adjourned 
 before our Congress, elected at the same time, 
 had ever met. The case is one among various 
 instances of the small actual regard for demo- 
 
 [104] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 cratic principles shown in the political arrange- 
 ments of the United States. An incidental re- 
 sult was that Governor Wilson was left to con- 
 tinue his work in the state for months after he 
 was elected President. A new legislature had 
 been elected at the same time, and it was Demo- 
 cratic in both branches. Governor Wilson seized 
 the opportunity to further the legislative pro- 
 gram of his party, particularly measures to regu- 
 late corporation behavior, and he was busily en- 
 gaged in the discharge of his responsibilities as a 
 New Jersey official up to within a few days of 
 the time when he took the oath of office as Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 The announcement of his Cabinet was, on the 
 whole, well received, although in some respects 
 it occasioned surprise. This was in part due to 
 the provincialism that is a marked characteristic 
 of American politics, due mainly to the fact that 
 the country has many political centers, none dom- 
 inant. A man may have recognized eminence in 
 one section while elsewhere even well-informed 
 people ask, "Who is he?" Then again the con- 
 ditions under which the President must act are 
 
 [165] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 not generally understood. The existence of his 
 constitutional functions is popularl}^ taken to 
 imply the existence of appropriate means for 
 their exercise, which is not really the case. It 
 is the duty of the President to "give to the Con- 
 gress information on the state of the Union, and 
 recommend to their consideration such measures 
 as he shall judge necessary and expedient," but 
 there is no settled way in which he can get his 
 measures before Congress and recommend them 
 to consideration. Indeed, it is the habit of a 
 President's opponents to contend that he really 
 has no active power of recommendation, but that 
 he is in the plight of the French king, incapable 
 of doing more than to request that the subject be 
 taken under consideration. The actual language 
 of the Constitution makes it impen'^ious to this 
 revolutionary doctrine, although it is frequently 
 brought forward. Nevertheless, a President finds 
 himself in a very insecure position in the actual 
 exercise of his constitutional initiative, and the 
 precedents vary. In his first term Washington 
 was able to deal with Congress directly, but at 
 that time Congress had no system of standing 
 
 [166] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 committees and it relied upon the services of the 
 administration to prepare business for its con- 
 sideration. After the committee system had been 
 developed, it became for a time political usage 
 to allow the administration to arrange the im- 
 portant committees, and to place its measures 
 before Congress through their agency. This sys- 
 tem lasted until the administration of John 
 Quincy Adams, when it was swept away in the 
 course of the new party alignments of that period, 
 and since then there has been no direct mode by 
 which a President can obtain action by Congress 
 upon his recommendations. An indirect mode 
 has, however, been developed through party 
 agency. Nominating conventions and party plat- 
 forms, which are institutions peculiar to the 
 United States, have been evolved to bridge the 
 gap between the Executive and the legislature, 
 and to subject them to common purpose. The 
 President thus possesses an actual initiative of 
 great influence, but he derives it from his position 
 as the head of his party and the enforcer of its 
 discipline, and he reaches Congress through the 
 loyalty of his party associates. The connecting 
 
 [167] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 link between the Executive and Congress is the 
 party caucus. 
 
 The actual situation had been conspicuous!}'- 
 exhibited by what was known as "tlie revolt 
 against Cannonism." Through his power to ap- 
 point committees, and to determine what meas- 
 ures should and what should not receive consid- 
 eration, the Speaker was the arbiter of public 
 policy. Speaker Cannon did not originate the 
 power he exercised. It was rooted in the neces- 
 sity of having some means of reaching and dis- 
 posing of the public business. It has been cal- 
 culated that it would take sixty years to consider 
 in regular order the bills introduced during a ses- 
 sion of Congress. The system, however, placed 
 the actual control of public policj^ in the hands of 
 a small group of politicians whose power rested 
 upon advantages of position and not upon public 
 trust and confidence. It excited such antagonism 
 that it was suddenly overthro^vn by the parlia- 
 mentary revolution of jMarch 19, 1910, which 
 took away from the Speaker the appointment of 
 the committees and ousted him from membership 
 on the Committee on Rules. These changes 
 
 [168] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 transferred the seat of legislative authority to 
 the party caucus, under whose direction the Com- 
 mittee on Rules acts. It should be understood 
 that owing to the congested state of the calendars, 
 it is practically impossible to reach and dispose of 
 important legislative measures except under 
 special orders reported by the Committee on 
 Rules, which has power to bring in a report at 
 any time and obtain consideration for it to the 
 exclusion of other business until it is disposed of. 
 These special orders may fix the time when the 
 measure concerned shall be taken up, the length 
 of time allotted to debate, and the time when it 
 shall be put to vote. It used to be that this robust 
 agency was controlled by the Speaker through a 
 small Committee on Rules, consisting of himself 
 and a few colleagues selected by himself. Under 
 the new system the party caucus elects the Ways 
 and Means Committee which acts as a committee 
 of selection in arranging all the other committee 
 assignments, including the Committee on Rules 
 whose membership has been increased to ten. The 
 caucus exercises supervision over all the commit- 
 tees and the Committee on Rules acts under its 
 
 [169] 
 
WOODKOW WILSON 
 
 orders. Although in the election of caucus offi- 
 cers and of officers of the House a majority of 
 those voting binds the entire caucus, it is provided 
 that a two-thirds vote of those present shall be 
 necessary to bind the caucus on a question "in- 
 volving party policy or principle," and moreover 
 no member shall be bound "upon questions in- 
 volving a construction of the Constitution of the 
 United States or upon which he made contrary 
 pledges to his constituents prior to his elec- 
 tion." 
 
 Under the old system the ability of the Presi- 
 dent to obtain actual consideration of the meas- 
 ures recommended by him depended upon the 
 favor of the Speaker; under the present system 
 it depends upon the favor of the caucus, and its 
 good will must be a controlling purpose in the 
 formation of the Cabinet. Hence the selections 
 made should not be taken as the expression of the 
 President's own preferences, but as his recogni- 
 tion of the conditions under which the adminis- 
 tration had to be conducted. If the administra- 
 tion had, of its own right, as is the case in Swit- 
 zerland, the means of proposing measures directly 
 
 [170] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 to Congress and bringing them to determination, 
 a great simplification of political machinery 
 would result and different standards of leader- 
 ship would be set up. So far as the President 
 could himself go, he showed his willingness to 
 enter into direct and open relations with Con- 
 gress, by reviving Washington's practice of an 
 oral address to Congress instead of sending in a 
 written message. 
 
 In his inaugural address he mentioned as 
 among "the things that ought to be altered": 
 
 "A tariff M^hich cuts us off from our proper 
 part in the commerce of the world, violates the 
 just principles of taxation, and makes the Gov- 
 ernment a facile instrument in the hands of pri- 
 Yate interests; a banking and currency system 
 based upon the necessity of the Government to 
 sell its bonds fifty years ago and perfectly adapt- 
 ed to concentrating cash and restricting credits; 
 an industrial system which, take it on all its sides, 
 financial as well as administrative, holds capital 
 in leading strings, restricts the liberties and limits 
 the opportunities of labor, and exploits without 
 renewing or conserving the natural resources of 
 
 [171] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the country^; a body of agricultural activities 
 never yet given the efficiency of great business 
 undertakings or ser\^ed as it should be through 
 the instrumentality of science taken directly to 
 the farm, or afforded the facilities of credit best 
 suited to its practical needs; watercourses unde- 
 veloped, waste places unreclaimed, forests un- 
 tended, fast disappearing without plan or pros- 
 pect of renewal, unregarded waste heaps at every 
 mine." 
 
 In addition to the material things he empha- 
 sized tlie need of justice Jnsocialj;elatiQn§. 
 
 "There can be no equalit}'- of opportunity, the 
 first essential of justice in the body politic, if 
 men and women and children be not shielded in 
 their lives, their very vitality, from the conse- 
 quences of great industrial and social processes 
 which they cannot alter, control or singly cope 
 with. Society must see to it that it does not itself 
 ciiish or weaken or damage its own constituent 
 parts. The first duty of law is to keep sound the 
 society it sen-es. Sanitary laws, pure-food laws, 
 and laws determining conditions of labor which 
 individuals are powerless to determine for them- 
 
 [172] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 selves are intimate parts of the very business of 
 justice and legal efficiencj^" 
 
 The conclusion of the address was thrilling in 
 its effect upon the audience and remained mov- 
 ing and impressive when it came before the na- 
 tion in cold print. He said : 
 
 "The feelings with which we face this new age 
 of right and opportunity sweep across our heart- 
 strings like some air out of God's own presence, 
 where justice and mercy are reconciled and the 
 judge and the brother are one. We know our 
 task to be no mere task of politics, but a task 
 which shall search us through and through, 
 whether we be able to understand our time and 
 the need of our people, whether we be indeed their 
 spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the 
 pure heart to comprehend and the rectified will 
 to choose our high course of action. This is not 
 a day of triumph ; it is a day of dedication. Here 
 muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of 
 humanity. Men's hearts wait upon us; men's 
 lives hang in the balance; men's hopes call upon 
 us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to 
 the great trust ? Who dares fail to try ? I sum- 
 
 [173] 
 
WOODKOW WILSON 
 
 mon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward- 
 looking men, to my side. God helping me, I 
 will not fail them, if they will but counsel and 
 sustain me." 
 
 There were no party lines in the favorable re- 
 ception extended to the address, but that is in 
 accordance with the good-humored practice of 
 American politics. Every administration has its 
 honeymoon period in which it starts off with the 
 good will of everj^body. But the response to the 
 address was exceptionally marked in appreciation 
 of its superiority to partisanship and of its large 
 humanity. 
 
 This appreciation extended across the ocean. 
 The London Daily Graphic remarked that 
 "echoes of his noble address will bring to this 
 Old World of ours, in its mad pursuit, inter- 
 national uncharitableness, bloated schemes, and 
 mihtary holocausts, a welcome reminder of better 
 things and manlier strivings." The London 
 Daily Chronicle characterized his words as "a 
 striking expression of that elevated democracy 
 which has long been absent from high politics in 
 the United States," and added: "We look for 
 
 [174] 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 the influence of his spirit to spread far beyond 
 his own country." 
 
 Although in regular course Congress would 
 not have met until December, President Wilson 
 convoked it to meet on April 7, so that prompt 
 action would be taken for the fulfillment of the 
 party's pledges. The scene that was presented 
 when Congress met was itself the mark of a new 
 era. The hall of the House of Representatives 
 had been converted into a forum by the removal 
 of desks and the introduction of benches, bring- 
 ing members in closer relations so that they could 
 hear one another and carry on an intelligent 
 discussion of public afl*airs. And in the midst 
 thereof stood the President of the United States, 
 delivering his message in person. He occupied 
 the reading clerk's desk, immediately in front of 
 and somewhat below the Speaker's table, thus ex- 
 emplifying his position that "the President of the 
 United States is not a mere department of the 
 Government, hailing Congress from some isolated 
 island of jealous authority," but is "a human 
 being, trjang to cooperate with other human be- 
 ings in a common service." 
 
 [175] 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 AT the time when Woodrow Wilson entered 
 national politics there had been a veritable 
 collapse in the legislative function. The Govern- 
 ment had apparently lost the power of respond- 
 ing to pubhc demands or of redressing public 
 grievances. In entering the campaign of 1908 
 the Republican party pledged itself for "a revi- 
 sion of the tariff by a special session of Congress" 
 and as a fulfillment of that pledge the tariff of 
 1909 was enacted. The measure as framed by the 
 House Committee on Ways and jSIeans was based 
 on the principle of protection, but it aimed to 
 conform to the rule prescribed by the party plat- 
 form, that the measure of the protection shoidd 
 be "the difference between the cost of production 
 at home and abroad, together with a jreasonable 
 profit to American industries." Chairman Payne 
 in introducing the bill dwelt upon its reasonable- 
 ness as a protective measure. But when the bill 
 
 [170] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 was before the Senate, 847 amendments were 
 adopted, in nmnerous cases raising duties at the 
 instance of particular interests or introducing" 
 "jokers" — that is to say, provisions whose actual 
 effect was shrewdly concealed. Chairman Payne 
 told the House: "Some of these amendments I 
 have studied diligently, and I am not able to say 
 today whether they raise or lower the rates." The 
 generally received explanation of these "jokers" 
 was that they were inserted as a favor to par- 
 ticular interests which, in consideration of liberal 
 campaign contributions, were allowed to write 
 the provisions of the tariff in which they were 
 interested. Dispassionate examination of the 
 facts does not refute the popular opinion. Pro- 
 fessor F. W. Taussig in his standard "Tariff 
 History of the United States" remarks: 
 
 "The whole situation was one too familiar in 
 our tariff history: the details of legislation had 
 been virtually arranged by persons having a 
 dn'ect pecuniary interest in the outcome, and hav- 
 ing also the closest relations with the legislators 
 controlhng the outcome. Even though there was 
 no corruption — and there is no ground for sus- 
 
 [177] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 pecting anything more than generous contribu- 
 tions to party chests — the outcome ^vas much 
 the same as if there had been conniption. It 
 ilkistrates once more how radically bad was the 
 method by which the details of our tariff legisla- 
 tion were settled." 
 
 The actual method makes the tariff the produc- 
 tion of the conference committee. In theorj^ the 
 business of the conference committee is to adjust 
 differences between the two Houses; in practice 
 it may change and reshape the bill, altering 
 even rates on which there has been no disagree- 
 ment between the two Houses. The report of the 
 committee must Jbe accepted or rejected in its 
 entirety, so the ajctual legislation is privately ar- 
 ranged by a small group of leaders, and the force 
 of party discijiline invariably compels the House 
 to ratifj^ their action. The manipulation of the 
 process bj^ outside interests in 1909 was so noto- 
 rious that President Taft was impelled to inter- 
 vene, and he set an important precedent by him- 
 self entering into conference with members of 
 the conference committee. Although by his in- 
 fluence he obtained some modifications, he pub- 
 
 [178] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 licly criticized portions of the bill, although he 
 had not felt justified in withholding his signa- 
 ture. Popular resentment was so intense that in 
 the congressional elections of 1910 a Democratic 
 majority of 66 was substituted for a Republican 
 majority of 40. 
 
 In grappling with the difficult task of tariff 
 revision the Democratic party enjoyed no exemp- 
 tion from the subterranean influences that are 
 active, whatever party is in power. Responsible 
 government is yet to be installed in the United 
 States, and so long as existing conditions con- 
 tinue, tariff legislation will be more or less of a 
 scramble of particular localities and interests to 
 get all they can for themselves, heedless of the 
 general welfare. In a thoroughly developed sys- 
 teni of constitutional government, the prepara- 
 tion of all revenue and financial measures is the 
 business of the organ of authority representing 
 the nation in its entirety, under conditions which 
 secure to the representatives of localities and par- 
 ticular interests fuU opportunity to voice their 
 demands without the opportunity of enforcing 
 their demands by mere advantages of position. 
 
 [179] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 Switzerland, a country without any ports of its 
 own, has very difficult and complicated tariff 
 problems to solve, and does so with conspicuous 
 success, by making it the business of the adminis- 
 tration, which prepares the tariff in close consul- 
 tation with business interests, publishes the pro- 
 posed schedules for criticism, and eventually sub- 
 mits a fully matured measure to the Congress. 
 Moreover, it is the practice of the Swiss Congress 
 to intrust to the administration the task of in- 
 corporating in the bill any amendments voted by 
 Congi'ess. Such procedure effectually shuts out 
 "jokers" and secures the predominance of public 
 motive throughout the tariff -making process. 
 The actual process existing in the United States 
 was frankly revealed by Senator Vest of Mis- 
 souri, in a speech on August 16, 1894: 
 
 "Sir, after my experience in the last five 
 months, I have not an enemy in the world whom 
 I would place in the position I have occupied as 
 a member of the Finance Committee under the 
 rules of the Senate. I would put no man where 
 I have been, to be blackmailed and driven, in or- 
 der to pass a bill that I believe is necessary to the 
 
 [180] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 welfare of the country, by senators who desh'ed 
 to force amendments upon me against my better 
 judgment and compel me to decide the question 
 whether I wiU take any bill at all or a bill which 
 has been distorted by their views and objects." 
 
 No committee figures in the business at all in 
 any English commonwealth, except the commit- 
 tee of the whole house. All the members have an 
 equal opportunity to plead or to criticize, but no 
 member can prevent action. Members may vote 
 measures up or down, but they cannot avoid the 
 responsibility of passing upon them without un- 
 reasonable delay. Indeed, it is now the practice 
 of all civilized countries to act with great expedi- 
 tion in such matters in order to prevent industrial 
 strain and to protect the public revenues. The 
 incubation of the measure is deliberate and cau- 
 tious, but once matured it is put to vote and de- 
 termined almost forthwith. The Congress of the 
 United States is now the only national legisla- 
 ture in which means exist by which particular in- 
 terests may obstiaict action until their demands 
 are satisfied. 
 
 The existence of these conditions must be 
 [181] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 borne in mind in computing the magnitude of the 
 administration's task. The President applied 
 himself to it with the same alertness and fore- 
 thought that he had displayed as governor of 
 New Jersey. Matters were not allowed to drift 
 but were given guidance and direction. The 
 House Committee on Ways and Means began 
 work on the measure before President Wilson 
 took office and he entered at once into frank co- 
 operation with them. By March 25 a complete 
 draft of the proposed measure was in his hands, 
 and he was prepared to support it with all the in- 
 fluence of his office. He made the tariff the sole 
 topic of the message which he personally deliv- 
 ered to Congress when it met on April 7. In it 
 he said : 
 
 "For a long time — a time so long that the men 
 now active in public policy hardly remember the 
 conditions that preceded it — we have sought in 
 our tariff schedules to give each group of manu- 
 facturers or producers what they themselves 
 thought that they needed in order to maintain 
 a practically exclusive market as against the rest 
 of the world. Consciously or imconsciously we 
 
 [182] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 have built up a set of privileges and exemptions 
 from competition behind which it was easy by 
 any, even the crudest, forms of combination to 
 organize monopoly; until at last nothing is nor- 
 mal, nothing is obliged to stand the tests of effi- 
 ciency and economy in our world of big business, 
 but everything thrives by concerted agreement. 
 Only new principles of action will save us from 
 a final hard crystallization of monopoly and a 
 complete loss of the influences that quicken en- 
 terprise and keep independent energy alive." 
 
 "It is plain what those principles must be. We 
 must abolish everything that bears even the sem- 
 blance of privilege or of any kind of artificial ad- 
 yantage, and put our business men and producers 
 under the stimulation of a constant necessity to 
 be efficient, economical and enterprising masters 
 of competitive supremacy, better workers and 
 merchants than any in the world. Aside from the 
 duties laid upon articles which we do not and 
 probably cannot produce, therefore, and the du- 
 ties laid upon luxuries and merely for the sake 
 of the revenues they yield, the object of the tariff 
 duties henceforth laid must be effective competi- 
 
 [183] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 tion, the whetting of American wits by contest 
 with the wits of the rest of the world." 
 
 While the proposed measure was framed on 
 these principles, it moved cautiously in applying 
 them. The transition was to be gradual. As to 
 this, President Wilson said : 
 
 "It would be unwise to move toward this end 
 headlong, w^ith reckless haste, or with strokes 
 that cut at the very roots of what has grown up 
 among us by long process and at our own invita- 
 tion. It does not alter a thing to upset it and 
 break it and deprive it of a chance to change. It 
 destroys it." 
 
 The tariff bill was explained in detail by Chair- 
 man Underwood of the Ways and JNIeans Com- 
 mittee and it passed the House on May 8. It 
 was before the Senate all summer, and did not 
 come to a vote until the close of September. 
 Agreement between the two Houses was soon 
 reached and the bill became law on October 3. 
 Throughout the arduous process the influence 
 of the administration was steadily exerted in fa- 
 vor of party support of the measure. Party cau- 
 cuses passed upon the important issues; difFer- 
 
 [184] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 ences were adjusted, dissensions avoided, and 
 party cohesion was maintained with impressive 
 results. Professor Taussig in his dispassionate 
 review of the proceedings remarks : 
 
 *'To this success the attitude of the administra- 
 tion contributed most effectively. President 
 Wilson had quietly but unhesitatingly assumed 
 leadership and secured a hold on his associates 
 and followers which astonished friend and en- 
 emy." 
 
 The energy and courage with which President 
 Wilson acts upon his conceptions of public duty 
 were signally exemplified when the usual tariff 
 lobby had gathered in Washington and the bill 
 had apparently stuck in the same old Senate ruts. 
 The President was ready to meet the issue. He 
 publicly stated that he had "taken his stand mth 
 the House leaders for the present bill" and that 
 he was "not looking for or accepting compro- 
 mises ;" he then startled his opponents by direct- 
 ing public attention to the tariff lobby. Prob- 
 ably no other presidential utterance ever had such 
 a tremendous reverberation throughout the coun- 
 try. He said : 
 
 [185] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 "I think that the public ought to know the ex;- 
 traordinary exertions being made by the lobby in 
 Washington to gain recognition for certain al- 
 terations of the Tariff Bill. Washington has sel- 
 dom seen so numerous, so industrious, or so in- 
 sidious a lobby. The newspapers are being filled 
 with paid advertisements calculated to mislead 
 not only the judgment of the public men, but also 
 the public opinion of the country itself. There 
 is every evidence that mone}'- without limit is 
 being spent to maintain this lobby, and to create 
 the appearance of a pressure of public opinion 
 antagonistic to some of the cliief items of the 
 Tariff Bill. 
 
 "It is of serious interest to the country that the 
 people at large should have no lobby, and be 
 voiceless in these matters, while great bodies of 
 astute men seek to create an artificial opinion and 
 to overcome the interests of the public for their 
 j[)rh^ate profit. It is thoroughly worth the while 
 of the people of this country to take knowledge 
 of this matter. Only public opinion can check 
 and destroy it. 
 
 "The Government in all its branches ought to 
 [180] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 be relieved of this intolerable burden and this con- 
 stant interruption to the calm progress of debate. 
 I know that in this I am speaking for the mem- 
 bers of the two Houses, who would rejoice as 
 much as I would to be released from this unbear- 
 able situation." 
 
