ALOOFNESS OF PRESIDENT WILSON

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2976, 13 January 1917, Page 15

ALOOFNESS OF PRESIDENT WILSON

. —-4 — A- STRIKING CHANGE. , The striking change that has come . over Mr. Wilson since he became Presi- ; dent of the United States is the burden of a paper entitled "The Mystery of Woodrow • Wilson/' ijritten for the "North American Review" by Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard. As Governor of New Jersey he was the easily accessible 1 tribune of tho people, genial and frank, ready to take counsel, and on good terms with, the representatives of the leading organs of the press. But, if we aro to ; believe Mr. Villard, from the beginning of tho first term at the White House he : changed his policy, and became a soli- 1 tary, holding himself aloof from politic oians and business men alike. "He no longer worked," we are told, "in the open; he sought counsel of iewer and fower; his door no longer stood ajar; even his Cabinet knoir him only for days and weeks at a time, becoming often a mere chorus of ratification. Visitors and volunteer advisers irere no longer welcome—more than that, they, were under suspicion of some ulterior motive. The burden of proof that they were not. secretly in the pay of tho magnates of Wall.Street rested upon thorn. Notably his this been the case -with those having knowledge of Mexico. . . . Some of the strongest and most loyal supporters of Mr. Wilson have been denied a word with him, and the sole explanation is. the Presidential theory that they had nothing to give him. Here we have considerable light, on much) that is puzzling. The President seems never to ask what ho can do for othoTs, particularly for those who have worked for him with complete and devoted enthusiasm, i . . He never realises how much a friendly handclasp, a pat on tho back, a word of whole-hearted praise would do for one labouring by day and night in his service and in that of tho party. So he has been .a stranger even to his own lieutenants." : ' Highi officials, diplomatic and other, who have done important work practically find their first-hand information neither sought for nor desired by the White House. A year after their appointment tho members, of tho Federal Reserve Board, for example, had never met the President, 6ave at an official reception, and they were not invited to that until tho attention of some White Houso functionary was called to tho presence of this very important board at Washington. Members of Congress only see tho President ivhen they happen to be sent for to. do something for him, to put through some, legislation or to- cease thoir ojfoosition' to some project of his. Governors of States sometimes cannot gain access to hiru, and some of his ablest Ministers havo known him only in so far as tho routine of thoir offices demanded his attention. Tho President's aloofness was specially notable throughout tho Lusitania crisis. "Mr. Wilson held no Cabinet meetings at that grave time, savo to lay before his constitutional advisers for their approval tho fruits of his meditation. In between whiles ho scarcely saw them—not even tho Secretary of State." According to Mr. Villard, it,is a patont fact that "Wilson government is one-man government, of a different typo of the Roosevelt brand, but nono tho less government by\an individual to n most unusual extent. It is," ho declares, "not party leadership, but party dictatorship," He furthor iisserts that Mr. Wilson's reelection conld bo duo only to gratitude for his services, more particularly in keeping tho country out of tho war, for ho is "unloved by his party or tho grateful masses of his countrymen."