WOES OF A PRESIDENT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 21 May 1914, Page 2

WOES OF A PRESIDENT

MR. WILSON'S DAILY MASK

A remarkable address was delivered by T'resident to the Washington Press Club. He contradicted the descriptions ot himself which had been made ever since he was inaugurated, such as that he was cold and'without human warmth, and that he possessed an intellectual ■ machine instead of a heart. The address was privately delivered, but at the earnest solicitation of the newspaper correspondents he permitted its publication. The President said : "T tremble to think of the variety and falseness of the impressions I make, that I am a cold and removed person who has a thinking machine which he does not- allow to be moved bv affection or emotion. I am not aware of" having a detachable apparatus inside me. On the contrary, my constant embarrassment is to restrain my emotions. You may not believe it, but I 'sometimes feel like fire from a volcano, and if the lava does not seem to spill over it is because you are not high enough to see into the basin and see the cauldron boil.

•'lf I seem circumspect it is because T am so diligently trying not to make any colossal blunders. If you calculate the number of blunders a fellow can make j in 24 hours if he is not careful and does ■: not listen more than he talks, you would J see something of my feeling. That, I ; daresay, is what gives the impression of I circunispectness. lam listening diliI gently, trying to collect- al! brains that ; are borrowable, in order that I may riotmake more blunders than it is inevitable ! that a man should make who has greatI limitations of knowledge and capacity. ! "And the emotion of the thing is so great that I suppose I must have some i kind of mask to conceal it. I really ; feel as if I were masquerading when I . ' catch a picture of myself in some print- < j ed description. 1 can hardly refrain from j i tipping the public tho wink every now j 'vand again, as much as to say it is only j I 'me' that's inside this thing, and I know j ' perfectly well that I have to get out ( ; presently. j ! '"Certain precedents have been estab- : ! lished that in certain companies people ' must give way to the President; and : must not sit if he stands. It is very un- | comfortable to have to think of all the ! other people every time I get up and j down and all that sort of thing. So when I get guests in my own house and iiie public is shut out, I adjourn being President, and take leave to be a gentleman. If they draw back and insist i upon my doing something first, I firmly | decline. There are blessed intervals | when I forget by one -means or another j that lam President. One means by 1 which' I forget is to get a rattling good j detective story, and get after some imaginary offender, and chase him all over.

! "If I' were free I' should come ■ freJ quently to these rooms'. I never was in i Washington but a very few times and j for a very few /hours, until. I came last J year, and I never'expect to' see the inside of this pulDliS'-biTil dings'until' '"'■" my I term is oyer. The minute I turn up ' anywhere T am personally conducted to beat the band. The curator, assisi taut curators, and every other blooming official turns up, and thev show me so much attention that Ido not see the building. I should have to sav : 'Stand .aside and let me see what vou are showing me.' Some day after lam through with this office I am coming back to Washington to" eeo it. "I- r have sometimes thought of goino to a theatrical costumier's and buyinS an assortment 'of beards, roiin-e- an j colourings. If I could disguise 'myself and not get caught, I should go out"and be a tree, American citizen once more and have a jolly time. I might then ■meet some of you gentlemen and. actually tell you what I really thought "