 To this policy of frank appeal to public opin- ,< 
 ion, and to this reliance upon publicity as the 
 means of obtaining proper action, the passage of 
 the bill is to be ascribed. 
 
 Discussion of the merits of a tariff bill is usu- 
 ally a Tweedledum and Tweedledee perform- 
 ance. Its advocates say it is a great reform; its 
 opponents say it will ruin the country. The truth 
 of the matter is that only experts are able to 
 judge of the suitability of the rates of duty pro- 
 vided. One does not have to be an expert to ob- 
 serve that this measure was more distinctly actu- 
 ated by public motives than its predecessor. As 
 to the actual value of the tariff act of 1913 the 
 judgment of an expert like Professor Taussig, Y 
 who studies the subject without regard to party 
 consequences and solely for the purpose of get- 
 ting at the tiTith, is worth far more than all cam- 
 
 [187] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 i 
 
 paign oratory. For a complete analj^sis of the 
 bill the latest edition of his "Tariff History of 
 the United States" should be consulted. Of its 
 general character he remarks : 
 
 "The Senate made many amendments to the 
 House bill ; and at the last moment a quantity of 
 ^,» details had to be settled in the hurried meetings 
 J of a Conference Committee. It is to be said, how- 
 ever, that the conflicting amendments and 
 eventual compromises gave little evidence, if in- 
 deed any at all, of the sort of manipulation which 
 had affected the details of the tariff acts of 1890, 
 1897, and 1909." 
 
 Professor Taussig expresses his surprise that 
 in previous tariff legislation, the avowed motive 
 of which was to strengthen the protective system, 
 there should have been "so many loopholes for 
 the dishonest importer." He notes that careful 
 attention was given to this administrative prob- 
 lem in the act of 1913. 
 
 "The j^ertinent sections of the tariff accord- 
 ingly were largely rewritten. That they were 
 substantially improved was the judgment of spe- 
 cialists competent on this intricate subject. . . . 
 
 [188] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 'Not of least interest to economists and others 
 having occasion to study the course of foreign 
 trade were provisions for the better collection 
 and arrangement of the statistics of imports. 
 There was ground for suspecting these of serious 
 inaccuracies in the past. On the whole, the ad- 
 ministrative provisions were well drawn. . . ." 
 
 Thus to impartial opinion the tariff act of 1913 
 reveals itself as an honestly conceived and a skill- 
 fully devised measure. It certainly possesses this 
 unique characteristic that it was exactly what it 
 pretended to be; at last the people got just what 
 they bargained for. Professor Taussig remarks : 
 
 "To speak of the act as introducing complete 
 free trade would be absurd; but it might well be 
 spoken of as beginning a policy of much mod- 
 erated protection, and of opening the policy of 
 still further changes in the same direction at a 
 later date. . . . This method of dealing with our 
 commercial system seems to be more in accord 
 with the general trend of industrial development 
 in the United States, than the rigid protectionism 
 of 1890, 1897, and 1909. It looks to a growth 
 not of those manufactures which are anxiously 
 
 [189] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 dependent on tariff protection, but of those able 
 to hold their own, within the country and with- 
 out, on terms of equalit}^ or something apj^roach- 
 ing equality, with foreign competitors." 
 
 If one compares this measured opinion of the 
 character of the measure actually enacted with 
 the outline of purpose given in President Wil- 
 son's tariff address to the House, one may note 
 an exactness of correspondence between promise 
 and fulfillment that is rare in our political history. 
 It is not improbable that when the politics of 
 these times of ours come under the scientific scru- 
 tiny of future historians there may be noted im- 
 ^ portant ethical results of the mode and character 
 of tariff revision as planned and effected under 
 the Wilson administration. It may have oc- 
 curred to business interests that have heretofore 
 deemed it necessary to make such expenditm-es 
 and establish such connections as would enable 
 them to exert private influence upon tariff legis- 
 lation, that perhaps it might be better to come out 
 into the open and trust their case to its merits. 
 The tariff legislation of 1913 gave such a practi- 
 cal assurance of honest and intelligent considera- 
 
 [190] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 tion of all interests that hereafter the exchanging 
 ofjinancial f ayor for legislative influence may be 
 much less apt to occur. Such a system has noto- 
 riously existed in the past. The president of a 
 great corporation once bluntly told a committee 
 of the Senate, "Every individual and corporation 
 and firm, trust, or whatever you call it, does these 
 things, and we do them." ^ Correspondence has 
 gotten into public print displaying legislators in 
 r£ceipt of large sums from corporations with 
 whom they were in consultation with regard to 
 appointments to office and the details of pending 
 measures. Surely the introduction of methods 
 of legislation that give a prominent place to ad- 
 ministrative initiative and to collective party re- ,/ 
 sponsibility, with corresponding diminution of 
 private and illicit opportunity, will be recognized 
 as a gain to political morality. It should quite as 
 surely be recognized as a gain to business secur- 
 ity. On no point does history give clearer in- 
 struction than that a government that f aUs under 
 plutocratic control is doomed. When wealth 
 
 ^ Senate Report, No. 606, Fifty-third Congress, second session, pp. 
 S51, 352. 
 
 [191] 
 
 \ 
 
 i^ 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 takes charge of legislation it lays itself open to 
 spoliation. Relief from conditions that virtually- 
 forced wealthy interests into that dangerous 
 function ought to be reckoned as a benefit of in- 
 estimable value. 
 
 The passage of the tariff act was promptly fol- 
 lowed by legislation in regard to business and in- 
 dustrial conditions. This was the subject of a 
 special message delivered to a joint session of the 
 two Houses on January 20, 1914. He remarked 
 that in regard to monopolies and the various 
 means by which they have been organized and 
 maintained, public opinion "seems to be coming 
 to a clear and almost universal agreement" in an- 
 ticipation of Govermnent action. The measures 
 recommended were: 
 
 "Laws which will effectually prohibit and pre- 
 vent such interlockings of the directorates of 
 great corporations — banks and railroads, indus- 
 trial, commercial and public service bodies — as 
 in effect result in making those who boiTOw and 
 those who lend practically one and the same, those 
 who sell and those who buy but the same persons 
 trading with one another under different names 
 
 [192] 
 
TARIFF LEGISLATION AND TRUST CONTROL 
 
 and in different combinations, and those who af- 
 fect to compete in fact partners and masters of 
 some whole field of business 
 
 "A law which will confer upon the Interstate 
 Cgmmerce Commission the power to superintend 
 and regulate the financial operations by which the 
 railroads are henceforth to be supplied with the 
 money they need for their proper development, 
 to meet the rapidly growing requirements of the 
 country for increased and improved facilities of 
 tmns^ortation. . . . 
 
 "Further and more explicit legislative defini- 
 tion of the policy and meaning of the existing 
 anti-trust law. . . . We are sufiiciently familiar 
 with the actual processes and methods of monop- 
 oly and of the many hurtful restraints of trade to 
 make definition possible — at any rate up to the 
 limits of what experience has disclosed. These 
 practices, being now abundantly disclosed, can 
 be exphcitly and item by item forbidden by stat- 
 ute in such terms as will practically eliminate 
 uncertainty, the law itself and the penalty being 
 made equally plain." 
 
 In pursuance of these recommendations, bills 
 [193] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 were passed creating an Interstate Trade Com- 
 mission which takes over functions previously ex- 
 ercised by the Bureau of Corporations, but with 
 increased powers; also, an anti-trust act supple- 
 raenting existing laws against unlawful restraints 
 and monopolies. These bills assert public author- 
 ity to an extent that is a decided advance for the 
 United States but still leaves this country much 
 in the rear of civilized nations in legal provi- 
 sion against exploitation of the people by busi- 
 ness adventurers and high financiers. Indeed the 
 sjabstitution of management for exploitation is 
 an improvement in American political and indus- 
 trial conditions which has been barely begun, and 
 no more can be claimed for President Wilson's 
 administration than that he made a good begin- 
 ning on a task that for difficulty might be classed 
 among the labors of Hercules. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 AFAR, more formidable undertaking than 
 tariff reform was currency reform. In the 
 one case there had been a definition of purpose 
 that received popular assent and approval. The 
 main task was in conducting the measure safely 
 through the ambushes laid for it in the complica- 
 tions of legislative procedure and in guarding its 
 honesty against the corinipting influences to 
 which it would be exposed during the ordeal. In 
 the other case there was the greatest variety and 
 distraction of sentiment. Rarely have statesmen 
 had to deal with such a snarl of virulent animosi- 
 ties as that in which the whole subject of cur- 
 rency reform was entangled, and meanwhile con- 
 ditions had become such as to require radical 
 treatment. The currency system then existing 
 had not originated as a system of currency sup- 
 ply, but as a revenue measure during the Civil 
 War. In order to create a market for Govern- 
 
 [195] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ment bonds and to enhance their vahie, it was 
 provided that a bank obtaining a charter from 
 the national Government could issue notes pro- 
 portioned to the Government bonds owned by the 
 bank and deposited to secure circulation. To 
 create a market for such note issues, a prohibitorj'' 
 tax was laid upon all other banknote issues, wip- 
 ing them out of existence. Thus the circulating 
 medium had no relation to the needs of business ; 
 indeed, the greater the need the less became bank- 
 ing provision for it. When business was particu- 
 larly active and a properly organized banking 
 system would have been supporting the activity 
 by timely supplies of currency, that was just the 
 time when the national banking sj^stem would be- 
 come cramped and obstructive. What was 
 termed "moving the crops" was offered as a suf- 
 ficient explanation of a regularly recurrent sea- 
 sonal stringencj% peculiar to the United States, 
 and the larger the crops the more acute the strin- 
 gency was likely to be, it being the peculiarity of 
 this remarkable system that a big increase of na- 
 tional assets, instead of facilitating the functions 
 of the banks, seemed to smite them with partial 
 
 [196] 
 
CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 paralysis. Another peculiarity was that the note 
 issues were at any time liable to be withdrawn 
 from circulation altogether. This was due to 
 the fact that they were in effect Government 
 bonds in liquid form and were good no matter 
 what became of the particular banks in whose 
 name they were issued. Thus, while ordinarily 
 the effect of financial uneasiness is to push note 
 issues into rapid circulation while coin becomes 
 scarce, in the United States the notes would sud- 
 denly disappear. The effect upon trade was 
 much as if the water had suddenly leaked out of 
 a river channel, leaving the fish flopping about 
 and gasping in the mud. 
 
 The existence of such conditions was natur- 
 ally and inevitably a copious source of public dis- 
 content, producing from time to time movements 
 which the governing set of politicians were in the 
 habit of describing as popular crazes, but which 
 were really instinctive protests against their own 
 obtuseness and incapacity. Although ability to 
 institute the needed reforms seemed to be lacking, 
 yet the existing system was so crazy that it could 
 not go on at all without constant nursing and at- 
 
 [197] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 tendance. From time to time, mainly through 
 administrative action, the bond basis of circula- 
 tion was enlarged, thus admitting of additional 
 currency supply with Hke disabilities and infirmi- 
 ties to the preceding supply. Stress of necessity 
 compelled some provision for emergency issues 
 based upon assets. Meanwhile popular sentiment 
 was suspicious and distrustful, and the desired 
 legislation could be obtained only by bullying 
 Congress. No other term will fit the case. On 
 one occasion, a committee chairman told the 
 House: "I have the report of the conference on 
 the Public Buildings bill in my pocket. I am go- 
 ing to keep it there until a satisfactory currency 
 bill is passed." ^ 
 
 Along with these provisional arrangements a 
 currency commission was created which made a 
 voluminous report. The immediate legislative 
 outcome was what was designated the Aldrich 
 Bill, the essential feature of which was that it 
 adopted the principle of cm-rency supply based 
 upon assets and placed emissions under the con- 
 trol of a central bank, to be managed and directed 
 
 Congressional Record, May 30, 19C8 
 
 [198] 
 
CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 by the subsidiaiy banks. This scheme was re- 
 garded as being contrived so much more to for- 
 tify the position of the banks than to assure their 
 proper service to the pubHc, that it was de- 
 nounced both in the Democratic platform and 
 the Progressive party platform, and was avoided 
 in the Republican platform. 
 
 Such was the situation when President Wilson 
 had to address himself to the task of currency re- 
 form. His method was the simple and straight- 
 forward one of actively exerting the authority 
 and influence of his office to effect concentration 
 of party purpose and to secure definite action. 
 He did not have any plan of his own nor did he 
 pretend to expert knowledge of the subject, but 
 his character and activity supplied means by 
 which an influential connection was established 
 between the legislative process and instructed 
 opinion. His party had able and experienced 
 leaders in the House whose efforts were now in- 
 vigorated by administrative support, emphasized 
 by the fact that the President was an active party 
 to the conferences and negotiations by which the 
 hill was shaped. As in the case of the tariff bill, 
 
 [199] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the party leaders in the House had wisely made 
 an early start, and a preliminary draft of cur- 
 rency legislation had been prepared before Presi- 
 dent Wilson was inaugurated. All the details 
 were carefully considered in conference with the 
 President, with the result that when the bill was 
 ready for presentation it ranked as an administra- 
 tion measure which the President would use all 
 his influence to promote, and he signified this by 
 making it the subject of a special message. 
 
 The tariff bill had been out of the House for 
 over a month and was now toiling its weary way 
 through the Senate, when on June 23, 1913, the 
 President of the United States, attended by 
 members of his Cabinet and escorted by a joint 
 committee of senators and representatives, en- 
 tered the hall of the House, and standing at the 
 clerk's desk, delivered his message. He began 
 by saying that he was acting under the compul- 
 sion of what seemed a clear and imperative duty. 
 
 "I know, of course, that the heated season of 
 the j^ear is upon us, that work in these Chambers 
 and in the committee rooms is likely to become a 
 burden as the season lengthens, and that every 
 
 [200] 
 
CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 consideration of personal convenience and per- 
 sonal comfort, perhaps, in the cases of some of 
 us, considerations of personal health even, dic- 
 tate an early conclusion of the deliberations of 
 the session ; but there are occasions of public duty 
 when these things which touch us privatel}^ seem 
 very small ; when the work to be done is so press- 
 ing and so fraught with big consequence that we 
 know that we are not at liberty to weigh against 
 it any point of personal sacrifice. We are now 
 in the presence of such an occasion. It is abso- 
 lutely imperative that we should give the business 
 men of this country a banking and currency sys- 
 tem by means of which they can make use of the 
 freedom of enterprise and of individual initiative 
 which we are about to bestow upon them." 
 
 The address, which was so brief that it occupied 
 only half an hour in its delivery, coupled the cur- 
 rency bill with the tariff bill. To strike the shack- 
 les off business was not enough. It should have 
 the means of caring for itself and enlarging its 
 activities. Currency refomi was the proper ad- 
 junct of tariff reform. As to the character of 
 the measure he said : 
 
 [201] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 "The country has sought and seen its path in 
 this matter within the last few years — sees it more 
 clearly now than it ever saw it before — ^much 
 more clearly than when the last legislative pro- 
 posals on the subject were made. We must have 
 a currency not rigid as now, but readily, elasti- 
 cally responsive to sound credit, the expanding 
 and contracting credits of eveiy-day transac- 
 tions, the normal ebb and flow of personal and 
 corporate dealings. Our banking laws must mo- 
 bilize reserves; must not permit the concentra- 
 tion anywhere in a few hands of the monetary re- 
 sources of the country or their use for speculative 
 purposes in such volume as to hinder or impede or 
 stand in the way of other more legitimate, more 
 fruitful uses. And the control of the system of 
 banking and of issue which our new laws are to 
 set up must be public, not private, must be vested 
 in the Government itself, so that the banks may 
 be the instruments, not the masters, of business 
 and of individual enterprise and initiative." 
 
 The address concluded with a frank avowal of 
 his own part in the proposals, and at the same 
 time made a clear statement of his ideas of the 
 
 [202] 
 
CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 constitutional function of his office. He said: 
 "The committees of the Congress to which leg- 
 islation of this character is referred have devoted 
 careful and dispassionate study to the means of 
 accomplishing these objects. They have honored 
 me by consulting me. They are ready to suggest 
 action. I have come to you as the head of the 
 Government and the responsible leader of the 
 party in power, to urge action now, while there 
 is time to serve the countiy deliberately and as 
 we should, in a clear air of common counsel. I 
 appeal to you with a deep conviction of duty. I 
 believe that you share this conviction. I there- 
 fore appeal to you with confidence. I am at your 
 service without reserve to play my part in any 
 way you may call upon me to play it in this great 
 enterprise of exigent reform, which it will dig- 
 nify and distinguish us to perform and discredit 
 
 us to neglect." 
 
 With this explicit recommendation there was 
 presented to Congress theUJi for currency re- 
 form, the outcome of which was the Federal Re- 
 serve Act. That epochal enactment had a hard 
 road to travel; the vested interests it disturbed 
 
 [203] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 w^ere numerous and powerful ; attempts to manip- 
 ulate its provisions were energetic and sustained, 
 but its main points were subjected to no serious 
 change. This success was due to the care taken 
 to secure party cohesion. When the case in its 
 support had been thoroughly prepared it was 
 submitted to the Democratic party caucus of the 
 House. Two weeks of animated discussion fol- 
 lowed behind closed doors, where, in the privacy 
 of a party conclave, members gave free expres- 
 sion to any doubts, scruples or objections enter- 
 tained. The magnitude of the innovation pro- 
 posed supplied matter for wide-ranging criticism, 
 but as a result of patient explanation and full 
 consideration a hearty party agreement was 
 reached and the bill was assured of steady and 
 united partj'^ support. The legislative machinery 
 controlled bj^ the Committee on Rules, acting un- 
 der caucus instruction, was now set into brisk 
 operation. On September 9 an elaborate report 
 upon the provisions of the measure was submitted 
 to the House by its Banking and Currency Com- 
 mittee. Debate upon it began on September 10 
 and it passed the House on September 18, receiv- 
 
 [204] 
 
CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 ing 286 votes to 84 against. Although before 
 proposing the measure the House committee had 
 devoted a long time to public hearings upon it, 
 additional hearings were allowed by the Senate 
 Banking Committee, lasting until October 25. A 
 month of committee consideration followed ; then 
 came three days of Senate caucus consideration, 
 and at last, on December 1, the bill was reported 
 to the Senate. This delay in the progi'ess of the 
 measure was largely due to the opposition of 
 banking interests clinging tenaciously to the old 
 project of one central bank under banking con- 
 trol. Vehement opposition to various features of 
 the pending act were expressed by associations 
 of bankers, and in some respects the tone of criti- 
 cism emanating from banking interests sug- 
 gested that an incidental effect of the vicious sys- 
 tem the administration was striving to reform 
 was moral and intellectual deficiency among 
 those whose habits and opinions had been formed 
 imder that system. The opposition was suffi- 
 ciently influential to produce a party break in the 
 Senate, one result of which was to divide the 
 banking committee into two numerically equal 
 
 [205] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 sections, one of which reported the administration 
 bill with amendments, and the other reported a 
 substitute measure. When the struggle was at 
 its height the attitude of banking interests be- 
 came rather menacing, conditions being men- 
 tioned without which they would refuse to do 
 business under the law. Tremendous pressure 
 was brought to bear upon the President, but he 
 would not budge a particle from the position he 
 had taken in support of the House measure. The 
 situation having been thoroughly explored, and 
 it having become manifest that either the essential 
 features of the House bill would have to be ac- 
 cepted or else currency refomi would fail of en- 
 actment at that session, the banking opposition 
 subsided to a marked extent. Just when the ten- 
 sion was most acute the president of the largest 
 bank in the country performed a timely public 
 service by avowing to the Senate committee that 
 the House measure was based upon sound prin- 
 ciples and that much of the opposition was due to 
 the selfishness of some and the ignorance of oth- 
 ers. After that event evidences of a disposition 
 to accept the situation and make the best of it 
 
 [206] 
 
CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 began to appear, and when it again got under 
 way the bill moved on briskly to final enactment. 
 Senate debate began on December 1, the final 
 vote was taken December 19, the Committee on 
 Conference reached an agreement on December 
 22, and the President signed the bill the following 
 day — a magnificent Christmas gift from the 
 Democratic party to the nation. 
 
 Immediately after its passage the Federal Re- 
 serve Act was characterized by the Bankers' 
 
 Magazine as being "probably the most compre- 
 hensive piece of banking legislation ever enacted 
 in tills country." The structural principles are, 
 however, simple. The thousands of national 
 
 banks scattered throughout the country like so 
 many separate wells were brought together into 
 one system in which they stand as local conduits 
 from a national resei'voir. The country was di- 
 vided into twelve districts, in each of which is a 
 federal reserve bank, with which the member 
 banks of the district keep their reserves and from 
 which they can obtain supplies of currency on 
 occasion by rediscount of their holdings of securi- 
 ties and commercial paper. Each reserve bank 
 "" [207] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 has its own board of directors, nine in number, 
 six o f whom are to be chosen by the member banks 
 upon a preferential ballot scheme, and three are 
 appointed by th e F ederal Rese rve Board, which 
 exercises general supervision over the system. 
 Tliis Board is composed of the secretaiy of the 
 treasur}^, the comptroller of the currency, and five 
 other members appointed by the President, and 
 it wields such extensive powers of supervision, di- 
 rection and control that it is the administrative 
 center of the system. There is also a body desig- 
 nated the Federal Advisory Council, chosen by 
 the banks and consisting of as many members 
 as there are federal reserve districts. The pow- 
 ers of tliis body are purely consultative, but its 
 existence provides the banks with an organ of 
 their own for representations to the Federal Re- 
 serve Board or for concert of action among them- 
 selves on matters of common interest. The fed- 
 eral reserve banks have general banking powers, 
 and with the consent of the Federal Reserve 
 Board may establish agencies in foreign coun- 
 tries. Indeed the act supplies a powerful engine 
 for establishing the United States as a center of 
 
 [208] 
 
CURRENCY REFORM 
 
 international banking, and already it has had the 
 eiFect of promoting" great enterprises in the for- 
 eign commerce of the nation. 
 
