THE SICK LEADER.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16613, 10 December 1919, Page 9

THE SICK LEADER.

Dll. WILSON’S BREAKDOWN. CAUSED BY TEARS OF HEAVY STRAIN. President Wilson will not be back at work lor a considerable time —nobody aboard tho PresnieiiUal train can preilict with accuracy just how long, wrote Mr. David Lawrence in the Spnugiield llepuuiicau on beptoiuUei ■>,. All engagements have been cancelled. 'Hie ivmg and giucen of Deigium and other distinguished visitors will tour the country, and cad on the President alter their travels. I lie industrial conference scheduled lor October 6 will ho held at I lie White House, hut President \\ ilsou in all probability will not be permitted by Ins pl;j Adana to attend. Ihc President may bo removed from V ashmgtou to some quiet health resort fur the next few weeks. The President’s nervous breakdown is perhaps the most serious illness ho has ever had, for it comes upon him at a time when lie has spent almost all Ins reserve strength. lie will be (ill years old next December, and during the last. ton years an inconceivable strain has I been superimposed upon other years of 1 ailing, so that his (.lose friends line' marvelled at his endurance thus tar. , Woodrow Wilson was never a robust | individual. lie worked imlefatigabjy ; as a college professor, and frequently j put so much energy into lectures that l lie used himself up completely each ; day. It was in 19011 that he snifored, a nervous reaction, ami wits given leave | of absence from the presidency ot I Princeton University, lie travelled in I Europe, and came hack to Princeton 1 refreshed. Ho was soon engrossed, however, in the bitterest fight of his career—the graduate school controversy at Princeton—and was compelled again to interrupt his lectures, and take a vacation—tin’s time at Bennnda. Mr.-Wilson siili'erod from neuritis in his arms and hands, due very largely to the years spent in writing books. It was this ailment which compelled him to take np the typewriter as a means of expression, something he has used almost constantly since. HIS ACTIVITY IN NEW JERSEY. When Mr. Wilson resigned from Princeton to become a candidate for Governor of New Jersey, he enicivd vigorously into a light aguinsi the election of James Smith as Senator, and thus began a series of mental sti.-iim, such as the struggle with a Republican Legislature, to _ get n rei'orai programme through, and then speechmaking tours in the Presidential primary emuost. This dovetailed into the Presidential campaign of 1919 itself, and when Mr. V\bison was e.erreu he did not relinquish the Governorship of New Jersey until three days before, he was inaugurated President. With the exception of a few weeks in Bermuda with his family, he had been continuously at work for two tears when the cares of the White House began to accumulate. Ho had a hard light on tariff and currency legislation, and Hum came the seizure of Vera Cruz, followed soon by the outbreak of the European war in 1!)M, which made the lirst eighteen mouths of his term exacting. Throughout the lirst two years of the war, the Lusitania controversy and neutrality problems weighed heavily on the President's mind, and then came the preparedness tour, and later, the Presidential campaign of 19H1. America's entrance into the war a few months later piled high the duties and tasks imposed by Congress on the executive. THE STRAIN OF THE WAR. Wiiiio war une.auuiis weic at their hoigiib decisions aiteeung the placing in -■iiiiei'ieau troops into n.title and naval questions ot moment were retelleti to mo piusideaL uom abroad. Mr. Wilson spent many long Pours ul night coning mid decoding connaemial messages niniseli. Penial'S the climax ol it all can'ie when Germany a sited lor an armistice and the .President uegau to exchange notes that led to Germany’s capitulation. In the midst of this excitement, so great was the President’s anxiety for the League of Nations and the making ot the t-erius of the treaty of peace, that he asked the country to return a majority in Congress as a vote of commence. His determination to hasten the Peace Conference and go to Europe himself was tin; source of some apprehension to his friends, who wondered if ho would stand the added strain. In Paris he was at work day and night, and caught cold while in a conference with Prune .Minister Lloyd George and Premier Clcmenceau. This developed into influenza, from which, as Dr. Grayson says, the President has never recovered- entirely.

