NEW PRESIDENT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 8 November 1912, Page 5

NEW PRESIDENT

DR WILSON'S ELECTION

"BRITAIN'S GOOD FRIEND/'

(Press Association. —Copyright.) LONDON, November 7.

"The Times" says the American House is strongly Democratic, and there are indications of a small Democratic majority in the Senate. Britain has every reason to expect that Dr. Wilson will be her good friend, but the formula that will cover the Democratic external policy is hard to find, owing to the lapse of time since the last Democratic President held office.

STOCK EXCHANGE REASSURED

NEW YORK. Nov. 7

The stock market showed substantial advances after Dr. Woodrow Wilson's statement reassuring the commercial community.

.WOODROW WILSON

CHARACTER SKETCH

The most salient characteristic of Woodrow Wilson is a love of fun, recently wrote Henry Jones Ford, professor of Politics in Princeton University. This is what most impressed me when I first got to know him over a dozen vears ago .and that early impression has been often renewed since. When our acquaintance began I was an editor, and had a notion that college dons were- persons of starched behaviour, so I was surprised, though 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 together a number of university men, and 1 had prepared myself for something of a didactic ordeal. But as soon as the regular exercises were over, Wilson started out to tell stories, relate anecdotes, and carry on a discursive conversation that for candour, logic, and lncisiveness 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 although his talk was manifestly 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 abundantly able to'do, as it is always present, although he does not seem to be aware of it. . - - Whatever his experience may be he instinctively sees the funny side of things, and he .returns from every excursion with a fund of amusement for the home circle just as a bee brings honey to the hive. It is a very merry home circle. There seems 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. He is omnivorous in his reading and expansive in his mental curiosity. Intellectual narrowness is his great aversion. Woodrow Wilson is not a story-teller in the usual sense of the term. He does no save up and give out funny stories just because thev are f unnv j but his stories come up in his talk bv way of illustration, and thev possess logical pertinence. He has a <nftfor dramatic narrative, and can describe a scene in a way that brings it i vividlv before on*. His propensity tor I humorous observation preserved him from tedium in the many formal proceedings in which he was called to take part because of his official position.

LITERARY DISCIPLINE. He has extraordinary capacity for "ettino- through work without, strain or fret ° This competency, while founded upon natural ability, is largely the product of Intellectual discipline. When, he adopted the career of a college professor, he deliberately set himself to train and improve his literary powers. He had alreadv performed a rare literary exploit. "His work on "Congres-sional-Government," which has already become a political classic, was written as a doctor's thesis—a class of composition which, however meritorious in other respects, rarely possesses literary distinction. Professor Bryce s Holy Roman Empire" and Professor Wilsons "Congressional Government are the onlv academic dissertations which in our time have achieved a place ITI general literature. As a college professor, Woodrow Wilson set himself assiduously to literary composition, working at it as 'a regular task, whether he felt like it or not. The result was the appearance of ja series of essays and treatises of per- [ manent value.

"PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. In biographical matter now appearing about the Governor, much is said of his athletic pursuits while an undergraduate, but it is safe to say that while they interested him they never absorbed him. He is fond of out-of-door exercise of anykind, finding in that a healthful change from the occupations of his study. Some vears agc/"he was very fond of bicycling, but of late years golf is his favourite game, just because of its distinctly out-of-door character. He puts in a good deal of time piaying golf during his summer vacation, which he used to spend at Lvmc, Connecticut. When at Princeton, and he can find the time, he likes to plav a round on the golf links there. In hispersonal habits" he is abstemious. He neither smokes nor drinks, and he does not serve wine on his table, although he j provides cigars for guests who do smoke. Although spare in figure, he has a wiry strength, conserved by his lifelong habits of temperance in all things, and replenished bv a fine faculty for taking his rest He i's a good sleeper, and nothing that can happen seems able to agitate his mind or cause wakefulness. This makes him a good traveller. He can turn in ■and "-et his night's rest as usual as he I flies across the country in a sleeping car. He is open to advice, and likes to lafk things over j but his conclusions are his own, and once formed they are firmly held It is useless ever to approach him with anv argument based upon his personal advantage or convenience. Woodrow Wilson possesses in a singularlv hi"h degree the great administrative" iacultv of prompt apprehension of the true nature of a case, so as to disit from the irrelevant and adventitious, and to guide discussion to sound conclusions. . .. , During the legitimate session, if he could get into conference with the parties to a controversy, it was remarkable how rapidly he could analyse the situation, present its elements and suggest the solution. Under the Parliamentary system he would undoubtedly have been a neat leader, equalling Gladstone or Lloyd George in capacity for expoundinland advocating great public policies.

So far as out political system admits of such exertion or political influence he has been uniformly successful, and that explains the signal achievements of his administration. His dispatch of business is such that business never drives him. He seems always to have time to talk and to act with deliberation, whatever be the exigency, and when he is through he is through. The art of living on twentyfour 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 oflicial duty.

HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION.

The habitual cheerfulness and equanimity of bis mind and his love of innocent fun" arc traits so persistent as to imply permanent moral foundations. It does not require much intimacy to discover of what these consist—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 tilings as they comi-, makes the best of them, and abides by the event with simple and complete resignation to the will of God.

The idealism that has now entered into philosophy from fuller knowledge of the implications of the doctrine of evolution was long ago perceived and appropriated by Woodrow Wilson. Although a member of the Presbyterian 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. One of the reasons why he enjoys Chesterton's essays is the cleverness with which that writer exposes the narrowness and obtuseness of. scepticism..

No man since the days of Jefferson and Madison has been presented as a candidate for the Presidential office who has had such a profound knowledge of our political origins and constitutional history as Woodro\v Wilson. Instead of holding that the Constitution needs to be changed to fit the times, Woodrow Wilson holds that the need of the times is to get back to the Constitution. The Constitution is choked by political growths from external influences, and its efficacy will appear when those are cleared away.