 The composition of the Federal Reserve Board 
 was generally recognized as strong and well bal- 
 anced. In making the appointments President 
 Wilson braved prejudice by selecting one Wall 
 Street financier, adliering to his choice in the face 
 of opposition so strong that it was with manifest 
 reluctance that the Senate finally confirmed the 
 appointment. The act was warmly approved by 
 financial experts outside of the banking world, 
 as their knowledge of financial history made them 
 Avell aware that the public control to which our 
 bankers objected so strenuously was an ordinary 
 feature of the situation in civihzed countries. It 
 is rather a significant circumstance that banking 
 organs which started out by treating the Act as 
 a thing of very doubtful value gradually swung 
 around to the position of favoring an extension 
 of its scope. In its issue for January, 1915, the 
 Bankers' Magazine declared: 
 
 "Under the operations of the Federal Reserve 
 System it seems quite reasonable to hope that pan- 
 
 [209] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ics due to national bank suspensions are a thing 
 of the past, for the flexibilit}^ of the note issues 
 now provided for, and the rediscounting privilege 
 accessible to all members, practically assure any 
 solvent bank against demands that will compel 
 suspension." 
 
 It then argued that state banks should be 
 brought under the system, thus extending the 
 jurisdiction of the Federal Keserve Board over 
 all the credit institutions of the United States. 
 
 Whatever bitterness or resentment was left 
 after the Act was swept away by the outbreak of 
 the European War. The thought that the coun- 
 try might have had to face the financial disturb- 
 ance caused by that event with no more facilities 
 than the crazy old system supplied was simply 
 appalling. Every business man felt a sense of 
 relief in the knowledge that all the national re- 
 sources could be promptly mobilized to meet the 
 shock and that an adequate supply of circulating 
 medium was assured. It now begins to appear 
 that what was the most bitterly contested meas- 
 ure of President Wilson's administration may 
 rank as its most memorable achievement. 
 
 [210] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 AT the time President Wilson took office, with 
 heavy arrears of domestic legislation to dis- 
 pose of, he was forthwith confronted with exter- 
 nal problems of extreme urgency- The collapse 
 of constitutional government in Mexico was an 
 untoward event whose dangerous possibilities 
 were fully recognized by public opinion, however 
 views might differ as to our national policy in 
 the circumstances. The menace of the situation 
 in the Philippines was really greater, but there 
 was no popular apprehension of it, and the meas- 
 ures taken by the administration have never been 
 viewed in their proper perspective. Philippine 
 affairs have become rather a bore to the Ameri- 
 can people, from the way they have figured in a 
 rather factitious dispute over imperialism. The 
 prevailing sentiment seems to be that, whatever 
 name be given to the relation, circumstances have 
 made this country responsible for the orderly 
 
 [211] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 government of those islands, and, however dis- 
 agreeable the task may be, that responsibihty 
 must be sustained. It is well within popular rec- 
 ollection that we entered the country as allies of 
 the Filipinos, that subsequently there was a rup- 
 ture and that to subdue the country military force 
 was employed at an expense of about $200,000,- 
 000. But it appears that since then our govern- 
 ment of that country has been actuated by philan- 
 thropic principles and a sincere and persevering 
 attempt has been made to introduce the Ameri- 
 can language and also American political insti- 
 tutions in as rapid installments as may be safe 
 or practicable. Meanwhile we have our own af- 
 fairs to attend to and are not disposed to be di- 
 verted from consideration of them by Filipino 
 complaints or by the agitations of American sym- 
 pathizers. Such appears to be the general atti- 
 tude of public opinion in this country, and in 
 accord with it the press is apt to throw cold water 
 upon any movement for the redress of Filipino 
 grievances. Postponement is always in order 
 when that subject is up for legislative considera- 
 tion. 
 
 [212] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 In order to comprehend the situation and get 
 some notion of the national perils with which it is 
 fraught, it should be viewed as the Filipinos view 
 it, and we should consider how we ourselves 
 should feel and act were we in their place. The 
 Filipinos regard American rule about as we 
 should have felt about French rule if, during our 
 Revolutionary War, the French Government had 
 seized the opportunity of taking possession of 
 America for itself, taking the position that the 
 best interests of the people required that the 
 French language and French political institu- 
 tions should supersede the native variety in order 
 to establish more advanced standards of culture. 
 As a matter of fact the Filipinos, like other 
 Oriental peoples, have a very ancient culture of 
 their own, with a marked literary and artistic pol- 
 ish. Moreover, they have been long in contact 
 with European culture. As a region of civiliza- 
 tion the country is older than the United States. 
 Permanent Spanish settlement began over forty 
 years before the first English settlement 
 at Jamestown. The Filipino gentry speak Span- 
 ish and the masses speak native dialects which are 
 
 [213] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 not low languages, but are refined and capable 
 instruments of thought, producing poetrj^ drama 
 and romantic literature, although deficient in sci- 
 ence. The national manners are courteous and 
 refined, and the exhibition of members of savage 
 tribes as Filipino tj^pes gives about as fair an 
 idea of the Filipino people as would be given if 
 blanketed Indians were exhibited as specimens of 
 the American people. The civilized Filipinos 
 number over 7,000,000, and the wild tribes — be- 
 tween whom and the civilized people there is little 
 contact — number about 650,000. 
 
 It will probably be admitted that to change the 
 mother tongue of seven million people is a for- 
 midable undertaking. It was sought to be ac- 
 complished by the importation of a thousand 
 American school-teachers, although the actual 
 number in the service at one time never reached 
 that figure. The school-teachers did accomplish 
 wonders, as the present writer can testify from 
 personal obsei^v^ations made in every part of the 
 arcliipelago. Indeed in every branch of service 
 the staff of American officials has a record of 
 achievement that affords impressive evidence of 
 
 [214] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 the energy and adaptability of American charac- 
 ter. But at the same time the project of convert- 
 ing the Filipinos into American citizens who may 
 some day be safely intrusted with political in- 
 stitutions of the ordinary American type has been 
 a complete failui'e, and perseverance in the at- 
 tempt can only lead to increasing irritation and 
 eventual disaster. 
 
 As an incident of the educational scheme, lit- 
 eracy qualifications for the suffrage were con- 
 fined to those w^ho could read and write either 
 Spanish or English. This provision, while de- 
 signed to stimulate acquisition of English speech, 
 had incidentally the effect of propagating grave 
 misrepresentations of the situation. Attention 
 has often been called to the fact that the qualified 
 electorate is an extraordinarily small percentage 
 of the adult male population, thus indicating that 
 illiteracy generally prevails. But this is not 
 really the case, and it appears to be so merely 
 because natives who cannot read and write a for- 
 eign language are officially classed as illiterate. 
 Probably it is the only instance in history in 
 which people who can read and write their own 
 
 [215] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 language are classed as illiterate. As a matter 
 of fact the Filipinos have a talent for literacy, 
 and even among the peasantry, who have only na- 
 tive culture, ability to read and write is a com- 
 mon accomplishment. 
 
 The American schools have widely diffused a 
 knowledge of English among the rising genera- 
 tion and it is eagerly sought through appreciation 
 of its advantages in fitting one for a government 
 position or for a professional career. Statistics 
 based upon school reports have been published in- 
 dicating encouraging progress in the spread of 
 English as the common language of the Philip- 
 pines, but such statistics are fallacious. As well 
 might the number of pupils receiving instiTiction 
 in Latin in our schools be taken as an indication 
 of the extent to which Latin is spoken in the 
 United States. As a matter of fact Sj^anish is 
 more than ever the language of polite society, of 
 judicial proceedings and of legislation. More 
 people are speaking Spanish than when Ameri- 
 can occupation began, and indirectly the Ameri- 
 can schools have promoted that result, inasmuch 
 as educational advance of any kind incites desire 
 
 [216] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 to attain the language spoken in good society and 
 thus establish one's position in the illustrado class. 
 This disposition reacts upon the quality of Eng- 
 lish when it is used. Outside of circles in such 
 close contact with American officials as to feel 
 the influence of their example, the Spanish vowel 
 sounds are used, with the result that one could 
 hardly recognize as English what purports to be 
 such. ]Meanwhile the hold of native dialect is ap- 
 parently not shaken at all, but on the contrary its 
 use is being strengthened by the activity of pa- 
 triotic sentiment. Native dialect is the medium 
 through which the abundant literature of Fili- 
 pino politics reaches the masses, and at present 
 it looks as if the vernacular will be the perma- 
 nent channel of popular thought and feeling. A 
 fact that is conclusive as to the actual state of the 
 case is that although there are over forty native 
 newspapers and magazines in the Philippines not 
 one of them is published in English. The regular 
 form is a Spanish section and a dialect section. 
 The most widely circulated American newspaper 
 has a Spanish section. Step by step the Gov- 
 ernment has been forced to take action making 
 
 [217] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 practical admission of defeat on the language 
 question. It was enacted that English should be 
 the sole official language after January 1, 1906, 
 but sheer pressure of administrative necessity 
 compelled postponement, first to January 1, 
 1911, and then to January 1, 1913. For some- 
 thing over a month in 1913, English was nomi- 
 nally the only language accepted in judicial pro- 
 ceedings or in Government business, but as a 
 matter of fact the requirement was absolutely im- 
 practicable. The administration got out of a 
 painful dilemma by the Act of February 11, 
 1913, which declared English to be the official 
 language of the Philippines, but that Spanish 
 should be an official language until January 1, 
 1920. The terms of the Act are simply a stra- 
 tegic veil cast over a decisive defeat on the lan- 
 guage question. The postponement to 1920 is in 
 effect an abandonment of the struggle to force 
 English into use. 
 
 If we can imagine how we should feel if we 
 were systematically depicted as ignorant and il- 
 literate because we were in the habit of using our 
 own language and not a foreign language, some 
 
 [218] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 notion may be had of the offense given to Fili- 
 pino national sentiment. Insults hurt more than 
 injuries. The state of chronic exasperation thus 
 incited was aggravated by the character of the 
 political institutions imposed upon the country 
 by the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. One 
 might have thought that it would be a principle 
 of policy to allow the Filipinos to have institu- 
 tions molded to their own desire as long as these 
 were conformable to the peace and order of so- 
 ciety. The constitution of their short-lived re- 
 public had admirable features which might well 
 have been adopted, but instead of that, institu- 
 tions were introduced which we ourselves could 
 never endure. During the eighteenth century it 
 was a common arrangement to check a popular 
 assembly by a separate appointive council com- 
 bining executive and legislative functions. The 
 American colonies had sad experience of such 
 institutions. They have always worked badly, 
 causing the assembly to be the perpetual theater 
 of faction violence while the council is the scene 
 of discord and intrigue. Hence such institutions 
 have long since gone into the discards of political 
 
 [219] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 science. The last instance of the deliberate adop- 
 tion of such a system in our home politics was 
 probably the Act of February 21, 1871, estab- 
 lishing a territorial form of government in the 
 District of Columbia. In its practical operation 
 it turned out to be such an intolerable nuisance 
 that in 1874 it was abolished. In it there was 
 an appointive council of eleven members serving 
 as the upper house of the legislature, just as 
 became the case with the Philippine Commission. 
 The structural resemblance is such that a curious 
 researcher guided by law books alone might be 
 led to infer that the old District of Columbia 
 scheme served as a model for Philippine consti- 
 tution making, and that it was expected of the 
 people of that country to work institutions that 
 we were not ourselves able to work successfully. 
 But the truth is that the resemblance is wholly 
 fortuitous and without any causal significance 
 whatever. The governmental arrangements of 
 the Philippines took their shape from the fact 
 that they were originally governed by authority 
 of the President, which he exercised through an 
 / ^J£pillLeJLi?2?SGM-S-Slon- When in 1902 Congress 
 
 [220] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 took over the government of the country, the 
 existing system was retained with the incongru- 
 ous provision that the FiHpinos should be allowed 
 tojelect a representative assembly. The Filipino 
 nation was thus placed in the plight of Tantalus, 
 with plenty close at hand, but always out of 
 reach. Real authority was concentrated in the 
 commission, which was kept separate from the 
 assembly so that its acts were not exposed to 
 effective criticism. Certain members of the com- 
 mission held the administrative portfolios and 
 constituted the executive branch of the govern- 
 ment. These same executive heads in conjunc- 
 tion with their associates on the commission con- 
 stituted the upper house of the legislature, and 
 it was its habit to meet behind closed doors. In 
 our colonial period the conflict and disturbance 
 that naturally ensued from such partition of au- 
 thority were apt to turn in favor of the represen- 
 tative assembly through its control over appro- 
 priations, but this recourse was denied to the 
 Filipino nation, as the governor-general had au- 
 thority himself to make the appropriations in 
 case the assembly failed to vote them. 
 
 [221] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 This mockery of representative government 
 exists in Porto Rico as well as the Philippines, 
 and the bitter discontents which are everywhere 
 and always the result of political arrangements 
 of such character abound in both countries. But 
 in the Philippines these discontents are associated 
 with an active and general national sentiment 
 aiming at independence, and at the time Presi- 
 dent Wilson took office the situation was critical. 
 For three years there had been a deadlock be- 
 tween the assenibly and the commission over the 
 appropriations, and the governor-general had 
 himself made the appropriations, apportioning 
 them from time to time as he saw fit. One need 
 only remember American history to get some 
 notion of the burning indignation of the Filipino 
 people and the dangerous possibilities of the sit- 
 uation. In dealing with it President Wilson was 
 notjn a position to introduce a change of sys- 
 tem. No radical alteration in the character of 
 the government is possible until the Act of July 
 1, 1902, is repealed. President Wilson had to 
 move within the narrow limits of this act and he 
 effected a profound change in the situation by 
 
 [222] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 the exertion of personal influence. Extracts from 
 his messag-es and pubhc utterances indicating a 
 sympathetic appreciation of Fihpino grievances 
 were eagerly seized upon by the native press and 
 the publicity given to them had a tranquilizing 
 effect. The introduction of the Jones bill was 
 also a gratifying circumstance, and although the 
 long delay that attended action on that measure 
 has been trying, confidence in President Wilson 
 has kept the people calm. The following mes- 
 sage, in a letter of March 12, 1915, to the Hon. 
 Manuel L. Quezon, was given general circulation 
 by the native press : 
 
 "I will be very much obliged if you will take 
 some occasion when you are at home to express 
 the admiration I have felt for the self-respecting 
 behavior of the people of the Philippines in the 
 midst of agitations which intimately affect their 
 whole political future. Nothing is needed to es- 
 tablish their full reputation with the people of 
 the United States as a people capable of self- 
 possession and self-government but a continua- 
 tion in the moderate and constitutional course 
 which they have pursued." 
 
 [223] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 Early in the course of President Wilson's ad- 
 ministration the personnel of the Philippine Com- 
 mission was changed and since then relations be- 
 tween the commission and the assembly have im- 
 proved so much that the old deadlocks no longer 
 occur and the appropriations are passed in a con- 
 stitutional way. The internal discord character- 
 istic of that type of government has not been 
 wholly eliminated, but it has been much less mis- 
 chievous. A splendid achievement of the new 
 Philippine Commission has been the solution of 
 the Moro problem. Under the previous admin- 
 ^ istration the Moro country was turned over to 
 ^^^ the militarj^ authorities. Strong garrisons were 
 maintained in the country to overawe the tribes- 
 men, but occasionally Moro forays took place on 
 such a large scale that large bodies of troops had 
 to be put into the field. The JMoros fight with 
 desperate resolution, and their women are on the 
 battle line with the men, almost indistinguishable 
 in appearance. Hence with every battle there 
 would be a shocking butcher's bill, and there have 
 been times when public opinion in the United 
 States was deeply stirred by reports and pictures 
 
 [224] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 of the heaps of slain, creating a state of sentiment 
 whose political reactions hampered the army man- 
 agement. During the presidential campaign of 
 1912 our troops were held quietly in garrison at 
 Jolo, while about ten miles away a force of several 
 thousand ]Moros were encamped, pillaging the 
 country and terrorizing the peasantrj^; and not 
 until after the election was over was any serious 
 attempt made to stop them by force. 
 
 The new administration determined upon a 
 radical change of policy. Constabulary super- 
 vision was substituted for the army management 
 and an American civilian official was made gov- 
 ernor of the Moro province. This was an ad- 
 ministrative application of the principle that pre- 
 vention is better than cure. Constabulary super- 
 vision means that native policemen are constantly 
 mixing among the people, incidentally getting 
 news of what is going on. If a JNIoro potentate 
 is thinking of going on a raid he begins to sack 
 rice, collect supplies, and gather munitions, and 
 now he cannot more than begin his preparations 
 before the constabulary^ are on the scene wanting 
 to know what he is about. The ^Moro situation 
 
 [225] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 is essentially an anachronism. It is an accidental 
 preservation to our own times of a state of senti- 
 ment whose past existence in Europe was illus- 
 trated by Viking raids, Norman foraj^s, Alger- 
 ine piracy, etc. Gallant spirits among the Moros 
 retain those ancient standards of honorable ad- 
 venture and have hankerings to give them prac- 
 tical apphcation. Before the age of steam the 
 Moros, with their swift sailing vessels, were the 
 scourge of the islands, but they do not constitute 
 a real peril now, except through local outbreaks, 
 which can be readily suppressed if dealt with in 
 their incipiency. That the new methods adopted 
 by the commission would have important results 
 was promptly recognized in the Philippines. The 
 JNIanila Philippines Free Press of July 25, 1914, 
 editorially remarked : 
 
 "One of the disillusionments Americans would 
 better begin to prepare for these days is the ex- 
 ploding of the time-honored Moro myth. Other- 
 wise the shock is apt to jar them. Not that the 
 Moro problem is settled by any means; but that 
 there is reason to believe a beginning has been 
 made. Doubtless the ancient superstition that 
 
 [226] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 the Moro would eat up the Christian Filipino 
 alive will die hard; and we see that Taft and 
 Worcester are still exploiting it in the United 
 States ; but its days are numbered." 
 
 The new policy has indeed exploded the Moro 
 myth. The country has been kept in order, in- 
 dustrial tendencies are getting the upper hand 
 discouraging the old predatory tastes, and there 
 are no more of those shocking catastrophes of 
 mutual slaughter by our troops and the tribes- 
 men. Although the ordinary attitude of the local 
 American press to the administration is censori- 
 ous, the practical success attained in dealing with 
 complicated problems is now generally conceded, 
 and the admission is the more significant since it 
 is made rather grudgingly. In its issue of No- 
 vember 13, 1915, the Philippines Free Press, 
 which is the American paper of largest circula- 
 tion, said: 
 
 "For ourselves, we confess to a certain meas- 
 ure of sympathy with our Bourbons of the old 
 imperialism, and, like them, sigh for a return of 
 the good old times of material prosperity. Should 
 they come with the present administration, it 
 
 [227] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 were a consummation devoutly to be wished ; but, 
 should they demand another administration, then 
 we trust that administration will be mellowed by 
 a continuation of the present era of good feeling. 
 For, as Americans first, we should rejoice in 
 that feature of the present regime. Whatever 
 may be thought of the Philippine policy of this 
 administration, fairness demands that recognition 
 be given to a harmony between the two peoples, 
 American and Filipino, such as before was sadly 
 lacking. Nor, in the light of the present unrest 
 in certain dominions of the British empire and the 
 menace it constitutes, should there be much need 
 of stress being laid on the principle of "the con- 
 sent of the governed," or on harmony as a first 
 essential in our political relations here. 
 
 "We also confess to a certain sympathy, or 
 rather commiseration, with our Bourbons of the 
 old regime who cannot see other excellencies in 
 the present administration. The lofty and en- 
 lightened statesmanship now being shown in the 
 winning of the ]Moro and the amalgamation of 
 the peoples in Mindanao is as superior to the 
 policy of the former dynasty as the twentieth cen- 
 
 [228] 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 tury to the Middle Ages, and no American who 
 professes a desire to see our work here estabhshed 
 on sure foundations and crowned with lasting 
 success but should experience a sense of profound 
 gratification in the magnificent achievement be- 
 ing wrought there, and ardently hope for its de- 
 served consummation. 
 
 "Now that we have emerged also from the 
 fretful fever and apprehension of those first try- 
 ing days when it seemed that the very edifice of 
 government was tumbling about our ears, fair- 
 ness again demands acknowledgment that the 
 cataclysm expected and predicted has not super- 
 vened. In the reconstruction of the government 
 personnel a high standard, with some natural ex- 
 ceptions, has been maintained, and even where 
 Filipino has been substituted for American there 
 generally has been no marked retrogression. In 
 some cases it may even be said that the acquisition 
 has been as a tower of strength to the govern- 
 ment, and the appointment been more than justi- 
 fied." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 ALTHOUGH the area of the PhiHppines is 
 considerably less than one-sixth that of 
 Mexico, the population is more than half that of 
 Mexico, amounting in the one case to 74 per 
 square mile as against less than 18 in the other. 
 Mexico is right alongside of our own country, 
 while the Pliilippines are some 10,000 miles away. 
 As a military problem the task of coping with 
 hostile conditions in Mexico would be small com- 
 pared to what it would be in the Philippines, 
 but the greater menace has hardly been noticed 
 and the measures taken to avert it have attracted 
 little or no attention, whereas there has been keen 
 solicitude as to the possible entanglements of this 
 country in Mexican affairs. At the time Presi- 
 dent Wilson took office the choice seemed to lie 
 between recognition of General Huerta or inter- 
 vention, and on each side clamorous appeal was 
 made. Business interests generally favored 
 
 [230] 
 
THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 recognition, for although Huerta's accession to 
 power had been attended by the assassination of 
 his predecessor, yet it was a fact that he was in 
 power and apparently his authority was the only 
 available basis of public order. On this ground 
 J^uropean recognition was extended and Presi- 
 dent Wilson incurred severe criticism at home and 
 abroad for holding aloof. The explanation is that 
 President Wilson had in view permanent inter- 
 ests rather than present convenience. Back of 
 the revolutionary game lies financial exploitation, 
 and if that is allowed to go on there is no limit to 
 the process, short of the complete exhaustion of 
 the countiy. President Wilson therefore stead- 
 fastly refused to give any countenance to Huer- 
 ta's authority, although not directty antagonizing 
 it, and emphatically disavowing any desire to in- 
 terfere with Mexico's affairs. Just a week after 
 assuming office President Wilson issued a state- 
 ment in which he said: 
 
 "One of the chief objects of my Administra- 
 tion will be to cultivate the friendship and deserve 
 the confidence of our sister republics of Central 
 and South America and to promote in every 
 
 [231] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 honorable and proper way the interests which are 
 common to the peoples of the two continents. . . . 
 