It is true that there wore many reasons for postponing the President’s trip across the continent in behalf of tile League of Nations, which had been planned to begin immediately alter his return from Europe, but event if lie could have finished sooner those conferences with individual Senators, his physician would probably have held him in Washington, as ho was beginning then to show signs of a collapse. HIGH KECI)HERAT]VE 1 UWEP. But tbo President’s recuperative powers have on more than one occasion been a pleasant surprise to those who have worried about his health, and when ho insisted on making Ins tour for the League of Nations, consent was given on the condition that he would not make an extensive trip, and that lie would rest on week-ends. It was suggested that ho rest in Yellowstone Park, or Rainer Park, or in the Yoscmite, but to all suggestions Hie President firmly objected, saying ho was not bent on a pleasure jaunt, but a business trip. Even his Sundays wore not kept free. Local committees insisted on seeing him. Everywhere along the journey requests for Labour conferences have been made, and the result was that Mr. Wilson got very little rest on Sundays. AH day long and all night crowds would gather at the passing stations and cheer. If the trains stopped to take water or change locomotives, it was pretty certain that the President’s rest would ho disturbed at night, while during the day bo would go out on the back platform to shake hands. The people insisted on seeing him. His physician would not permit him to make any but scheduled speeches. Between stations the President worked away on his typewriter on official business. Much of his time was spent in studying cables from Frank Polk, head of the American Pence Mission negotiating treaties with Austria and Bulgaria. Lately tho situation at Finnic has given him much concern. BURDEN OF SPEECHMAKING. But the greatest burden of all has been the extemporaneous speeches.

Instead of stretching his trip out to eight weeks and covering lu,e)00 miles as other Presidents have done, Mr. Wilson endeavoured to accomplish his purpose in lour weeks. Hu spone extemporaneously everywhere— ,i v.l times in Hi nays. Tie woum prepare notes on Uie train. Un Thursday night he had mapped out the speeenos ne planned to ueiiver in WTcmca, Little lioeit, Oklahoma City, Memphis and Louisville. TSUt ever since ms appearance in Kan Francisco he lias been ill, and has coughed heavily and spent sleepless mglits. ,urs. Wilson, who is a trained nurse, has constantly attended him, and her vigils of the nisi teqi days have seemed to tell on her, too. Dr. Grayson was summoned twice alter midnight Thursday. On the second occasion, about 4 o’clock Friday morning, lie sent a messenger to arouse .Secretary Tumulty, who was asleep in the next- car. Tie told the secretary tile trip would have to be cancelled, that the President had gone too far and would have to detach himself completely from his work. The President insisted that ho would be well enough in a day or so, and pleaded for the opportunity to fullil Ins engagement. hut Mrs. Wilson and Dr. Grayson and Secretary Tumulty overruled him and the trip was summarily cancedcd. TROUBLE IS NERVOUS EXHAUSTION. The President's trouble is described technically as nervous exhaustion, but there are several things that contribute to it. First, there is a cough, which is the after-effect ot influenza, and tills has ailccitd somewhat the President’s respiration. His digestive organs have been hurt by the constant strain of his work. Altogether it lias slowly taken away a large part of the President’s vitality, and when the doctor observed him twitching and halting in speech—- \ which, by the way, was noticed by the l correspondents, too, in the last lew i speeches—it was apparent that Mr. j U ilson was physically near the end of ! his rope. ft is ikilhnlt to describe the intensity of tl;e President’s feeling about the Peace Treaty. He thinks and talks of nothing else. He h.js sun! he would gladly lay down Ids life for the cause lor which he has been touring the country. Whenever anyone in t :ie I crowd has suggested that Mr. Wilson might run for a third term he has given the impression that he never would run. His advisers have cautioned him against making a detinue staument against a thiid term until after the Peace Treaty is disposed of, but in his Pueblo speech ho went far toward repudiating the idea that his tour had anything In do with the next Presiden- ’ tial campaign. II anyliing has settled ; definitely in advance of an actual I statement by the_ President Us desire not to continue in public olli e when once his lerm expires, it is the condition of his health since returning from abroad. The. fact is if Woodrow Wilson is to finish his term at all he must have much care, quiet, and resi “for a considerable length of time.” which are the words of Ids own physician.