 "Cooperation is possible only when supported 
 at every turn by the orderly processes of just gov- 
 ernment based upon law, not upon arbitrary or 
 irregular force. We hold, as I am sure all 
 thoughtful leaders of republican government 
 everywhere hold, that just government rests al- 
 ways upon the consent of the governed and that 
 there can be no freedom without order based upon 
 law and upon the public conscience and ap- 
 proval. . . . 
 
 "We shall lend our influence of every kind to 
 the reahzation of these principles in fact and 
 practice, knowing that disorder, personal intrigue 
 and defiance of constitutional rights weaken and 
 discredit government and injure none so much 
 as the people who are unfortunate enough to have 
 their common life and their common affairs so 
 tainted and disturbed. We can have no sym- 
 pathy with those who seek to seize the power of 
 government to advance their own personal inter- 
 ests or ambition. . . . 
 
 "The United States has nothing to seek in 
 [232] 
 
THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 Central and South America except the lasting in- 
 terests of the peoples of the two continents, the 
 security of governments intended for the people 
 and for no special group or interest, and the 
 development of personal and trade relationships 
 between the two continents which shall redound 
 to the profit and advantage of both, and interfere 
 with the rights and liberties of neither. From, 
 these principles may be read so much of the 
 future policy of this Government as it is necessary 
 now to forecast." 
 
 The policy thus defined has been vigorously 
 and successfully maintained with impressive re- 
 sults, not only as directly concerning the :Mexican 
 situation, but also as regards the relations be- 
 tween the United States and other American na- 
 tions, and as to the present significance of the 
 Monroe Doctrine. 
 
 At the outset President Wilson seems to have 
 had some difficulty in impressing his policy upon 
 agents of this country in Mexico, the opinion in 
 diplomatic circles being so strong that the sensible 
 thing to do was to recognize Huerta as a prac- 
 tical short cut out of a nasty situation. There 
 
 [233] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 were resignations and protests. But steadily and 
 patiently President Wilson reformed adminis- 
 trative agency so as to obtain action in sympathy 
 with administrative purpose. His efforts to im- 
 prove the situation were for some time appar- 
 ently fruitless and of this he frankly informed 
 the country in a personall}^ delivered message to 
 Congress on August 27, 1913. In it he described 
 the Mexican drift toward anarchy. "War and 
 disorder, devastation and confusion, seem to 
 threaten to become the settled fortune of the dis- 
 tracted countrJ^" The good offices of this Gov- 
 ernment had been offered by the President 
 through a personal representative sent to Mexico 
 to give notice that the United States could not 
 remain inactive in the presence of such condi- 
 tions as were developing in IMexico, and to recom- 
 mend a settlement on the basis of an immediate 
 armistice, and an early and free election at which 
 General Huerta would not be a candidate. These 
 conditions were rejected by the authorities at 
 Mexico City, because, said the President, "they 
 did not realize the spirit of the American people 
 in this matter, their earnest friendliness and yet 
 
 [234] 
 
THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 sober determination that some just solution be 
 found for the Mexican difficulties; and they did 
 not believe that the present Administration 
 spoke . , . for the people of the United States. 
 The effect of this unfortunate misunderstanding" 
 on their part is to leave them singularly isolated 
 and without friends who can eif ectually aid them. 
 So long as the misunderstanding continues we 
 can only await the time of their awakening to a 
 realization of the actual facts. We cannot thrust 
 our good offices upon them. The situation must 
 be given a little more time to work itself out in 
 the new circumstances; and I believe that only 
 a little while will be necessary. For the circum- 
 stances are new. The rejection of our friendship 
 makes them new and will inevitably bring its 
 own alterations in the whole aspect of affairs. 
 
 ''Meanwhile, what is it our duty to do? Clearly, 
 everything that we do must be rooted in patience 
 and done with calm and disinterested deliberation. 
 Impatience on our part would be childish, and 
 would be fraught with every risk of wrong and 
 folly. We can afford to exercise the self-restraint 
 of a really great nation which realizes its own 
 
 [235] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 strength and scorns to misuse it. It was our duty 
 to offer our active assistance. It is now our duty 
 to shoAv what true neutrahty will do to enable 
 the people of Mexico to set their affairs in order 
 again and wait for a further opportunity to offer 
 our friendly counsels. The door is not closed 
 against the resumption, either upon the initiative 
 of Mexico or upon our own, of the effort to 
 bring order out of the confusion by friendly 
 cooperative action, should fortunate occasion 
 offer." 
 
 While pursuing this policy of watchful wait- 
 ing with regard to the internal affairs of JNIexico 
 the Administration was energetic in defending 
 our own national interests. Complications ensu- 
 ing from the action of Mexican authorities in tak- 
 ing a number of our sailors from a navy launch 
 at Tampico led to a strong concentration of our 
 naval forces off the east coast of Mexico and in 
 April, 1914, Vera Cruz was occupied by Ameri- 
 can troops. At this critical juncture Argentina, 
 Brazil, and Chile intervened with an offer of 
 mediation which was promptly and cordially ac- 
 cepted by President Wilson, who said: 
 
 [236] 
 
THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 "This Government will be glad to take up with 
 you for discussion in the frankest and most con- 
 ciliatory spirit any proposals that may be authori- 
 tatively formulated, and will hope that they may 
 prove feasible and prophetic of a new day of 
 mutual cooperation and confidence in America." 
 
 The President's opponents denounced his ac- 
 ceptance of South American mediation as a sad 
 blow to our prestige as a nation, but those who 
 do not render judgment from the standpoint of 
 immediate prejudice saw that it was a master- 
 stroke of policy. The Springfield Republican 
 declared : 
 
 "The incident is worth hundreds of tours of 
 South American capitals by our Secretaries of 
 State, with innumerable banquet speeches on 
 Pan-American solidarity. It is worth dozens of 
 Pan-American conferences. For an act like this 
 crystallizes fine words and eloquent periods into 
 a landmark of Pan-American diplomacy. It es- 
 tablishes a precedent; possibly it opens an era." 
 
 This acceptance of mediation was followed by 
 a conference at Niagara Falls, with the A. B. C. 
 powers, which conference, although without defi- 
 
 [237] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 nite result, brought about understandings that 
 contributed to the final result. Huerta's posi- 
 tion became untenable and he left the country in 
 July, 1914. His retirement temporarily left the 
 field clear for General Carranza, but fresh revo- 
 lutionary movements took place, arraying 
 against him his former adherent General Villa. 
 In November, 1914, our forces evacuated Vera 
 Cruz, which passed into the control of Carranza. 
 Since then Carranza's authority has been gradu- 
 ally extended throughout the country, although 
 at this writing still disturbed by local outbreaks. 
 It is now manifest that President Wilson handled 
 an extremely difficult situation with signal ability. 
 In its issue of December 21, 1915, the New York 
 Times, which is certainly not biased in President 
 Wilson's favor, said: 
 
 "The Mexican question will not be a political 
 issue in the United States next year unless some- 
 thing happens to check the alread}^ rapid progress 
 in the southern republic toward the restoration 
 of peace and prosperity. . . . 
 
 "So far as the attacks on President Wilson's 
 Mexican policy are relied upon by politicians 
 
 [238] 
 
THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 opposed to the Administration to influence polit- 
 ical sentiment against it they will utterly fail. 
 It is not to say that the policy has been wholly 
 consistent and clearly thought out from the be- 
 ginning to admit that it has been successful. 
 Throughout this country there is a feeling of 
 thankfulness that war with Mexico has been 
 avoided and a better understanding established 
 between the two countries. There is also a gen- 
 eral recognition of the value of the stronger 
 relations which have been established with the 
 South American republics and Guatemala in the 
 settlement of the Mexican question. It was the 
 idea of our Latin- American associates in the plan 
 of mediation that Carranza should be recognized, 
 and it must now be admitted that President Wil- 
 son made no mistake in accepting the idea. The 
 outlook in Mexico is now as bright as it possibly 
 could be, considering the terrible disasters the 
 country has suffered. . . ." 
 
 The Mexican question has been made unduly 
 prominent through the pohtical maneuvering in- 
 cident to our party contests. Sustained efforts 
 have been made to confuse and mislead public 
 
 [239] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 opinion on issues that are really very simple and 
 are covered by elementary principles of inter- 
 national law. President Wilson's action in warn- 
 ing Americans to keep out of Mexico pending" 
 the existence of civil war was furiously denounced 
 by his opponents in Congress as a shameful sur- 
 render of American rights. As a matter of fact 
 it was as ordinary a precaution as roping off the 
 danger zone at a fire. England is proverbially 
 urgent in claiming privileges of travel and inter- 
 course for her subjects, but time and again she 
 has warned her subjects to keep out of disturbed 
 areas — as, for instance, in Macedonia, when that 
 country was in a state of disorder like that in 
 Mexico. The only place where people have a full 
 and unqualified right to be is in their own coun- 
 try. They have also the X}ght to use the high 
 seas, the common property of nations, but in time 
 of war that right is qualified by the right of visita- 
 tion and search possessed by belligerents under 
 international law. Travel or residence, however, 
 in a foreign country is a privilege that is condi- 
 tional and not absolute in its nature. No ojie 
 claims that our Government is bound to demand 
 
 [240] 
 
THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 for our citizens the right to go where they please 
 and stay where they please in Europe. If they 
 do go they take their risks and they have no right 
 to expect anything more from their Government 
 than that it will insist that they shall receive 
 legal treatment and that reparation shall be ob- 
 tained in case of the violation of rights secured 
 by treaty or acknowledged by international la>v. 
 As a matter of fact many more Americans have 
 probably gone into the European war area 
 than have gone into Mexico since the outbreak 
 of civil war there, and there has been no outcry 
 in our home politics over their troubles. But 
 whenever an outrage is perpetrated in Mexico, 
 there is a clamor for inmiediate intervention. 
 The course to be pursued in such matters is per- 
 fectly well known. The immediate responsibility 
 for preventing crime and punishing it when com- 
 mitted rests upon the Government having juris- 
 diction, and the first step is to demand satisfac- 
 tion of that Government. This course has been 
 steadily pursued in the case of JNIexico and the 
 Carranza Government has acted with promptitude 
 and energy in pursuing and executing bandits 
 
 [241] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 implicated in the murder of American citizens. 
 But the monstrous doctrine has been advanced 
 in Congress that the Administration was recreant 
 in not forthwith ordering our army into Mexico. 
 Such things have been known to occur in the 
 United States as the murder of ahens, but we 
 should regard it as inconceivable truculence were 
 it to be proposed in the parliament of the nation 
 aggrieved not to apply to our Government for 
 redress but to let slip the dogs of war. 
 
 It is only fair to say that usually in the Con- 
 gress of the United States action is moderate 
 notwithstanding the superficial violence of speech. 
 Much of the talk about Mexico is like the 
 transports of indignation that rack journalistic 
 bosoms when an election is coming on. Violent 
 speeches have been made against the President 
 that did not express real feeling but were nothing 
 more than a forensic version of the drum thump- 
 ing of a political parade. But there is always 
 the risk that in playing with fire the politicians 
 may start a conflagration. It is generally con- 
 ceded now that the war with Spain was unneces- 
 sary. She was willing to submit to the demands 
 
 [242] 
 
THE MEXICAN QUESTION 
 
 of this country if allowed to do so, but a spirit 
 was aroused that would be satisfied with nothing 
 but war and the Administration was swept off 
 its feet. It has required all of President Wilson's 
 tenacity of purpose to keep our Government from 
 being made the tool of interests having in view 
 the exploitation of Mexico, meanwhile making 
 precedents whose arrogance and violence would 
 be surely turned against us some day. 
 
 There is nothing novel about President Wil- 
 son's policy on the JSIexican question, except his 
 adroit utilization of opportunities to establish 
 more cordial relations with all the American coun- 
 tries. He took the first steps early in his admin- 
 istration and the conference with the A. B. C. 
 powers greatly facilitated the movement. The 
 Pan-American Scientific Congress which met in 
 Washington, December 27, 1915, to January 8, 
 1916, provided an appropriate occasion for a 
 public statement of the aims of the movement. 
 On January 5, it was announced that a memoran- 
 dum had been presented to the Latin- American 
 diplomatic representatives, asking the different 
 governments to subscribe to the following prin- 
 
 [243] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 ciples later to be embodied in a general conven- 
 tion to which all are to be signatories: 
 
 "(1.) The United States and all the other na- 
 tions of this hemisphere mutually agree to 
 guarantee the territorial integrity of the countries 
 of this hemisphere. 
 
 "(2.) All the nations agree to maintain the 
 republican form of government. 
 
 "(3.) All bind themselves to submit to settle- 
 ment by diplomacy, arbitration, or investigating 
 commissions as provided for by the several trea- 
 ties already ratified, disputes of all kinds, includ- 
 ing boundary troubles, but not controversies 
 affecting the independence of each. 
 
 " ( 4. ) General agreement whereby exportation 
 of arms to any but the legally constituted gov- 
 ernments of this hemisphere will be prohibited, 
 and laws of neutrality adopted which will make 
 it impossible for filibustering expeditions to 
 threaten or carry on revolutions in neighboring 
 republics." 
 
 The announcement was received with sym- 
 pathy and approval and the negotiations initiated 
 by the memorandum are now going on. 
 
 [2M0 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE WAE AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 THE outbreak of the European war was a 
 most untoward event for President Wilson. 
 His thoughts and his plans had been concerned 
 with the domestic problems of our politics and 
 his Cabinet had been chosen with a view to such 
 occupations. The country was deeply in arrears 
 as regards measures for adjusting law and ad- 
 ministration to existing business and social needs, 
 and he was in the first stage of a program of 
 reform quite enough to consume a presidential 
 term, when the explosion took place that shook 
 the world. Apparently nothing could have been 
 more inopportune, but the great upheavals and 
 displacements of history are apt to begin when 
 least expected. In February, 1792, Pitt informed 
 the House of Commons that "unquestionably 
 there never was a time in the history of this coun- 
 try when from the situation in Europe we might 
 more reasonably expect fifteen years of peace 
 
 [245] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 than the present moment." But the next year 
 the wars of the French Revolution began and the 
 Premier who had taken office intent upon domes- 
 tic reform had war problems to face for the rest 
 of his life. In 1870, Premier Ollivier of France 
 declared that "on whatever side we look there is 
 an absence of troublesome questions; at no mo- 
 ment has the maintenance of the peace of Europe 
 been better assured." Before the year was out the 
 battle of Sedan had been fought and the French 
 Empire had collapsed. On November 9, 1903, 
 Premier Balfour of England declared: "I know 
 not that any danger within the ken of human 
 vision menaces in the smallest degree that peace 
 which it should be our earnest endeavor to pre- 
 serve." The war between Russia and Japan be- 
 gan in less than four months thereafter. It is 
 well known that the present war burst upon the 
 deliberations of a Peace Congress, scattering the 
 delegates. If we go by the instructions of his- 
 tory it would seem to be impossible to foresee 
 when Judgment Day will arrive for any nation. 
 Xot onty were the war issues thrust upon a 
 period dedicated to domestic reform, but in addi- 
 
 [246] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 tion they came down upon President Wilson in 
 a period of family affliction. Mrs. Wilson was in 
 the last stages of a fatal illness when, on August 
 4, 1914, President Wilson issued a statement pro- 
 claiming to the nations of the world the neutral- 
 ity of the United States. Although conditions 
 were such as to preclude any hope of successful 
 mediation, yet the fact that the United States had 
 been a signer of The Hague Convention afforded 
 fitting grounds for effort, and on August 5 he 
 tendered his good offices for peace to any and 
 all of the warring nations. This document was 
 penned by President Wilson while he was sitting 
 at JNIrs. Wilson's bedside, the day before she died. 
 It was a message addressed to Emperor William 
 of Germany, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria- 
 Hungary, Emperor Nicholas of Kussia, King 
 George of Great Britain, and President Poin- 
 care of France, as follows: 
 
 "As official head of one of the powers signatory 
 to The Hague Convention, I feel it to be my 
 privilege and my duty, under Article III of that 
 Convention, to say to you in a spirit of most 
 earnest friendship that I should welcome an op- 
 
 [247] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 portunity to act in the interest of European 
 peace, either now or at any other time that might 
 be thought more suitable, as an occasion to serve 
 you and all concerned in a way that would afford 
 me lasting cause for gratitude and happiness." 
 
 Only formal acknowledgments were received 
 from the belligerents, but President Wilson's 
 offer of service still stands and his attitude is one 
 of constant readiness to act for the restoration of 
 peace whenever an opportunity arrives. After 
 the battle of the JNIarne some intimations reached 
 him of sufficient substance to encourage another 
 effort and the German Government was ap- 
 proached on the subject through Ambassador 
 Gerard at Berlin. The Imperial Chancellor re- 
 plied that as Germany's enemies had agreed to 
 make peace only by j oint action, the United 
 States should obtain proposals of peace from the 
 Allies, which must be such as to guarantee Ger- 
 many against future attacks. It was evident that 
 the time for mediation had not arrived and the 
 President's efforts were not renewed so far as 
 any direct appeal to the warring powers is con- 
 cerned, but on September 8 he issued a proclama- 
 
 [248] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 tion designating Sunday, October 4, as a day of 
 prayer for peace. 
 
 Although the good offices of the President were 
 rejected there were not wanting signs that his 
 influence was deeply respected. On September 
 7, 1914, the German Emperor addressed to Presi- 
 dent Wilson a personal message in regard to the 
 use of dum-dum bullets. A few days later Presi- 
 dent Poincare sent a personal message on the 
 same subject. On September 16 a commission 
 appointed by the King of the Belgians submitted 
 to the President a statement with regard to Ger- 
 man acts in Belgium. To all three appeals the 
 President returned the same reply : 
 
 "Presently, I pray God very soon, this war will 
 be over. The day of accounting will then come, 
 when I take it for granted the nations of Europe 
 will assemble to determine a settlement. Where 
 wrongs have been committed, their consequences 
 and the relative responsibility involved will be 
 assessed. 
 
 "The nations of the world have fortunately by 
 agreement made a plan for such a reckoning and 
 settlement. What such a plan cannot compass, 
 
 [249] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the opinion of mankind, the final arbiter in all 
 such matters, will supply. It would be unwise, 
 it would be premature, for a single government, 
 however fortunately separated from the present 
 struggle, it would even be inconsistent with the 
 neutral position of any nation which, like this, has 
 no part in the contest, to form or express a final 
 judgment." 
 
 President Wilson had to deal with war issues 
 not merely as they affected the peace of Europe 
 but also, and with immensely more urgency, with 
 the way in which they affected the peace of 
 America, so on August 18, he issued a broad 
 appeal to the American people, in which he said : 
 
 "The effect of the war upon the United States 
 will depend upon what American citizens say or 
 do. Every man who really loves America will 
 act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, 
 which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and 
 friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of the 
 nation in this critical matter will be determined 
 largely by what individuals and society and those 
 gathered in public meetings do and say, upon 
 what newspapers and magazines contain, upon 
 
 [250] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 what our ministers utter in their pulpits and men 
 proclaim as their opinions on the streets. 
 
 "The people of the United States are drawn 
 from many nations, and chiefly from the nations 
 now at war. It is natural and inevitable that 
 there should be the utmost variety of sympathy 
 and desire among them with regard to the issues 
 and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish 
 one nation, others another to succeed in the mo- 
 mentous struggle. It will be easy to excite pas- 
 sion and difficult to allay it. Those responsible 
 for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility ; 
 responsibility for no less a thing than that the 
 peojjle of the United States, whose love of their 
 country and whose loyalty to its Government 
 should unite them as Americans all, bound in 
 honor and affection to think first of her and her 
 interests, may be divided into camps of hostile 
 opinions hot against each other, involved in the 
 war itself in impulse and opinion, if not in action. 
 Such divisions among us would be fatal to our 
 peace of mind and might seriously stand in the 
 vray of proper performance of our dutj?^ as one 
 great nation at peace, the one people holding it- 
 
 [251] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 self ready to play a part of impartial mediation 
 and speak the counsels of peace and accommoda- 
 tion, not as a partisan but as a friend. 
 
 "I venture, therefore, my fellow-countrymen, 
 to speak a solemn word of warning to you against 
 that deepest, most subtle, most essential breach 
 of neutrality which may spring out of partisan- 
 ship, out of passionately taking sides. The 
 United States must be neutral in fact as well as 
 in name during these days that are to try men's 
 souls. We must be impartial in thought as well 
 as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments 
 as well as upon every transaction that might be 
 construed as a preference of one party to the 
 struggle before another." 
 
 The evils which this address deplored were not 
 wholly averted by it and in his treatment of the 
 war issues President Wilson has had to move 
 through a storm of detraction beating upon him 
 from all sides. He has been condemned by some 
 as being too aggressive and by some as not being 
 aggressive enough. The New York Times of 
 December 1, 1915, and many other newspapers 
 of the same date contained a statement from Mr. 
 
 [252] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 Bryan censuring the Administration for being 
 too militaristic, and one from ]Mr. Roosevelt, cen- 
 suring the Administration for being too pacific 
 in its tendencies. President Wilson has been 
 condemned on the one hand because he can-ied his 
 insistence upon the rights of American citizens 
 to a point that might drag the country into war, 
 and on the other hand he has been condemned 
 because he did not promptly throw the whole 
 weight and power of the United States in opposi- 
 tion to the violation of neutral rights committed 
 by the invasion of Belgium. It is much too soon 
 to attempt to reach a decision on the merits of 
 the case. The case itself is still incomplete. It 
 will be time enough to sum up the qualities of 
 President Wilson's management of our national 
 interests, after the crisis is passed. Meanwhile 
 all that the biographer or the historian can safely 
 undertake is to note the actual character of the 
 policy pursued, so as to facilitate an intelligent 
 opinion of it. 
 
 The very fact that extremes meet in condemna- 
 tion of President Wilson's policy, of itself indi- 
 cates that he has kept to the middle of the road, 
 
 [253] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 not leaning either to the one side or the other. 
 When his course is compared with that taken by 
 his predecessors in Hke circumstances it is found 
 that he has pursued the same course as that taken 
 by President Washington, and has acted on the 
 same principles as those which were stated by 
 Alexander Hamilton in behalf of Washington's 
 Administration. The rising of European nations 
 against the French republic in 1793 excited sym- 
 pathy and indignation in this country comparable 
 with that excited by the invasion of Belgium dur- 
 ing the present war. Washington issued a 
 proclamation of the neutrality of the United 
 States which was bitterly censured as perfidious, 
 cowardly, and ungrateful. In defense of Wash- 
 ington's policy Hamilton ^Tote his Pacificus let- 
 ters published during the summer of 1793. In 
 them he examined seriatim the objections raised, 
 laying down general principles that are as per- 
 tinent now as they were then. He observed: 
 
 "Instances of conferring benefits from kind 
 and benevolent dispositions or feelings towards 
 the person benefited, without any other interest 
 on the part of the person who renders the service, 
 
 [254] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 than the pleasure of doing a good action, occur 
 every day among individuals. But among na- 
 tions they perhaps never occur. . . . Indeed, the 
 rule of morality in this respect is not precisely the 
 same between nations, as between individuals. 
 The duty of making its own welfare the guide of 
 its actions, is much stronger upon the former than 
 upon the latter ; in proportion to the greater mag- 
 nitude and importance of national, compared 
 with individual happiness, and to the greater 
 permanency of the effects of national, than of 
 individual conduct. Existing millions, and for 
 the most part future generations, are concerned 
 in the present measures of a government; while 
 the consequences of the private action of an in- 
 dividual ordinarily terminate with himself, or are 
 circumscribed within a narrow compass. 
 
 "Whence it follows that an individual may, on 
 numerous occasions, meritoriously indulge the 
 emotions of generosity and benevolence, not only 
 with a view to, but even at the expense of, his own 
 interest. But a government can rarely, if at all, 
 be justifiable in pursuing a similar course; and, 
 if it does so, ought to confine itself within much 
 
 [255] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 stricter bounds. Good offices which are indiffer- 
 ent to the interest of a nation performing them, 
 or which are compensated by the existence or ex- 
 pectation of some reasonable equivalent, or which 
 produce an essential good to the nation to which 
 they are rendered, without real detriment to the 
 affairs of the benefactors, prescribe perhaps the 
 limits of national generosity or benevolence." 
 In a footnote Hamilton added: "This con- 
 .x*f*' "elusion derives confirmation from the reflection, 
 that under everj^ form of government, iiilers are 
 ^~' only trustees for the happiness and interest of 
 •^ ttieir nation, and cannot, consistently with their 
 trust, follow the suggestions of kindness or hu- 
 manity towards others, to the prejudice of their 
 constituents." 
 
 The above exhibits the principle on which Wil- 
 son acted, and to arrive at sound conclusions on 
 any particular, it should be considered with that 
 principle in view, namel}^ the principle of trustee- 
 ship. Much burning indignation has been poured 
 upon him for his failure to go to the rescue of 
 Belgium, just as Washington was censured for 
 failing to go to the rescue of France. Some of 
 
 [256] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 the philippics that have been uttered on this theme 
 by eminent poHticians make a fine display of their 
 powers of forceful language, the vehemence of 
 which is fully warranted if their point of view be 
 accepted. If President Wilson had acted in a 
 spirit of knight-errantry he might have avoided 
 the reproaches now heaped upon him by those 
 who view the case through the medium of their 
 sympathies. What he did do was to make the 
 welfare of his own country the guide of his ac- 
 tons. This plea is contemptuously rejected by 
 his opponents, who point out with logical per- 
 tinence that our national welfare is involved by 
 such a struggle and that the fate of Belgium 
 today may be that of the United States tomorrow, 
 so that prompt action in her behalf would be 
 timely action in our own behalf. As to this it 
 may be remarked that if remote and indirect 
 consequences are to be taken into account there 
 are practically no bounds to national duty, for 
 to some extent the interests of all countries and 
 of all peoples are interdependent. But the duties 
 of trusteeship, whether private or public, are 
 confined to actual and definite obligations. All 
 
 [257] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the objections raised against Wilson's course ap- 
 ply quite as fully to Washington's course, and 
 the principle involved in both cases is the same — 
 the principle of tiTisteeship. On this point the 
 policy of the Wilson Administration hinges. 
 That a larger, more generous view of duty might 
 have been taken is a position that is logically 
 tenable. But if the principle of trusteeship, as 
 adopted by Washington and formulated by 
 Hamilton, is accepted as sound, then the course 
 pursued by Wilson must be approved, since its 
 particulars, when examined from this point of 
 view, show conformity to that principle. The 
 fact may also be noted that in the light of history 
 it has generally appeared that minding one's own. 
 business has been as sound a rule of national be- 
 havior in respect to ethical results as in respect 
 to national interest. When the history of the 
 present war is written, so that its events shall 
 appear in their proper proportions, it may appear 
 that the United States, by keeping out of the 
 struggle, was able to render far greater service to 
 Belgium than b}^ rushing to her side the moment 
 she was attacked. It may be remembered that 
 
 [258] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 the good Samaritan did not gain his reputation 
 by avenging the crime but by bringing relief to 
 the victim. 
 
 While Wilson's policy has disappointed some 
 who hold chivalric ideals of national behavior it 
 has also offended others who — regarding war as 
 always bad and peace as always good — have 
 feared that Wilson's insistence on the rights of 
 American citizens was being carried too far. It 
 has been urged that due consideration of the 
 national welfare should make individuals willing 
 t^ forego for the time the exercise of the ordinary 
 rights of travel; and, even if they were willing to 
 take their chances, the question would remain, 
 whether they should be able to count upon any 
 support from the Government. It has been con- 
 tended that if they chose to get into harm's way 
 by traveling in vessels exposed to attack, they 
 ought not to look to the Government to help 
 them out of trouble or to secure redress should 
 they suffer injury. It has been urged with great 
 force that if our Government insists upon assert- 
 ing the rights of American citizens, as defined by 
 international law, it is committed to a course that 
 
 [259] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 might end in war. Considerations of this general 
 nature caused a break in the Cabinet. On June 
 8, 1915, Mr. Bryan resigned the office of Secre- 
 tary of State, and was succeeded by Robert Lan- 
 sing, formerly Counselor of the State Depart- 
 ment. The selection was significant as indicative 
 of the President's intention of standing firm upon 
 the law and of claiming the full measure of Amei*- 
 ican rights under international law.. 
 
 This determination also was in accord with the 
 principle of trusteeship, for although peace is 
 generally desirable, occasions may arise when it 
 is to the interest of the nation to wage war. This 
 contingency was distinctly mentioned by Wash- 
 ington in his "Farewell Address," in which he 
 advised that we should keep in such a position 
 that "we may choose peace or war, as our interest, 
 guided by justice, shall counsel." Wilson's 
 course showed that the possibility of war was not 
 going to deter him from asserting American 
 rights in dealings with the belligerent countries. 
 He might advise American citizens to keep out of 
 ISIexico because of the anarchy there and the lack 
 of authorit J'- that could be held to accountability ; 
 
 [260] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 but there were no such complications as regards 
 travel on the high seas. This distinction was thus 
 noted by Secretary Lansing in a statement issued 
 on January 12, 1916: 
 
 "The high seas are common territory to every 
 nation. Territory is always under the sover- 
 eignty of a nation, and the authorities of a nation 
 can do what they please in that sovereignty. On 
 the high seas a noncombatant, whether neutral 
 or belligerent, has a right to pass to and fro with- 
 out having his life endangered, unless he is on a 
 public ship. In a territory he only has the right 
 to pass to and fro with the consent of the authori- 
 ties. If it is uncertain who the authorities are in 
 that territory, he runs at once the danger of loss 
 of liberty and life." 
 
 President Wilson did not flinch from asserting 
 neutral rights, for fear of possible consequences, 
 and while this course has involved this country 
 in serious controversies with belligerents on both 
 sides of the struggle, it has manifestly secured 
 more respect for neutral rights than was ever 
 before evinced by great powers fighting desper- 
 ately for their national existence. At this writing 
 
 [261] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the war is still going on; the time is unhappily- 
 still distant when a complete survej'- of its diplo- 
 matic incidents may be taken, but there is already 
 a striking record of achievement. Examination 
 of the details impresses one with the multifarious 
 nature of the tasks performed. Our diplomatic 
 correspondence with belligerent governments in 
 respect to neutral rights and commerce was 
 enough to fill two large printed volumes, up to 
 October 15, 1915, and the mass has much in- 
 creased since then and is still increasing. This 
 is due wholly to the number and variety of the 
 topics to be considered, as in style our notes have 
 been remarkably direct and concise, meeting 
 every issue squarely. A good illustration is the 
 correspondence on the case of the William P, 
 Frye, an American ship that was sunk hj a 
 German cruiser. While reserving the point 
 of whether or not the German commander 
 acted legally, the German Government agreed 
 to pay actual damages. To this the reply was 
 made: 
 
 "A payment made on this understanding would 
 be entirely acceptable to the Government of the 
 
 [262] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 United States, provided that the acceptance of 
 such payment should likewise be understood to 
 be without prejudice to the contention of the 
 Government of the United States that the sink- 
 ing of the Frye was without legal justification, 
 and provided also that an arrangement can be 
 agreed upon for the immediate submission to ar- 
 bitration of the question of legal justification, 
 in so far as it involves the interpretation of exist- 
 ing treaty stipulations." 
 
 Public attention has been directed chiefly to 
 cases in which passenger vessels were sunk with 
 loss of life through Geraian submarine warfare, 
 and this has given the impression that our conten- 
 tion has been chiefly with Germany. That im- 
 pression is correct as regards the importance of 
 the issues involved, but meanwhile tlie greatest 
 number of actual cases involving neutral rights 
 have been such as to produce contention with 
 England. Questions of contraband and of trade 
 with neutrals, detention of American ships, and 
 interference with American consignments have 
 furnished matter for much diplomatic corre- 
 spondence. The following dispatch of July 14, 
 
 [263] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 1915, to Ambassador Page, states the position 
 which our Government has maintained : 
 
 "In view of differences which are understood 
 to exist between the two Governments as to the 
 principles of law applicable in prize court pro- 
 ceedings in cases involving American interests, 
 and in order to avoid any misunderstanding as 
 to the attitude of the United States in regard to 
 such proceedings, you are instructed to inform 
 the British Government that in so far as the 
 interests of American citizens are concerned the 
 Ggyernment of the United States will insist upon 
 their rights under the principles and rules of in- 
 ternational law as hitherto established, governing 
 neutral trade in time of war, without limitation 
 or impairment by Orders in Council or other 
 municipal legislation by the British Government, 
 and will not recognize the validity of prize court 
 proceedings taken under restraints imposed by 
 British municipal law in derogation of the rights 
 of American citizens under international law." 
 
 Since the United States has in the past exer- 
 cised the right of embargo upon exports of any 
 commodity which might aid the enemy's cause, it 
 
 [264] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 cannot now deny that right to other nations and 
 must be willing to submit to such restraints upon 
 trade as are involved by a reasonable exercise of 
 belligerent rights. What is reasonable in par- 
 ticular cases is a question of judgment upon 
 which the United States has contended for liberal- 
 ity, and the British Government has steadily 
 manifested a conciliatory disposition. On some 
 points prompt compliance was made with the 
 demands of our Government. When the British 
 Government was notified that the presence of war 
 vessels in the vicinity of American ports was of- 
 fensive to our Government they were promptly 
 Avithdrawn and our Government was notified that 
 orders had been issued "impressing on His Ma- 
 jesty's officers the duty of strictly observing the 
 terms of the United States neutrality regula- 
 tions." 
 
 Grave differences with the German Govern- 
 ment arose over its proclamation on February 4, 
 
 1915, of a war zone about Great Britain, entrance '' "^ 
 
 - — .^^x, 
 
 into which would make any vessel liable to . 
 destruction. The proclamation notified all neu- 
 tral powers "that it is of urgency to recommend 
 
 [265] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 to their own vessels to steer clear of these waters." 
 The reply of our Government, issued on Feb- 
 ruary 10, was a vigorous protest against such 
 disregard of international law, concluding with 
 notice to Germany that it would be held to strict 
 accountability : 
 
 "If the commanders of German vessels of war 
 should act upon the presumption that the flag of 
 the United States was not being used in good 
 faith and should destroy on the high seas an 
 American vessel or the lives of American citizens, 
 it would be difficult for the Government of the 
 United States to view the act in any other light 
 than as an indefensible violation of neutral rights, 
 which it would be very hard indeed to reconcile 
 with the friendly relations now so happily sub- 
 sisting between the two Governments. 
 
 "If such a deplorable situation should arise, 
 the Imperial German Government can readily 
 appreciate that the Government of the United 
 States would be constrained to hold the Imperial 
 German Government to a strict accountability 
 for such acts of their naval authorities and to 
 take any steps it might be necessary to take to 
 
 [266] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 safeguard American lives and property and to 
 secure to American citizens the full enjoyment 
 of their acknowledged rights on the high seas." 
 Correspondence ensued, in the course of which 
 Germany did not contend that the policy she had 
 announced was in accord with existing provisions 
 of international law, but that those provisions 
 had been already modified by Great Britain to 
 her advantage and to the detriment of Germany, 
 and that the war zone policy was a retaliatory 
 measure dictated by the paramount law of self- 
 preservation. Germany was willing to modify 
 her policy if the United States could induce Great 
 Britain to modify her policy. In compliance with 
 Germany's request representations were made to 
 Great Britain on the subject, without practical 
 result, and some suggestions offered by our Gov- 
 ernment as to the scope of an agreement were 
 also ineffectual. Underlying the discussion and 
 shaping its results were the inflexible determina- 
 tion of the British Government to cut off Ger- 
 many from all commerce by sea and the resolu- 
 tion of the German Government to go to any 
 lengths to shatter British naval supremacy. The 
 
 [267] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 United States was at issue with both parties on 
 the question of neutral rights, and on JMarch 30, 
 1915, sent a long note to the British Govern- 
 ment, protesting against the Order in Council of 
 March 15, which was declared to be "a practical 
 assertion of unlimited belligerent rights over neu- 
 tral commerce within the whole European area, 
 and an almost unqualified denial of the sovereign 
 rights of the nations now at peace." 
 
 Our controversies over war issues were more 
 acute with Great Britain than with Germany 
 when a tremendous shift of interest and feeling 
 was brought about by the sinking of the Lusi- 
 tania, drowning 1,260 persons, among them 107 
 American citizens, followed by events of similar 
 character. In dealing with them our Govern- 
 ment has consistently maintained that Germany's 
 war zone proclamation and her warnings as to 
 the risk of travel therein do not in the least abate 
 her responsibility for "unlawful and inhumane" 
 acts committed by her officers; that reparation 
 shall be made so far as reparation is possible ; and 
 that steps shall be taken to prevent the recurrence 
 of such events. In the correspondence that en- 
 
 [268] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 sued relations between the two countries were 
 strained almost to the breaking point, but finally 
 Germany acquiesced in the position taken by our 
 Government. Under the date of September 1, 
 1915, Germany gave notice: "Liners will not be 
 sunk by our submarines without warning and 
 without safety of the lives of noncombatants, 
 provided the liners do not try to escape or offer 
 resistance." On October 5, Germany expressed 
 regret for the sinking of the Arabic, expressed 
 willingness to pay an indemnity, and declared 
 that instructions "have been made so stringent 
 that the recurrence of incidents similar to the 
 Arabic case is considered out of the question." 
 
 As a matter of fact similar incidents have since 
 then occurred in the JNIediterranean, with Aus- 
 tria-Hungary as the offender. The sinking of 
 the Ancona with great loss of life was an event 
 which called forth a note of which the following 
 is the concluding portion: 
 
 "As the good relations of the two countries 
 must rest upon a common regard for law and 
 humanity, the Government of the United States 
 cannot be expected to do otherwise than to de- 
 
 [269] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 mand that the Imperial and Royal Government 
 denomice the sinking of the Ancana as an illegal 
 and indefensible act; that the officer mIio per- 
 petrated the deed be punished, and that repara- 
 tion by the payment of an indemnity be made 
 for the citizens of the United States who were 
 killed or injured by the attack on the vessel. 
 
 "The Government of the United States expects 
 that the Austro-IIungarian Government, appre- 
 ciating the gravity of the case, will accede to its 
 demand promptly, and it rests tliis expectation 
 on the behef that the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
 ment will not sanction or defend an act which is 
 condemned by the world as inhumane and bar- 
 barous, which is abhorrent to all civilized nations, 
 and wliich has caused the death of innocent Amer- 
 ican citizens." 
 
 In reply the Austro-Himgarian Government 
 unresenedly concurred in "the principle that 
 enemy private vessels, so far as they do not flee 
 or offer resistance, shall not be destroyed before 
 the persons aboard are secured." 
 
 The present indications are that in these nego- 
 tiations President Wilson has obtained a signal 
 
 [270] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 diplomatic triumph. The German Govermiient 
 has been convinced that her position was unten- 
 able and her acquiescence in the demands of the 
 United States was explicith' made kno^vn in the 
 following communication received on Januan' 
 7, 1916: 
 
 "(1) German submarines in the Mediterra- 
 nean had, from the beginning-, orders to conduct 
 cruiser warfare against enemy merchant vessels 
 onh' m accordance with general prmciples of 
 international law, and in particular measures of 
 reprisal, as applied in the war zone around the 
 British Isles, were to be excluded. 
 
 "(2) German submarines are therefore per- 
 mitted to destroy enemy merchant vessels in the 
 ^lediterranean — i. e., passenger as well as freight 
 ships as far as they do not try to escape or offer 
 resistance — only after passengers and crews have 
 been accorded safety. 
 
 "(3) All cases of destruction of enemy mer- 
 chant sliips m the Mediterranean in which Ger- 
 man submarines are concerned are made the sub- 
 ject of official investigation and, besides, subject 
 to regular prize court proceedings. In so far as 
 
 [271] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 American interests are concerned, the German 
 Government will communicate the result to the 
 American Government. Thus, also, in the Persia 
 case, if the circumstances should call for it. 
 
 "(4) If commanders of Geraian submarines 
 should not have obeyed the orders given to them 
 they will be punished ; furthermore, the German 
 Government will make rej)aration for damage 
 caused by death of or injuries to American citi- 
 zens." 
 
 With the war still going on it would be rash 
 to make any prediction as to the permanence of 
 any arrangement, but the indications are that 
 President Wilson has successfully vindicated neu- 
 tral rights in the midst of the greatest war the 
 world has ever known. 
 
 While President Wilson was struggling to de- 
 fend neutral rights and to defend the national 
 honor, he was exposed to a bitter warfare in his 
 own country. Organized and systematic at- 
 tempts were made to violate American neutrality 
 and to levy war in the United States by secret 
 agency. Bombs were planted in the cargoes of 
 vessels, numerous incendiary fires took place in 
 
 [272] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 arms and powder factories, and strikes and labor 
 troubles were fomented. On September 8, 1915, 
 the recall of JNIr. Dumba, the Austro-Hungarian 
 Ambassador at Washington, was demanded be- 
 cause of his complicity in plans to instigate strikes 
 in American manufacturing plants. On Decem- 
 ber 3, the immediate recall of the German at- 
 taches, Captains Boy-Ed and von Papen, was 
 demanded. The injuries to which the United 
 States had been subjected by intestine foes were 
 characterized by President Wilson in his message 
 to Congress, delivered on December 7, 1915, in 
 a way that elicited sympathetic response in every 
 part of the country. He said: 
 
 "I am sorry to say that the gravest threats 
 against our national peace and safety have been 
 uttered within our own borders. There are citi- 
 zens of the United States, I blush to admit, born 
 under other flags, but welcomed under our gener- 
 ous naturalization laws to the full freedom and 
 opportunity of America, who have poured the 
 j)oison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our 
 national life; who have sought to bring the au- 
 thority and good name of our Government into 
 
 [273] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 contempt, to destroy our industries wherever they 
 thought it effective for their vindictive purposes 
 to strike at them, and to debase our politics to 
 the uses of foreign intrigue. Their number is 
 not great as compared with the whole number of 
 those sturdy hosts by which our nation has been 
 enriched in recent generations out of virile foreign 
 stocks; but it is great enough to have brought 
 deep disgrace upon us and to have made it neces- 
 sary that we should promptly make use of proc- 
 esses of law by which we may be purged of their 
 corrupt distempers. 
 
 "America never witnessed anj^^thing like this 
 before. It never dreamed it possible that men 
 sworn into its own citizenship, men drawn out of 
 great free stocks such as supplied some of the 
 best and strongest elements of that little, but now 
 heroic, nation that in a high day of old staked its 
 very life to free itself from every entanglement 
 that had darkened the fortunes of the older na- 
 tions and set up a new standard here — that men 
 of such origins and such free choices of allegiance 
 would ever turn in malign reaction against the 
 Government and people who had welcomed and 
 
 [274] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 nurtured them and seek to make this proud coun- 
 try once more a hotbed of European passion. 
 A little while ago such a thing would have seemed 
 incredible. Because it was incredible we made no 
 preparation for it. We would have been almost 
 ashamed to prepare for it, as if we were suspicious 
 of ourselves, our own comrades and neighbors! 
 But the ugly and incredible thing has actually 
 come about and we are without adequate Federal 
 laws to deal with it. 
 
 "I urge you to enact such laws at the earliest 
 possible moment and feel that in doing so I am 
 urging you to do nothing less than save the honor 
 and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of 
 passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed ^, 
 out. They are not many, but they are infinitely 
 malignant, and the hand of our power should 
 close over them at once. They have formed plots 
 to destroy property, they have entered into con- 
 sj)iracies against the neutrality of the Govern- 
 ment, they have sought to pry into every confi- 
 dential transaction of the Government in order 
 to serve interests alien to our own. It is possible' 
 to deal with these things very effectually. I need 
 
 [275] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 not suggest the terms in which they may be dealt 
 with. 
 
 "I wish that it could be said that only a few 
 men, misled by mistaken sentiments of allegiance 
 to the Governments under which thej^ were born, 
 had been guilty of disturbing the self-possession 
 and misrepresenting the temper and principles 
 of the country during these days of terrible war, 
 when it would seem that every man who was truly 
 an American would instinctively make it his duty 
 and his pride to keep the scales of judgment even 
 and prove himself a partisan of no nation but his 
 own. But it cannot. There are some men among 
 us, and many resident abroad who, though born 
 and bred in the United States and calling them- 
 selves Americans, have so forgotten themselves 
 and their honor as citizens as to put their pas- 
 sionate sympathy with one or the other side in 
 the great European conflict above their regard 
 for the peace and dignity of the United States. 
 They also preach and practice disloyalty. No 
 laws, I suppose, can reach corruptions of the 
 mind and heart ; but I should not speak of others 
 without also speaking of these and expressing 
 
 [276] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 the even deeper humiliation and scorn which 
 every self-possessed and thoughtfully patriotic 
 American must feel when he thinks of them and 
 of the discredit they are daily bringing upon us." 
 
 The leading topic of this message was pre-^^'^ 
 paredness. President Wilson's policy in this "^^-^ 
 respect was thus stated: 
 
 "We regard war merely as asserting the rights 
 of a people against aggression. And we are as 
 fiercely jealous of coercive or dictatorial power 
 witliin our own nation as of aggression from 
 without. We will not maintain a standing army 
 except for uses which are as necessary in times 
 of peace as in times of war; and we shall always 
 see to it that our military peace establishment is 
 no larger than is actually and continuously 
 needed for the uses of days in which no enemies 
 move against us. But we do believe in a body 
 of free citizens ready and sufficient to take care 
 of themselves and of the Governments which they 
 have set up to serve them. In our Constitutions 
 themselves we have commanded that "the right 
 of the peoj)le to keep and bear arms shall not be 
 infringed," and our confidence has been that our 
 
 [277] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 safety in times of danger would lie in the rising 
 of the nation to take care of itself, as the farmers 
 rose at Lexington. 
 
 "But war has never been a mere matter of men 
 and guns. It is a thing of disciplined might. 
 If our citizens are ever to fight effectively upon 
 a sudden summons, they must know how modern 
 fighting is done, and what to do when the sum- 
 mons comes to render themselves immediately 
 available and immediately effective. And the 
 Government must be their servant in this matter, 
 must supply them with the training they need to 
 take care of themselves and of it. The military 
 arm of their Government, wliich they will not 
 allow to direct them, they may properly use to 
 serve them and make their independence secure — 
 and not their own independence merely, but the 
 rights also of those with whom they have made 
 common cause, should they also be put in jeop- 
 ardy. They must be fitted to play the great role 
 in the world, and particularly in this hemisphere, 
 for which they are qualified by principle and by 
 chastened ambition to play. 
 
 "It is with these ideals in mind that the plans 
 [278] 
 
THE WAR AND ITS ISSUES 
 
 of the Department of War for more adequate 
 national defense were conceived which will be laid 
 before you, and which I urge you to sanction and 
 put into effect as soon as they can be properly 
 scrutinized and discussed." 
 
 These plans involved important changes in our 
 national methods and a discussion was initiated 
 that has generated new issues not yet fully de- 
 veloped at this writing. In accordance with his 
 habit of appeal to the court of public opinion,' 
 President Wilson accepted invitations to address 
 public meetings at which his position was frankly 
 stated and the reasons for his course were made 
 known. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 ONE cannot really note personal traits with- 
 out a personal point of view, so in this chap- 
 ter the author will speak in his own person, of his 
 own impressions. Through the courtesy of Mr. 
 Albert Shaw, editor of tlie Review of Reviews, 
 I am permitted to use a character sketch pre- 
 pared for that magazine in 1912, at the time 
 Woodrow Wilson became the Democratic party's 
 nominee for president. It pictures the man as 
 I saw him, at the time he stepped on the stage of 
 national affairs. It is as follows: 
 
 "The most salient characteristic of Woodrow 
 Wilson is a love of fun. This is what most im- 
 pressed me when I first got to know him over a 
 dozen years ago, and that early impression has 
 been often renewed since. When our acquaint- 
 ance began I was an editor and I had a notion 
 that college dons were persons of starched be- 
 
 [280] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 havior, so I was surprised, although pleased, by 
 the eagerness with which he seized upon the 
 humorous aspect of any situation. It was at the 
 meeting of a learned society that brought to- 
 gether a number of university men, and I had 
 prepared myself for something of a didactic or- 
 deal. But as soon as the regular 'exercises were 
 over, Wilson began to tell stories, relate anec- 
 dotes, and carry on a discursive conversation that 
 for candor, logic and incisiveness made me think 
 of Johnson's table talk, when the great Cham was 
 in a genial mood and talked English instead of 
 Latin. I noticed that while his talk was mani- 
 festly an improvisation, his thoughts came with 
 their clothes on. There was a balance to his 
 periods revealing an instinctive sense of form, 
 and his diction was terse and idiomatic. This 
 spontaneity of utterance is habitual. His dignity 
 is allowed to take care of itself, which it is abun- 
 dantly able to do, as it is always present, although 
 he does not seem to be aware of it. 
 
 "This love of fun crops out on every occasion. 
 When he was nominated for governor of New 
 Jersey the family experienced a shock from the 
 
 [281] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 downpour of publicity upon their home. The 
 ladies winced under it before they learned that it 
 is one of the things that goes in the day's work 
 for the family of a man who is nominated to high 
 office. But until they were hardened to it it was 
 not always quite pleasant to read in the papers 
 remarks upon the way in which Mr. Wilson's 
 nose fits his face and his ears are adjusted to his 
 head. But he himself got hold of a limerick that 
 seemed to him to state his position exactly, and 
 he recited it with glee: 
 
 As a beauty I am not a star ; 
 
 There are others more handsome by far. 
 
 But my face — I don't mind it 
 
 For I am behind it; 
 
 The people in front get the jar. 
 
 "Whatever his experience may be, he instinc- 
 tively sees the funny side of things, and he re- 
 turns from everj^ excursion with a fund of amuse- 
 ment for the home circle as a bee brings honey 
 to the hive. It is a merry home circle. There 
 seem to be no secrets there. The Governor speaks 
 frankly and unreservedly upon any matter that 
 may come up. His table talk takes a wide range. 
 
 [282] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 He is omnivorous in his reading and expansive in 
 his mental curiosity. Intellectual narrowness is 
 his great aversion. I have heard him describe 
 the class of scholars who dwarf themselves by- 
 confinement to one subject as 'ignorant special- 
 ists.' Of Governor Wilson it may be said that 
 whatever concerns humanity interests him, so that 
 at one sitting at his table one may hear talk of 
 Kipling's latest poem, of Chesterton's most re- 
 cent paradox, of football prospects, events in the 
 religious world, the latest limerick, the political 
 myths by which people are imposed upon as re- 
 gards the nature of our Constitution, the trend 
 of contemporaneous philosophy, personal anec- 
 dotes, and interspersed throughout a lot of appo- 
 site stories. 
 
 "Woodrow Wilson is not a story-teller in the 
 usual sense of the term. lie does not save up 
 and give out funny stories just because they are 
 funny, but his stories come up in his talk by way 
 of illustration and they possess logical pertinence. 
 He has a gift for dramatic narrative and can 
 describe a scene in a way that brings it vividly 
 before one. His propensity for humorous ob- 
 
 [283] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 servation preserves him from tedium in the many 
 formal proceedings in which he is called to take 
 part because of his official position. They could 
 not be so dull or so slow but that he could find 
 something interesting or suggestive. He seems 
 to be little or not at all exposed to boredom, and 
 arrives fresh and buoyant at the end of what to 
 most people would be a wearying experience. 
 So far from being tired of it all, he may rehearse 
 its humorous phases with dramatic gusto when he 
 gets back to the hearthstone. I happened to be 
 present when he gave an account of some public 
 exercises in which he had taken part not long 
 before. A presentation was to be made to some 
 notable who was so crowded by the committee 
 on the stage that he sat with his feet drawn tight 
 to his chair and with his high hat pressed close to 
 his stomach under his clasped hands. The orator 
 making the presentation speech was right in 
 front, almost in physical contact, but as he pitched 
 his voice so as to reach the audience the opening 
 words, 'Honored Sir!' came in a loud shout. The 
 recipient of the attention was so startled that he 
 made a jump that crushed in his hat like a con- 
 
 [284] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 certina. The shout that Wilson himself gave in 
 imitation of the strenuous orator rang through 
 the house in a way that brought down some of the 
 family to see what was the matter and to join in 
 the fun. 
 
 "This openness of conduct belongs to Wood- 
 row Wilson by inlieritance. Older members of 
 the Princeton faculty who knew his father say 
 that -he had the same freedom of spirit. A pro- 
 found theologian, he was fond of jest and anec- 
 dote, was expansive in his sympathies and varied 
 in his interests. In temperament Woodrow Wil- 
 son is said to resemble his father closely. It is 
 probably owing to this phase of his character that 
 it does not seem to his friends that he takes a 
 good picture. They are accustomed to seeing him 
 with a twinkle in his eye, and with lines of good 
 humor curving about his mouth and radiating 
 from the corners of his eyes. But it takes con- 
 tact with people to produce these manifestations. 
 The face that the camera gets is that which has 
 been modeled by Scotch- Irish ancestry and theo- 
 logical lineage, expressing gravity, seriousness 
 and determination. In the ordinary bearing of 
 
 [285] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 the man these quahties are latent but are not con- 
 spicuous, as they are in his picture. 
 
 '^His humor is not broad but is dry and clean. 
 His mind is not squeamish but it is pure. His 
 conversation is remarkable for intellectual copi- 
 ousness. His mind is rich in ideas and he spends 
 them freely in his talk. He says what he thinks 
 without fear of consequences. These traits may 
 not be such as are now ordinarily associated with 
 political eminence, but that is because American 
 political conditions are now peculiar. The men 
 who made the Constitution and set up the Gov- 
 ernment used to talk copiously and write volumi- 
 nously. The notion that a statesman should be 
 as silently wise as an owl and as gravely medita- 
 tive as a cow has come in only since government 
 by private arrangement has been substituted for 
 government by public discussion. 
 
 "He has extraordinary capacity for getting 
 through work without strain or fret. This com- 
 petency, while founded upon natural ability, is 
 largely the product of intellectual discipline. He 
 has brought his faculties under such control that 
 they are always at his command, ready for obe- 
 
 [286] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 dient service at any time in any place. His ability 
 as a public speaker, now so marked, has been 
 greatly developed since the beginning of his 
 career. He had some natural diffidence to over- 
 come, and, curiously enough, notwithstanding the 
 extraordinary facility he now possesses, a trace 
 of it still remains. By practice his faculty has 
 been so improved that it now transcends that of 
 the ordinary speaker, as much as the agility of an 
 athlete exceeds that of an ordinary man. But 
 to this day he still feels a nervous tension at the 
 start that produces a feeling of "goneness" in 
 the pit of the stomach. It disappears the moment 
 he hears the sound of his voice. Then he loses all 
 sense of personal consciousness in the exercise of 
 his powers so that the address goes on almost as 
 in a state of automatism. 
 
 "His voice has a vibrant quality that carries 
 its tones without strain or effort. He speaks 
 very distinctly, and although his voice does not 
 seem to be raised above a conversational pitch, 
 it is heard without difficulty, whether in a great 
 auditorium or in the open air. When he has to 
 make an important speech, he prepares himself 
 
 [287] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 carefully as to matter, but he can safely trust 
 himself to the occasion for his diction, which is 
 unfailing in literary distinction. He has read so 
 extensively and thought so deepty th^t he always 
 has something to say and he never has to fall back 
 upon commonplaces. No man ever possessed in 
 a more eminent degree the faculty of thinldng 
 on his feet. 
 
 "He is fond of out-of-door exercise of any 
 kind, finding in that a healthful change from the 
 occupations of his study. Some years ago he 
 was very fond of bicycling, but of late years golf 
 is his favorite game. In his personal habits he is 
 abstemious. He neither smokes nor drinks. Al- 
 though inclined to be spare in figure he has a 
 wiry strength, conserved by his life-long habit of 
 temperance in all things and replenished by a fine 
 faculty for taking his rest. He is a good sleeper, 
 and nothing that can happen seems able to agitate 
 his mind or cause insomnia. This makes him a 
 good traveler. He can turn in and get his night's 
 rest as usual, as he flies across the country in a 
 sleeping car. 
 
 "From the freedom and variety of his conversa- 
 [288] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 tion one would get the idea that his mind is very 
 open to new impressions. This is the case, and 
 yet at the same time his plans in all matters of 
 importance are the outcome of a process of m- 
 cubation. He is open to advice and likes to talk 
 things over, but his conclusions are his own, and 
 once formed they are firmly held. It is useless 
 to approach him with any argument based upon 
 his personal advantage or convenience. It must 
 go to the merits of the case to receive his consid- 
 eration. Tenacity _of purpose is a very strong 
 trait of his character. When he has determined 
 upon any policy, he adlieres to it with constancy 
 and perseverance, no matter what obstacles may 
 be encountered. His spirits are remarkably 
 equable, neither elated by success nor discouraged 
 by failure. He is easy and democratic in his 
 manners, meeting all sorts and conditions of men 
 without reserve or precaution. His fellow towns- 
 men instinctively regard him as a member of the 
 community, approachable in any interest of the 
 community by any member thereof. There are, 
 however, two kinds of people with whom he seems 
 to enter into mental communion most readily. 
 
 [289] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 One kind includes just plain, common people, 
 making no pretensions to learning, but solid and 
 honest in their intuitions and prejudices; from 
 them he draws inspiration. The other kind in- 
 cludes people of ripe culture and wide informa- 
 tion; from them he gets mental exercise through 
 bouts of intellectual discussion. 
 
 "Whatever he does, whether it be work or play 
 or conversation, he does it with a whole heart. 
 He never dawdles. He is always eager, alert, 
 animated, whether writing, lecturing, speaking, 
 chatting or playing. Milton's famous passage 
 about those who "scorn delights and live labori- 
 ous days" is not applicable to him. He gets 
 through a great amount of work, but his thinking 
 machine is so well adjusted and runs so smoothly 
 that its operation seems a functional satisfaction 
 rather than labor. The quatrain that Kobert 
 Louis Stevenson put up in his study would be 
 quite in place in Woodrow Wilson's study too: 
 
 This is the study where a smiling God 
 Sees day by day the path of duty trod. 
 My work He praises and He seems to say 
 The day is brief; be diligent in play. 
 
 [290] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 "During his campaign for governor it suited 
 his political opponents to describe him as a man 
 who had led a cloistered life so that he was un- 
 familiar with affairs and was wanting in adminis- 
 trative capacity. Such a notion seemed very 
 grotesque to those who knew Woodrow Wilson. 
 It altogether misconceived the nature of a univer- 
 sity president's work. The post calls for admin- 
 istrative ability of a very high order, and inci- 
 dentally brings about contacts and acquaintance- 
 ships that put one in personal touch with all great 
 national interests, whether business or political. 
 The administrative problems that engage a uni- 
 versity president's attention involve men of ex- 
 ceptional ability and force, so that controversies, 
 if thej'^ arise, are more than usually formidable. 
 
 "Woodrow Wilson possesses in a singularly 
 high degree the great administrative faculty of 
 prompt apprehension of the true nature of a case, 
 so as to disengage it from the irrelevant and 
 adventitious and to guide discussion to sound 
 conclusions. Whatever might be the matter com- 
 ing up at faculty meetings, whether through a 
 committee report or a casual motion, his mind 
 
 [291] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 seized it at once, stating the case clearly and 
 bringing out all its elements for consideration. 
 At times he took an active part in debate. The 
 speech he made in introducing the preceptorial 
 system has become a faculty tradition as a model 
 of perspicacity and force. His quickness of ap- 
 prehension was also marked whenever he took 
 part in a conference or was present at a commit- 
 tee meeting. No matter how complicated the sub- 
 ject, his mind seemed to bear effectively upon 
 it at once, cutting into it like a circular saw into 
 a knotty log. His apprehension extends to the 
 viewpoints of all concerned, and he is particularly 
 happy in removing differences by promoting 
 better understanding. 
 
 "This quickness of grasp and readiness of 
 comprehension have been strildngly displayed 
 during his administration as governor. During 
 the legislative session, if he could get into confer- 
 ence with the parties to a controversy, it was 
 remarkable how rapidly he could analyze the 
 situation, exhibit its elements, and suggest the 
 solution. His dispatch of business is such that 
 business never di'ives him. He seems always to 
 
 [292] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 have time to talk and to act with dehberation, 
 whatever be the exigency, and when he is through 
 he is through. The art of hving on twenty-four 
 hours a day was learned by him many years ago, 
 and it stands him in good stead now. No man in 
 public life keeps a cleaner desk or has clearer 
 spaces of time for study and recreation in the 
 intervals of official duty. 
 
 "The habitual cheerfulness and equanimity of 
 his mind and his love of innocent fun are traits 
 so persistent as to imply permanent moral 
 foundations. It does not require much intimacy 
 to discover what these consist of — namely, a deep 
 religious faith, penetrating the whole nature of 
 the man and informing all his acts. This is the 
 source of that peace of mind which seems to make 
 him immune to worry or trouble. He takes things 
 as thej'- come, makes the best of them, and abides 
 the event with simple and complete resignation to 
 the will of God. 
 
 "The idealism that has now entered into pliil- 
 qsophy from fuller knowledge of the implica- 
 tions of the doctrine of evolution was long ago 
 perceived and appropriated by Woodrow Wil- 
 
 [293] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 son. I remember once being with him at a gath- 
 ering in one of the students' clubs at Princeton 
 when the conversation drifted around to rehgion. 
 We were grouped about a big fireplace and the 
 talk had been of a desultory character, with a 
 jocose element predominating, when some men- 
 tion was made of Herbert Spencer. Wilson 
 caught the theme on the bound and before he was 
 through with it he had turned Spencer's philoso- 
 phic system inside out, exposing the inadequacy 
 of materialism and vindicating the Christian 
 creeds as being as valid symbols as any known 
 to science. Although a member of the Presby- 
 terian church by birthright and regular in his 
 attendance, he does not talk on such subjects 
 along denominational lines; but he is quick to 
 assert his Christianity and to claim for its dogmas 
 a perfectly secure basis in logic and philosophy." 
 
 The household described in the foregoing was 
 in great measure dissolved after Woodrow Wil- 
 son's translation to the White House. On June 
 24, 1885, just about the time he began his career 
 as an educator, he married Miss Helen Louise 
 
 [294] 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 
 
 Axson of Savannah, Georgia, with whom he had 
 become acquainted during his career as a young 
 lawj^er in Atlanta. They had thi-ee daughters 
 who were arriving at the age when they might 
 enter upon individual careers just as their father 
 became a figure in national politics. The eldest 
 daughter, who, in addition to being a vocalist 
 whose natural gifts have been trained by study ' 
 in New York, is also deeply interested in move- 
 ments for social betterment, had indeed adopted 
 her career when her father was elected President. 
 The other daughters have been married since the 
 family settled in Wasliington. Then came the 
 death of Mrs. Wilson, which took place on ■ 
 August 6, 1914. Thus through death and by the 
 natural changes wrought by time, Woodrow Wil- 
 son, whose nature needs and craves domesticity, 
 was left with a lonely hearth. His personal 
 friends therefore heard with gratification of his 
 intention to marry again. On December 18, I 
 1915, he was married to Mrs. Edith Gait, for- 
 merly Miss Boiling of Wytheville, Virginia. \ 
 The ceremony took place at the bride's home in 
 Washington in the presence of a small company 
 
 [295] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 which included only immediate relatives and a 
 few personal attendants of the bridal couple. 
 The announcements sent out omitted all refer- 
 ence to the official position of the groom and in 
 all the arrangements the wedding" was treated as 
 simply the private and personal aiFair which it 
 was. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 N'OTHING more than a provisional esti- 
 mate of Woodrow Wilson's career can be 
 attempted now. The record is far from complete. 
 He is not yet sixty years of age and he is in the 
 fullness of his mental powers and his working 
 capacity. Although his term as President pre- 
 sents a record of memorable achievement, it has 
 been too short to complete much important work 
 requiring attention. Indeed, not even a begin- 
 ning has been made on one matter of inestimable 
 importance in which he has long taken the great- 
 est interest. One of the first expressions of his 
 views made after his election to the presidency 
 manifested his desire to act in the case and still 
 he has not yet been able to get around to it. 
 Under date of Januai*y 21, 1913, Senator Till- 
 man wrote to him in regard to the wasteful and 
 extravagant methods pursued in the enactment 
 
 [297] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 of appropriation bills. In his reply Mr. Wilson 
 wrote: 
 
 "Ever since I was a youngster I have been 
 deeply interested in our methods of financial leg- 
 islation. Ever since then I have insisted upon 
 the absolute necessity of a carefully considered 
 and wisely planned budget, and one of the objects 
 I shall have most in mind when I get to Wash- 
 ington will be conferences with my legislative 
 colleagues there with a view of bringing some 
 budget sj^stem into existence. ..." 
 
 Conferences on the subject took place during 
 the past year at the instance of Congressional 
 leaders, seeldng a practical solution of a difficult 
 problem but without any definite result so far. 
 It cannot be doubted, however, that President 
 Wilson will address himself to that subject as 
 soon as an opportunity can be procured. Mean- 
 while the case affords a signal instance of the 
 spirit of trusteeship in which he applies himself 
 to his tasks. This particular matter has domin- 
 ated his thoughts and studies throughout his 
 entire career as a publicist, from the time he 
 published his undergraduate essay on cabinet 
 
 [298] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 government. If lie approached his duties in a 
 doctrinaire spirit or took merely a pontifical view 
 of his functions, it is quite certain, from his deep 
 interest in the subject, that he would have given 
 it the leading place in his communications to 
 Congress. If this matter could be settled by ser- 
 monizing, that would have been done long ago. 
 It is generally admitted that the existing system 
 —or rather lack of system and sheer chaos— is 
 vicious and that it requires radical treatment, but 
 budget reform deeply involves the relations be- 
 tween the President and Congress, and, indeed, 
 the whole character of the constitutional system. 
 To attack such a problem upon no better basis 
 than individual opinion and desire would be not 
 merely futile but most probably mischievous. 
 
 Woodrow Wilson regards his office as one of 
 such power and responsibihty that inaction on 
 public issues would be culpable, but he shows 
 himself to be constantly mindful of the fact that 
 the power is not an individual prerorgative but 
 is derived from the representative value of the 
 ^ce. Although initiative is a Presidential duty, 
 legislation is the special province of Congress 
 
 [299] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 i- 
 
 and it is noticeable that while President Wilson 
 makes an energetic use of the influence of his 
 office to promote enactment, it is always in the 
 exercise of his recognized function as the party 
 leader. Acting in this capacity he can freely 
 advise and deliberate with his party adherents in 
 Congress. If distraction of sentiment or vacilla- 
 tion of purpose enfeebles party policy in Con- 
 gress he has an effective resource in that he is 
 quite willing and able to appeal to public opinion 
 so as to bring its instructions to bear upon the 
 situation. Thus while he moves forcefully he 
 moves cautiously, testing the ground for each step 
 he takes, like an elephant crossing a bridge. 
 
 In this particular case the pressure of events is 
 making for radical reform. Lack of budget 
 system is simply one phase of the irresponsible 
 goverimient whose continuance was possible only 
 during the period of our national isolation. A 
 little over twenty years ago when James Bryce 
 published his now classic treatise on "The Ameri- 
 can Commonwealth," he observed that every 
 European Power "must maintain her system of 
 government in full efficiency for war as well as 
 
 [300] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 for peace, and cannot afford to let her armaments 
 decline, her finances become disordered, the vigor 
 of her executive's authority be impaired, sources 
 of internal discord continue to prey upon her 
 vitals. But America lives in a world of her own. 
 Safe from attack, safe even from menace, she 
 hears from afar the warring cries of European 
 races and faiths, as the gods of Epicurus listened 
 to the murmurs of the unhappy earth spread out 
 beneath their golden dwelling." 
 
 That period of immunity is at end. Since 
 Bryce drew that idyllic picture the war with 
 Spain was fought and now the United States has 
 distant dependencies and possessions to manage 
 and defend. She has become a world power in 
 the scope of her interests and responsibilities. She 
 is beginning to experience the pressure of the 
 needs of subsistence and defense which have 
 everywhere at some time presented to forms of 
 government the alternative of developing effi- 
 ciency or sinking into decay. 
 
 President Wilson's address to Congress at the 
 opening of the present session submitted a pro- 
 gram of action whose legislative requirements 
 
 [301] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 with their incidental measures furnish matter 
 enough for a presidential term. The subject of 
 national defense was foremost, but in immediate 
 and strictly logical connection came the subject 
 of national subsistence. The President said: 
 
 "If other nations go to war or seek to hamper 
 each other's commerce, our merchants, it seems, 
 are at their merc}^ to do with as they please. 
 We must use their ships, and use them as they 
 determine. We have not ships enough of our 
 own. We cannot handle our own commerce on 
 the seas. Our independence is provincial, and is 
 only on land and within our own borders. We 
 are not likely to be permitted to use even the ships 
 of other nations in rivalry of their own trade, 
 and are without means to extend our commerce 
 even where the doors are wide open and our goods 
 desired. Such a situation is not to be endured. 
 It is of capital importance not only that the 
 United States should be its own carrier on the 
 seas and enjoy the economic independence which 
 only an adequate merchant marine would give it, 
 but also that the American hemisphere as a 
 whole should enjoy a like independence and self- 
 
 [302] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 sufficiency, if it is not to be drawn into the tangle 
 of European affairs. Without such independence 
 the whole question of our political unity and self- 
 determination is very seriously clouded and com- 
 plicated indeed. 
 
 "The task of building up an adequate merchant 
 marine for America private capital must ulti- 
 mately undertake and achieve, as it has under- 
 taken and achieved every other like task among 
 us in the past, with admirable enterprise, intelli- 
 gence, and vigor; and it seems to me a manifest 
 dictate of wisdom that we should promptly re- 
 move every legal obstacle that may stand in the 
 way of this much to be desired revival of our 
 old independence and should facilitate in every 
 possible way the building, purchase, and Ameri- 
 can registration of ships. But capital cannot 
 accomplish this great task of a sudden. It must 
 embark upon it by degrees, as the opportunities 
 of trade develop. 
 
 "Something must be done at once; done to open 
 routes and develop opportunities where they are 
 as yet undeveloped; done to open the arteries of 
 trade where the currents have not yet learned to 
 
 [303] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 run — especially between the two American con- 
 tinents, where they are, singularly enough, yet to 
 be created and quickened; and it is evident that 
 only the Government can undertake such begin- 
 nings and assume the initial financial risks. 
 When the risk has passed and private capital 
 begins to find its way in sufficient abundance into 
 these new channels, the Government may with- 
 draw. But it cannot omit to begin. It should 
 take the first steps, and should take them at once. 
 Our goods must not lie piled up at our ports and 
 stored upon side tracks in freight cars which are 
 daily needed on the roads ; must not be left with- 
 out means of transport to any foreign quarter. 
 We must not await the permission of foreign 
 shipowners and foreign Governments to send 
 them where we will." 
 
 At the previous session of Congress, President 
 Wilson recommended action on this matter and 
 the House responded by passing a bill to enable 
 the Government to get and use vessels in aid of 
 trade. The bill was not passed by the Senate; 
 neither was it rejected; but it was defeated by 
 sheer obstruction, its opponents availing them- 
 
 [304] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 selves of the privilege of unlimited debate to pre- 
 vent it from coming to vote. This feature of our 
 constitutional system is a strange anomaly — the 
 power of a minority to govern the country. It 
 has since become known that arrangements had 
 been made by which the Government could have 
 obtained a fleet of vessels on favorable terms. 
 That oj)portunity has since, of course, passed by. 
 The event has, however, sharpened the issue be- 
 tween public control of our national policy and 
 private manipulation of it through the exercise 
 of senatorial prerogative, which must be settled 
 before the democratic character of our Govern- 
 ment is definitely established. 
 
 An important feature of President Wilson's 
 address was that in which he urged the necessity 
 of mobilizing the industrial resources of the coun- 
 try. He remarked: 
 
 "While we speak of the preparation of the na- 
 tion to make sure of her security and her effective 
 power, we must not fall into the patent error of 
 supposing that her real strength comes from 
 armaments and mere safeguards of written law. 
 It comes, of course, from her people, their energy, 
 
 [305] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 their success in their undertakings, their free op- 
 portunity to use the natural resources of our 
 great home land and of the lands outside our con- 
 tinental borders which look to us for protection, 
 for encouragement, and for assistance in their 
 development ; from the organization and freedom 
 and vitality of our economic life. . . . 
 
 "It is the more imperatively necessary, there- 
 fore, that we should promptly devise means for 
 doing what we have not yet done : that we should 
 give intelligent federal aid and stimulation to in- 
 dustrial and vocational education, as w^e have 
 long done in the large field of our agricultural 
 industry, that at the same time that we safeguard 
 and conserve the natural resources of the country, 
 we should put them at the disposal of those who 
 will use them promptly and intelligently, as was 
 sought to be done in the admirable bills submitted 
 to the last Congress from its committees on the 
 public lands, bills which I earnestly recommend 
 in principle to your consideration ; that we should 
 put into early operation some provision for rural 
 credits which will add to the extensive borrowing 
 facilities, already afforded the farmer by the Re- 
 
 [306] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 serve Bank Act, adequate instrumentalities by 
 which long credits may be obtained on land mort- 
 gages ; and that we should study more carefully 
 than they have hitherto been studied the right 
 adaptation of our economic arrangements to 
 changing conditions." 
 
 The concluding portion of this pregnant ad- 
 dress brought up a most copious topic, the trans- 
 portation problem. He suggested the desirabil- 
 ity of an inquiry into its factors, carried on with 
 as great thoroughness as the inquiry into finan- 
 cial conditions that paved the way for currency 
 reform. President Wilson made it plain that 
 there was to be no backward step. 
 
 "The question is not what should we undo. It 
 is, whether there is anything else we can do that 
 would supply us with effective means, in the very 
 process of regulation, for bettering the condi- 
 tions under which the railroads are operated and 
 for making them more useful servants of the 
 country as a whole. It seems to me that it might 
 be the part of wisdom, therefore, before further 
 legislation in this field is attempted, to look at 
 the whole problem of coordination and efficiency 
 
 [307] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 in the full light of a fresh assessment of circum- 
 stance and opinion, as a guide to dealing with the 
 several parts of it. 
 
 "For what we are seeking now, what in my 
 mind is the single thought of this message, is 
 national efficiency and security. . . ." 
 
 It will help to understand this movement if it 
 is observed that a decided change of attitude to- 
 ward public control has taken place among rail- 
 road managers. The elements of the problem 
 will be better appreciated if the situation in this 
 country is compared with that in other countries. 
 The stringency of control that exists in Europe 
 has been criticized as unsuitable to the United 
 States because of its vast area, comparatively 
 sparse population, and undeveloped resources, 
 but all these conditions apply even more heavily 
 in the case of our next door neighbor, Canada. 
 And yet a system of complete and undisputed 
 control may be found there. A Canadian com- 
 mon carrier has no power of its own motion either 
 to make or alter a rate, but must first apply to 
 public authority for the privilege. Power to con- 
 demn property is limited to a narrow right-of- 
 
 [308] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 way strip and when private property is sought 
 for terminal facilities or station buildings, expro- 
 priation proceedings must be instituted before 
 public authority. The proportion of capitaliza- 
 tion and debentures to length of line and extent 
 of equipment is also regulated by public author- 
 ity. In the United States the practice has been 
 to turn over to the railway corporations the state's 
 power of eminent domain, by general grants for 
 use in their own discretion. Issues of stocks and 
 bonds have been determined by railway managers 
 according to their own notions of duty and con- 
 venience, with the result that the field of railway 
 management has been invaded by practices which 
 are not morally distinguishable from ordinary 
 swindling. The abuses that have appeared 
 prompted long ago a demand for legal remedy, 
 but instead of instituting control all that was 
 done was to create a commission with powers of 
 interference. It is now recognized that railroad 
 managers made a capital blunder in opposing 
 public regulation and in exerting their influence 
 to minimize its power and extent. It is obvious 
 that the effective control which exists in Canada 
 
 [309] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 has not hindered raih'oad development in that 
 country. On the contrary it has gone on with 
 amazing celerity, in anticipation of the prospec- 
 tive development of the interior. Moreover the 
 popular hostility to corporations, so marked in 
 the United States, is absent in Canada. In sub- 
 mitting themselves unreservedly to public control 
 the corporations enjoy a corresponding protec- 
 tion which facilitates all their tasks of manage- 
 ment. The climate of good will in wliich they 
 flourish and expand is in striking contrast to the 
 rancor and distrust that clog corporation man- 
 agement in the United States. Things have 
 reached such a pass that railway managers who 
 perform their functions in a spirit of trusteeship 
 and not merely with a sense of private oppor- 
 tunity have now become desirous of a system of 
 control that will relieve them of the necessity of 
 maintaining legislative lobbies and paying black- 
 mail to politicians, and that will fortify corpora- 
 tion credit by governmental warrant of the good 
 faith of proposed issues. The time seems ripe for 
 a comprehensive treatment of what is probably 
 the most intricate and difficult problem of Amer- 
 
 [310] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 ican politics, and it must be reckoned one of 
 President Wilson's greatest achievements that he 
 has managed to put this matter in line for thor- 
 ough treatment. 
 
 In addition to the important subjects proposed 
 for action by his opening address, another topic 
 of the first rank came up during the session. 
 European developments have plainly indicated 
 that hereafter the United States will have to ad- 
 just its industrial activities to an environment 
 very different from that which has existed here- 
 tofore. Arrangements are making among the 
 nations to mobilize industry and to seize trade 
 by means admitting of such prompt and ener- 
 getic action. Without the development of new 
 faculties with which to meet the new conditions, 
 the United States would be like a huge but un- 
 wieldy dinosaur among hungry lions. To meet 
 this situation President Wilson proposes the crea- 
 tion of a permanent tariff commission to keep 
 watch upon conditions and to suggest the proper 
 means to uphold, protect, and defend American 
 interests. 
 
 The question has been raised, whether Presi- 
 [311] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 dent Wilson is available for reelection, however 
 desirable his services might be to the nation in 
 carrying to fruition the work he has begun. It 
 is well known that there is nothing in the Consti- 
 tution of the United States to prohibit reelection. 
 That matter was pondered by the framers of the 
 Constitution and they decided in favor of con- 
 tinued eligibility. The established political tra- 
 dition is that one good term deserves another. 
 But the Democratic national platform of 1912 
 contained a plank in favor of limiting the Presi- 
 dent to a single term. Wilson had nothing to 
 do with that action and was not consulted about 
 it. But it so happened that application was made 
 to him for his views on the subject before he took 
 office. His repty, which discusses the subject on 
 its merits, is too important a document to be 
 abridged, and it will be found in full as an appen- 
 dix to this volume. 
 
 Although it is too soon for a reckoning of the 
 achievements of Woodrow Wilson's career as a 
 statesman, yet one is on ground that is definitely 
 settled in considering his character. Here at 
 least is something that stands forth in the vicis- 
 
 [312] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 situdes of the period as that which is fixed, cer- 
 tain, and complete. The cause of its marked ex- 
 cellence as an instrmnent of public service is evi- 
 dently this : that it exhibits one of those rare con- 
 junctions of great intelligence with great force 
 of character, whose advent to power makes an 
 epoch in the life of a nation. When such a 
 combination appears on the scene everything 
 changes; drift is succeeded by direction, oppor- 
 tunism by management ; and routine is varied by 
 fresh initiative and new purpose. The combina- 
 tion occurs rarely, for great intelligence is not 
 usually associated with great strength of char- 
 acter. Fine intelligence is apt to be in the main 
 the product of vision and sensibihty, and these 
 are generally accompanied by variability of mood 
 and a tenderness of feeling disinclining one for 
 rough encounters. Everyone knows how unre- 
 liable clever people may be. On the other hand, 
 great strength of character is apt to be accom- 
 panied by a degree of obtuseness and insensibil- 
 ity. As a political staple, character is far more 
 important than intelligence, and in a sound con- 
 stitutional system, power will prefer solidity of 
 
 [313] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 character to all other qualifications. But the 
 great readjustments that must take place in the 
 affairs of nations if they are to retain their health 
 and vigor, seem to be contingent upon the ap- 
 pearance of a statesman in whom intellectual dis- 
 cernment and strength of character are united. 
 Pitt, Cavour, and Bismarck are examples of the 
 type furnished by modern history. A marked 
 characteristic of the type is modesty. That is a 
 quality imparted by the intelligence, but it is an 
 element that promotes freedom of action, for 
 there is no humiliation for humility. Its ac- 
 tivity is essentially instrumental, and gains its 
 ends not by imperiousness but through ability to 
 serve. Not until the account is made up and 
 events are seen in their historical perspective can 
 it be said where Woodrow Wilson will stand in 
 this class, but he certainly belongs to it. He is 
 a statesman of this rare type, and this is the ex- 
 planation of his power. It is not uncommon in 
 state politics to pick for governor some man of 
 civic distinction but political inexperience, usually 
 with the result that his position in his own admin- 
 istration is merely that of a figure-head. Just 
 
 [314] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 such an expectation was undoubtedly entertained 
 in respect of Wilson, and his great intelligence 
 alone would not have secured him against that 
 destiny. There is much truth in Selden's saying 
 that no man is the wiser for his learning. The 
 basis of Wilson's success is the hard, strong, reso- 
 lute, courageous character that was born in him; 
 but having that character such circumstances as 
 that it was engined by great knowledge and pro- 
 pelled by great intelligence made it the most 
 forceful and efficacious instrument of popular 
 rule that has been developed in American politics 
 for many years. Its energetic strokes are mak- 
 ing a great chapter of our history. 
 
 With this extraordinary capacity for public 
 service, which is his distinguishing characteristic 
 as a statesman, there was associated a fullness of 
 opportunity that seems somehow to belong to 
 the type. It has a way of making its appearance 
 when old ways are breaking down, when exist- 
 ing methods are found to be inadequate, and 
 when there seems to be an exhaustion of the re- 
 sources of statesmanship. At the time Wood- 
 row Wilson entered politics the ship of state 
 
 [315] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 seemed to have become a derelict, swinging on 
 the tides and veering with the winds, but incapa- 
 ble of settled course and direction. A poignant 
 instance of this is afforded by the many years of 
 uncertainty, irresolution, and futility character- 
 izing the treatment of the currency question. It 
 seemed that nothing could be done that could not 
 be arranged by truck and dicker among particu- 
 lar interests. To digest plans for the public wel- 
 fare and bring them to determination seemed to 
 be beyond the ability of the Government. Both 
 friends and foes agree to the proposition that 
 Woodrow Wilson has changed all that, and that 
 decision and energy have been infused into the 
 conduct of public affairs. 
 
 Events are still too near and details are too 
 incompletely known to admit of a computation of 
 constitutional results, but it is at least perfectly 
 plain that standards of official duty have been 
 established that must affect the behavior of his 
 successors. The great defect of our constitution 
 in the present stage of its development is the 
 opportunity it affords for avoidance of respon- 
 sibility. Under both the English and the Swiss 
 
 [316] 
 
A MID-CAREER APPRECIATION 
 
 system it is the recognized duty of the adminis- 
 tration not merely to say that something ought 
 to be done, but to prepare and state the means 
 of doing it. But in the past we have allowed 
 presidents to pass the responsibility on to Con- 
 gress, while in its turn, and with greater justice, 
 the Congress may lay the responsibility on the 
 President. His position is essentially one of such 
 power and responsibility that it is impossible to 
 make it inert. A President may resolve to be 
 entirely neutral on a pending measure, but never- 
 theless his office will exert a tremendous influence 
 through his very inactivity. Senator John Sher- 
 man in his "Memoirs" ascribed the passage of the 
 Silver Purchase Act to the fact that the Congres- 
 sional leaders were unable to learn from the then 
 President what action he would take on silver 
 coinage, and hence they resorted to a compromise 
 measure. Thus a President who apparently did 
 nothing in reality started a train of events that 
 culminated in a desolating financial panic. The 
 strongest argument in favor of closer relations 
 between Congress and the President is that it 
 will subject the President to a sharper and more 
 
 [317] 
 
WOODROW WILSON 
 
 exacting- responsibility for the proper discharge 
 of his functions. But meanwhile the terms of his 
 oath of office and the injunctions of the Consti- 
 tution should be enough to apprise any man of 
 honor and courage who takes office as President 
 of the United States that he cannot acquit him- 
 self of his obligations merely by requesting Con- 
 g-ress to take matters into consideration. It is 
 his duty to take an active part in shaping the 
 details of legislation, in promoting action, and 
 in enforcing party discipline. In all these mat- 
 ters Woodrow Wilson has set such high stand- 
 ards of constitutional propriety, and he has es- 
 tablished such cogent precedents, that the char- 
 acter of the presidential office will be permanently 
 affected. Our constitutional sj^stem is yet to be 
 fully democratized, has yet to attain its final form. 
 When the time comes for history to display the 
 process, Woodrow Wilson's Administration will 
 figure as the beginning of a new era. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 THE PLACE OF THE PRESIDENT IN OUR POLITICAL 
 SYSTEM 
 
 AFTER the presidential election of 1912, but be- 
 fore Woodrow Wilson had assumed the presi- 
 dential office, he was consulted by Representative A. 
 Mitchell Palmer of Pennsylvania with respect to amend- 
 ing the Constitution so as to make an elected incum- 
 bent of the presidential office ineligible for reelection. 
 In reply Mr. Wilson wrote the following letter : 
 
 State of New Jersey, 
 
 Executive Department, 
 
 Feb. 13, 1913. 
 My dear Palmer: 
 
 Thank you warmly for your letter of Feb. 3. It 
 was characteristically considerate of you to ask my 
 views with regard to the joint resolution which has just 
 come over from the House to the Senate with regard to 
 the Presidential term. 
 
 I have not hitherto said anything about this ques- 
 tion, because I had not observed that the public was 
 very much interested in it. I must have been mistaken 
 in this, else the Senate would hardly have acted so 
 promptly upon it. 
 
 [319] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 It is a matter which concerns the character and 
 conduct of the great office upon the duties of which I 
 am about to enter. I feel, therefore, that in the present 
 circumstances, I should not be acting consistently with 
 my ideals with regard to the rule of entire frankness 
 and plain speaking that ought to exist between public 
 servants and the public whom they serve, if I did not 
 speak out about it without reserve of any kind, and 
 without thought of the personal embarrassment. 
 
 The question is simply this : Shall our Presidents be 
 free, so far as the law is concerned, to seek a second 
 term of four years, or shall they be limited by constitu- 
 tional amendment to a single term of four years, or 
 to a single term extended to six years? 
 
 I can approach the question from a perfectly imper- 
 sonal point of view, because I shall most cheerfully 
 abide by the judgment of my party and the public as 
 to whether I shall be a candidate for the Presidency 
 again in 1916. I absolutely pledge myself to resort to 
 nothing but public opinion to decide that question. 
 
 The President ought to be absolutely deprived of 
 every other means of deciding it. He can be. I shall 
 use to the utmost every proper influence within my 
 reach to see that he is, before the term to which I have 
 been elected is out. That side of the matter need dis- 
 turb no one. 
 
 And yet, if he is deprived of every other means of 
 [320] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 deciding the question, what becomes of the argument 
 for a constitutional limitation to a single term? The 
 argument is not that it is clearly known now just how 
 long each President should remain in office. Four years 
 is too long a term for a President who is not the true 
 spokesman of the people, who is imposed upon and 
 does not lead. It is too short a term for a President 
 who is doing or attempting a great work of reform and 
 who has not had time to finish it. 
 
 To change the term to six years would be to increase 
 the likelihood of its being too long, without any as- 
 surance that it would, in happy cases, be long enough. 
 A fixed constitutional limitation to a single term of of- 
 fice is highly arbitrary and unsatisfactory from every 
 point of view. 
 
 The argument for it rests upon temporary conditions 
 which can easily be removed by law. Presidents, it 
 is said, are effective for one-half of their term only 
 because they devote their attention during the last two 
 years of the term to building up the influences, and 
 above all the organization, by which they hope and 
 purpose to secure a second nomination and election. 
 
 It is their illicit power, not their legitimate influence 
 with the country, that the advocates of a constitutional 
 change profess to be afraid of, and I heartily sympa- 
 thize with them. It is intolerable that any President 
 should be permitted to determine who should succeed 
 
 [321] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 him — ^himself or another — by patronage or coercion, 
 or by any sort of control of the machinery by which 
 delegates to the nominating convention are chosen. 
 
 There ought never to be another Presidential nomi- 
 nating convention; and there need never be another. 
 Several of the States have successfully solved that dif- 
 ficulty with regard to the choice of their Governors, 
 and Federal law can solve it in the same way with re- 
 gard to the choice of Presidents. The nominations 
 should be made directly by the people at the polls. 
 
 Conventions should determine nothing but party plat- 
 forms, and should be made up of the men who would 
 be expected, if elected, to carry those platforms into 
 effect. It is not necessary to attend to the people's 
 business by constitutional amendment if you will only 
 actually put the business into the people's own hands. 
 
 I think it may safely be assumed that that will be 
 done within the next four years, for it can be done by 
 statute ; it need not wait for constitutional change. 
 That being done, the question of the Presidential term 
 can be discussed on its merits. 
 
 It must be clear to everybody who has studied our 
 pohtical development at all that the character of the 
 Presidency is passing through a transitional stage. We 
 know what the office is now and what use must be made 
 of it ; but we do not know what it is going to work out 
 into ; and until we do know, we shall not know what 
 
 [322] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 constitutional change, if any is needed, it would be best 
 to make. 
 
 I must speak with absolute freedom and candor in 
 this matter, or not speak at all; and it seems to me 
 that the present position of the Presidency in our actual 
 system, as we use it, is quite abnormal and must lead 
 eventually to something very dijfferent. 
 
 He is expected by the nation to be the leader of his 
 party as well as the chief executive officer of the Gov- 
 ernment, and the country will take no excuses from him. 
 He must play the part and play it successfully, or lose 
 the country's confidence. He must be Prime Minister, 
 as much concerned with the guidance of legislation as 
 with the just and orderly execution of law; and he is 
 the spokesman of the nation in everything, even the 
 most momentous and most delicate dealings of the Gov- 
 ernment with foreign nations. 
 
 Why in such circumstances should he be responsible 
 to^no one for four long years? All the people's legisla- 
 tive spokesmen in the House of Representatives and one- 
 third of their representatives in the Senate are brought 
 to book every two years ; why not the President, if he is 
 to be the leader of the party and the spokesman of 
 policy? 
 
 Sooner or later, it would seem, he must be made an- 
 swerable to opinion in a somewhat more informal and 
 intimate fashion — answerable, it may be, to the Houses 
 
 [323] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 whom he seeks to lead, either personally or through a 
 Cabinet, as well as to the people for whom they speak. 
 But that is a matter to be worked out — as it inevitably 
 will be — in some natural American way which we can- 
 not yet even predict. 
 
 The present fact is that the President is held re- 
 sponsible for what happens in Washington in every 
 large matter, and so long as he is commanded to lead 
 he is surely entitled to a certain amount of power — all 
 the power he can get from the support and convictions 
 and opinions of his fellow countrymen ; and he ought to 
 be suffered to use that power against his opponents un- 
 til his work is done. It will be very difficult for him 
 to abuse it. He holds it upon sufferance, at the pleasure 
 of public opinion. Everyone else, his opponents in- 
 cluded, has access to opinion, as he has. He must keep 
 the confidence of the country by earning it, for he can 
 keep it in no other way. 
 
 Put the present customary limitation of two terms 
 into the Constitution, if you do not trust the people 
 to take care of themselves, but make it two terms (not 
 one, because four years is often too long) and give the 
 President a chance to win the full service by proving 
 himself fit for it. 
 
 If you wish to learn the result of constitutional Ineli- 
 gibility to reelection, ask any former Governor of New 
 Jersey, for example, what the effect is in actual experi- 
 
 [324] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 ence. He will tell you how cynically and with what 
 complacence the politicians banded against him waited 
 for the inevitable end of his term to take their chances 
 with his successor. 
 
 Constitutions place and can place no limitations 
 upon their power. They may control what Governors 
 they can as long as they please, as long as they can keep 
 their outside power and influence together. They 
 smile at the coming and going of Governors as some men 
 in Washington have smiled at the coming and going 
 of Presidents, as upon things ephemeral, which passed 
 and were soon enough got rid of if you but sat tight 
 and waited. 
 
 As things stand now the people might more likely be 
 cheated than served by further limitations of the Presi- 
 dent's eligibility. His fighting power in their behalf 
 would be immensely weakened. No one will fear a Presi- 
 dent except those whom he can make fear the elections. 
 
 We singularly belie our own principles by seeking to 
 determine by fixed constitutional provision what the 
 people shall determine for themselves and are perfectly 
 competent to determine for themselves. We cast a 
 doubt upon the whole theory of popular government. // 
 
 I believe that we should fatally embarrass ourselves 
 If we made the constitutional change proposed; if we 
 want our Presidents to fight our battles for us, we 
 should give them the means, the legitimate means, the 
 
 [325] 
 
 w 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 means their opponents will always have. Strip them 
 of everything else but the right to appeal to the people, 
 but leave them that ; suffer them to be leaders ; abso- 
 lutely prevent them from being bosses. 
 
 We would otherwise appear to be going in two oppo- 
 site directions. We are seeking in every way to extend 
 the power of the people, but in the matter of the Presi- 
 dency we fear and distrust the people and seek to bind 
 them hand and foot by rigid constitutional provision. 
 My own mind is not agile enough to go both ways. 
 
 I am very well aware that my position on this ques- 
 tion will be misconstrued, but that is a matter of per- 
 fect indifference to me. The truth is much more im- 
 portant than my reputation for modesty and lack of 
 personal ambition. My reputation will take care of it- 
 self, but constitutional questions and questions of policy 
 will not take care of themselves without frank and fear- 
 less discussion. 
 
 I am not speaking for my own reelection ; I^am speak- 
 ing to redeem my promise that I would say what I 
 really think on every public question and take my 
 chan ces in the court of public opinion. 
 
 WooDROW Wilson. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, John Quincy, 167. 
 
 American Bankers Association, 
 101. 
 
 American Bar Association, 26. 
 
 American constitutions, 129. 
 
 Ancona, sinking of, 269. 
 
 Arabic, sinking of, 269. 
 
 Argentina offers mediation, 236. 
 
 Association of Colleges and Pre- 
 paratory Schools of Middle 
 States, 48. 
 
 Bagehot, Walter, 13, 54. 
 
 Balfour, Premier, 246. 
 
 Baltimore convention, 157-159. 
 
 Boss rule, natural fruit of Amer- 
 ican conditions, 108, 131; Wil- 
 son's antagonism to, 128. 
 
 Boy-Ed, Captain, expelled, 273. 
 
 Brazil, offers mediation, 236. 
 
 Bryan, W. J., resigns office, 260. 
 
 Bryce, Viscount, on American 
 university presidents, 113; on 
 American isolation, 300. 
 
 Bryn Mawr College, 21, 22. 
 
 Budget reform, 299-301. 
 
 Business interests, influence of, 
 on legislation, 190. 
 
 Canada, parliamentary sessions 
 in, 164; railroad legislation, 
 308. 
 
 Cannon, Speaker, revolt against, 
 119; nature of rule of, 168. 
 
 Carranza, General, Vera Cruz 
 turned over to, 238. 
 
 Caucus, seat of political author- 
 ity, 167; action of, on currency 
 bill, 204. 
 
 Chile, offers mediation, 236. 
 
 Civic League of St. Louis, 107. 
 
 Classical studies, 38, 40. 
 
 Clayton Anti-trust Act, 194. 
 
 Cleveland, Grover, 65. 
 
 Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, 
 100. 
 
 Columbia (S. C.) Theological 
 Seminary, 5. 
 
 Commission Plan, made option- 
 al in New Jersey, 143. 
 
 Committee on Rules, its powers, 
 169. 
 
 Congress, its methods and char- 
 acteristics, 14, 71, 84, 90-97, 
 110, 112, 166, 170, 178-181, 190, 
 198, 242, 299, 304, 316. 
 
 Corporation management, public 
 regulation of, 100, 105, 117, 
 122, 126, 152, 192-194. 
 
 Currency reform, Wilson's dis- 
 claimer of expert knowledge 
 on, 159; the situation on, con- 
 fronting Wilson, 195-210; op- 
 position of banking interests 
 
 [327] 
 
INDEX 
 
 to, 206; features of the meas- Industrial conditions, legislation 
 ure on, enacted, 208. j on, 192. 
 
 j International Congress of Edu- 
 
 Democratic Overlords, the, 131. ' y . . ' ' m j n • • 
 ^ , . , ' „ , Interstate Trade Commission, 
 
 Dumba, Ambassador, expelled, jg- 
 
 273. 
 
 Economic problems, 77, 103. 
 
 Economy and Efl5ciency Commis- 
 sion, 151. 
 
 Educational ideals, 35, 41, 49. 
 
 Employers' Liability Law, 138. 
 
 English constitutional system, 
 316. 
 
 Federal Reserve Act, see Cur- 
 rency Reform. 
 
 Fenn, Harry, 65. 
 
 First Presbyterian Church of 
 Augusta (Ga.), 5. 
 
 First Presbyterian Church of 
 Chillicothe, 4. 
 
 First Presbyterian Church of 
 Wilmington, N. C, 5. 
 
 French revolutionary political in- 
 fluence, 130. 
 
 Gerard, Ambassador, 248. 
 Guatemala, 239. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, Pacificus 
 
 letters of, 254. 
 Hampden Sydney College, 4. 
 Huerta, General, not recognized 
 
 by Wilson, 231. 
 
 Jefferson College, 3, 4. 
 
 Johns Hopkins University, 20, 
 
 23, 54. 
 Jury reform, 153. 
 
 Labor, Wilson's attitude to, 122. 
 
 Lake Forest College, 23. 
 
 Lamar, the late Justice, 7. 
 
 Lansing, Robert, becomes Secre- 
 tary of State, 260. 
 
 Lee, General, 104. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 64, 106. 
 
 Liquor trafl5c, Wilson's views as 
 to, 141. 
 
 Lobby, secret of power of, 131, 
 148; attacked by Wilson, 185. 
 
 Lusitania, sinking of, 268. 
 
 Lyme, Conn., 124. 
 
 McCombs, Wm. F., establishes 
 Wilson campaign bureau, 156. 
 
 Madison, James, 69. 
 
 Maine, Sir Henry, 74. 
 
 Merchant marine, 302, 304. 
 
 Mexico, civil war in, 230-239. 
 
 Moro country, improved condi- 
 tions in, 224-226. 
 
 Nassau Liteiary Magazine, 10. 
 National banking system, 196. 
 
 [328] 
 
INDEX 
 
 New England Association of 
 Colleges and Preparatory- 
 Schools, 33. 
 
 New Jersey, Democratic conven- 
 tions, 121, 149; policy as to 
 corporations in, 126; state con- 
 stitution of, 130; struggle in, 
 over election to U. S. Senate, 
 133; reform program in, 137; 
 employers' liability law in, 
 138; reforms enacted in, 140; 
 proposed revision of legislative 
 rules in, 149; peculiar electoral 
 arrangements in, 150. 
 
 New Jersey Historical Society, 
 62. 
 
 Niagara Falls Conference, 237. 
 
 Oglethorpe University, 5. 
 Ollivier, Premier, 246. 
 
 Page, Ambassador, 264. 
 
 Palmer, Representative A. M., 
 319. 
 
 Pan-American Scientific Con- 
 gress, 243. 
 
 Papen, von. Captain, expelled, 
 273. 
 
 Party contributions from corpor- 
 ations, 114. 
 
 Party machinery, cause of its 
 complexity, 167. 
 
 Payne, Chairman, on "jokers," 
 177. 
 
 Pennsylvania State Sabbath 
 School Association, 50. 
 
 Persia, sinking of the, 272. 
 
 Philippine Commission recon- 
 struction, 223. 
 
 Philippines, situation in, 211-223; 
 local opinion on policy of ad- 
 ministration in, 227-229. 
 
 Pitt, William, 245. 
 
 Preceptorial system, genesis of, 
 30; introduced at Princeton, 
 46-48. 
 
 Presbyterian Church, South, 5. 
 
 President, the, duties and powers 
 of, 17, 59, 83, 89, 165-171, 175, 
 203, 299, 316, 319-326. 
 
 Presidential election of 1912, 163. 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary, 
 3. 
 
 Princetonian, The, 10. 
 
 Princeton University, 8, 18, 23, 
 30, 34, 40, 41, 47, 53, 98, 113, 
 124. 
 
 Pyle, Howard, 65. 
 
 Quezon, Hon. Manuel L., letter 
 to, from Wilson, 223. 
 
 Record, George L., political cate- 
 chism of, 127; advises as to 
 legislation, 135. 
 
 Religion, 51, 52, 293. 
 
 Republican Board of Guardians, 
 131. 
 
 Rights under international law, 
 239-242. 
 
 Rural credits, 306. 
 
 Separation of the powers, effect 
 on American politics, 129. 
 
 [329] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Seven Sisters, the, group of re- 
 form measures, 153. 
 
 Shaw, Albert, 280. 
 
 Sherman, Senator John, 317. 
 
 Shorthand, used by Wilson, 69, 
 99. 
 
 Southern Society of New York, 
 102. 
 
 Southwestern Presbyterian Uni- 
 versity, 5. 
 
 State Rights, 80. 
 
 Steubenville Male Academy, 3. 
 
 Switzerland, legislative process 
 in, 170, 180, 316. 
 
 Taft, President, intervenes in 
 tariff making, 178; on the Moro 
 peril, 227. 
 
 Tampico, our flag insulted at, 
 236. 
 
 Tariff Commission, visits Atlan- 
 ta, 19. 
 
 Tariff revision, the legislative 
 process, 110, 177-179; Wilson's 
 views on, 161 ; urged upon Con- 
 gress, 171 ; draft of bill sub- 
 mitted to Wilson, 182; bill 
 passed by Congress, 184; ex- 
 pert opinion on its merits, 187. 
 
 Taussig, Professor F. W., on our 
 tariff history, 177, 185, 187-190. 
 
 Tillman, Senator, 297. 
 
 Tobacco, 85. 
 
 Transportation problem, 307, 
 308, 310. 
 
 Trust regulation, see Corpora- 
 tion control. 
 
 Tulane University, 23. 
 
 Underwood, Chairman, 184. 
 University of North Carolina, 
 
 104. 
 University of Virginia, 18. 
 
 Vera Cruz, occupied, 236. 
 Vest, Senator, on legislative 
 
 blackmail, 180. 
 Virginia State Bar Association, 
 
 87. 
 
 Warner, Charles Dudley, 64. 
 
 War zone, German proclamation 
 of, 265. 
 
 Washington, President, personal 
 traits of, 65; relations of, with 
 Congress, 166, 171; neutrality 
 policy of, 254; farewell ad- 
 dress of, 260. 
 
 Wesleyan University, 22. 
 
 West, the, historical significance 
 of, 64. 
 
 Western Theological Seminary, 3. 
 
 Whig Hall, joined by Wilson, 10. 
 
 Wxlliam P. Frye, American ship, 
 262. 
 
 Wilson, James, Ulster emigrant, 
 1; Ohio editor, 2; grandfather 
 of Woodrow Wilson, 3. 
 
 Wilson, Joseph Ruggles, son of 
 James, 2; career as minister 
 and educator, 2-4; father of 
 Woodrow Wilson, 4; death of, 
 5. 
 
 Wilson, Woodrow, ancestry, 1-4 
 childhood, 6; education, 7-18 
 matriculates at Princeton, 8 
 record for scholarship, 9; edits 
 
 [330] 
 
INDEX 
 
 college periodicals, 10; essay 
 on "Cabinet Government," 11- 
 18; enters law school of Uni- 
 versity of Virginia, 18; begins 
 law practice at Atlanta, 19; 
 enters Johns Hopkins Univer- 
 sity, 20; joins faculty of Bryn 
 Mawr College, 21; called to 
 Wesleyan University, 22 ; called 
 to Princeton University, 23; 
 elected president of Princeton, 
 23; addresses: on educational 
 topics, 23-52; on professional 
 education, 24, 26; on relation 
 of university training to citi- 
 zenship, 27, 42; conceives the 
 preceptorial system, 30, 46-48; 
 on science and culture, 31-33, 
 38; on spurious vs. real patri- 
 otism, 33; Princeton inaugural 
 address, 34-40; principles of 
 educational control, 40, 48; 
 Princeton system of group 
 elections, 40, 41; classroom 
 methods, 47, 48; views on re- 
 ligion, 51; literary activities, 
 53; essay on "Committee or 
 Cabinet Government," 54 ; trea- 
 tise on "Congressional Govern- 
 ment," 54 ; literary methods, 56 ; 
 political and literary essays, 
 57; textbook on government, 
 57; views on the relations be- 
 tween President and Congress, 
 59; historical writings, 61; 
 criticizes New England school 
 of history, 62; on the West 
 as a national factor, 64; his 
 
 studies of Washington's career, 
 65; his estimate of Cleveland's 
 career, 66; essay on the mak- 
 ing of the nation, 69; essay 
 on "Being Human," 73; es- 
 say on Sir Henry Maine, 74; 
 essay on "Reconstruction," 76; 
 his "History of the American 
 People," 76; treatise on "State 
 Rights," 76; essay on a half- 
 century of American politics, 
 77; essay on "The States and 
 the Federal Government," 80; 
 treatise on "Constitutional Gov- 
 ernment in the United States," 
 82; his views of presidential 
 function, 83, 88; his oratorical 
 method, 86, 100; his views on 
 governmental structure, 88, 108 ; 
 as to the Senate, 92 ; his use of 
 shorthand, 99; views on prob- 
 lem of corporation control, 
 100, 105, 117, 122, 126,152,162; 
 on the banking function, 102; 
 address on the political issues 
 of the times, 102; address on 
 Abraham Lincoln, 107; exami- 
 nation of the Payne-Aldrich 
 tariff bill, 110; speech on Dem- 
 ocratic party principles, 115; 
 movement to nominate him for 
 governor of New Jersey, 119; 
 becomes a receptive candidate, 
 120; nominated, 121; defines 
 his attitude to organized labor, 
 122; speech accepting the nom- 
 ination, 125; his answers to a 
 political catechism, 127; pledges 
 
 [331] 
 
INDEX 
 
 war on boss-rule, 128; involved 
 in a faction war, 132; active 
 in promoting legislation, 135; 
 participates in legislative cau- 
 cus, 137; measures enacted 
 during his administration, 
 140; his veto messages, 141; 
 position on local option issue, 
 141 ; constitutional principles 
 asserted by him, 143; views on 
 relations of executive and leg- 
 islature, 146 ; advocates an 
 economy and efficiency com- 
 mission, 151; advocates regula- 
 tion of corporations, 153; pro- 
 motes jury reform, 154; be- 
 comes candidate for President, 
 155; declines state convention 
 indorsement, 156; puts himself 
 in opposition to national ex- 
 ecutive committee, 158; nomi- 
 nated for President, 159; his 
 speech of acceptance, 159-163; 
 elected President, 163 ; his cabi- 
 net appointments, 165; revives 
 Washington's practice of oral 
 address to Congress, ITl; his 
 inaugural address, 171-174; 
 convokes Congress in extra 
 session, 175; tariff revision 
 urged by special message, 182; 
 passage of tariff bill, 184; di- 
 rects public attention to lobby 
 machinations, 185; addresses 
 Congress on business and in- 
 dustrial conditions, 192; advo- 
 cates currency reform, 199- 
 203; participates in legislative 
 
 process, 203; refuses to accept 
 any compromise, 206; his Phil- 
 ippine policy, 223-229; his 
 Mexican policy, 231-235, 239- 
 242 ; orders occupation of Vera 
 Cruz, 236; accepts South 
 American mediation, 237; his 
 Pan-American policy, 244; is- 
 sues neutrality proclamation, 
 247; offers his good offices to 
 belligerents, 247; appealed to 
 by European rulers, 249; ad- 
 dress to American people on 
 war issues, 250; extremes meet 
 in opposition to his policy, 252 ; 
 precedents followed by him, 
 256-259; resignation of Secre- 
 tary Bryan, 260; diplomatic 
 controversies with belligerents, 
 262-272 ; German submarine 
 warfare modified in deference 
 to his demands, 271 ; vindica- 
 tion of neutral rights, 272; 
 message to Congress on intes- 
 tine foes, 273; on national pre- 
 paredness, 277; personal traits, 
 280-295; his household, 294- 
 296; his deep interest in budget 
 reform, 298; urges government 
 action to establish a merchant 
 marine, 302; advocates indus- 
 trial and vocational education, 
 306; advocates rural credits, 
 306; discusses the transpor- 
 tation problem, 307-310; pro- 
 poses a permanent tariff com- 
 mission, 311; letter on the 
 presidential term, 312, 319; an 
 
 [332] 
 
INDEX 
 
 appreciation of his statesman- 
 ship, 312-318. 
 
 Woodrow, Miss Janet, marries 
 Joseph R. Wilson, 3; mother 
 of Woodrow Wilson, 4, 
 
 Woodrow, Rev. Dr. Thomas, ma- 
 
 ternal grandfather of Wood- 
 row Wilson, 3, 4. 
 Worcester, Dean C, on Moro 
 peril, 227. 
 
 Yale University, 23. 
 
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