Woodrow Wilson

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 2, 10 July 1912, Page 2

Woodrow Wilson

The Chosen Democratic Candidate for the Presidency of the United States

IN !5«>9 Woodrow Wilson was President of Princeton University, where, bulwarked by books, he fitted into an aloof and scholarly atmosphere. Two year* later he was Governor of New Jersey, boss wrecker of corrupt machines, and militant master of his party. To-day he is the - ho-en Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United -State*. Beeause figuratively -peaking, he has worn a classic mantle for mo-t of the years during which he ha- been conspicuously Known to the public, you must not get the impression that Woodrow Wilson has the shy and sensitive soul of the student. A man who could step from a college offke into a -capital where privilege. favour and graft were so deeply rooted as to become part and pareel of the very structure, aud could clean it out with a broom that fairly bristled with a -eorehiDg flame, is the personification of dramatic action. Within six months from the :’.me when tie became Governor, he had prevented

his party from sending a wealthy machine politician to the United States Senate: he had ordere-l the State chairman of his party, who had accused him of of patronage, out of his office, never to return: he had forced through a Democratic As-embly and a Republican Senate a direct primary and election law which takes the organisation of both parties in New Jersey out of the hands of the bosses; he bad galvani-ed what had been a tottering attempt at executive power into aa authoritative, discreet, ami open-minded State rale, la a word, he woke the whole i onimonwealth. He has proved that he bears to politic*- the -ame relation that a "fighting parson" bears to a war for liberty. His ethic* are sound, but bis courage, vigour and pugnacity are sounder. There i* an air of quiet and determined conviction about this -pare, weil formed, grey-eyed man, in whom the thinker ami the doer meet *o admirably. The face is long, the forehead high and -mootu : the whole demeanour is that of some high-bred. well-eontroUed. but emphatic organisation. The face shift* quickly from grave to' gay, but Caera m alnajw behind the br.gnt win-

Bing smile some evidence of hitldcß strength, latent determination, steadfast purpose. His voice is e'ear. resoi nan* and distinct. The stoiy of his retirement frdm Princeton is almost a romance in itself. It is sufficient to say that he withdrew from the Presidency of the University because he found himself in constant conflict with the interests of the wealthy and privilege*! who appear to dominate even the highe-t educational institutions in America. His experiences in this eonneetion determined him to do what he could to purify the publie life around him: and to the amazement of the professional politicians, he stood as candidate for the «Governorship of New Jersey. m«'-re amazing was his victory, which won by sheer personal ability, political insight, and unshrinking courage. As >tate Governor, Woodrow Wilson has proved true to his awl his convictions; hut more than this, he has been developing con-

slant sy on Radical line*. And thoog'i he has thir* come to command the confident, e of the best men in the Deme-* era tie party, he has naturally arouse - the bitterest animosity in the rank* of the “'machine*' politicians. the ** bosses and “grafter*/* whose power he broken in his own Mate, and whom •? has threatened to hunt out of pul-i>: life. They eon«ider that as they supported hi* candidature against the R-:-ptiblieans al the Mate elections. he them allegiance *tiH. and what th*? think **f him now that he has devUr- 1 boldly for “the straight deal" and declared war on political corruption. may be gathered from the following "eiegar. extract" from the conversation of a typial Democratic "’bos~“: “I don't wa-i to talk :«»o freely about Wilson y<t» because it is too soon to do him cient harm. I am storing my amn. Million for the time when I ran hurt h ®» and help to kill him. Wilson is tXe greatest fakir, importer, liar, ingiitc. WiUon? The world can never know th® depths of hi* perfidy and the uu—rupuloa*ue*a of hi* acts. Why. we who nosJnaled mm, who gave our life’s t'.ood

for his election, who made him—where are we .to-day ? That man Wilson has torn the heart-strings out of us all, and one by one we are breaking down in spirit and in body. This country has never known a more arrogant, a more cold-blooded, a more faithless leader. I want to live to show him up to the people of this country as he is, as we know him. and then I’m going to retire from politics forever. But not until Wilson has been buried deep.” This is the sort of opposition that Woodrow Wilson has now to face from his own party, but if he can command support from the reputable section of the Democrats it is quite possible that the split in the Republican ranks may open the way for him to the Presidential chair. The writer of a recent article in the ‘‘Munsey” on Woodrow Wilson is al Presidential possibility, says: ’‘You leave Woodrow Wilson with the feeling that you have rubbed up against the new kind of leadership in our public life. It is more than the mere domination of faction or party; it is the authority of high culture and the realisation of a solemn responsibility. Just as the programmes of parties must henceforth be programmes of enlightenment and readjustment, so must the processes of political change be processes of thought. The men to bring them about, whether Democrats or Republicans, must be men of broad mentality and large vision, to this task Woodrow Wilson brings a peculiar degree of fitness. He is still a teacher, only his school is the Forum of a State; his text books are legislative bills: his pupils are the people who want good government. Whatever may be the outcome of the approaching struggle that projects him before the ■whole nation as a Presidential possibility, one thing is certain—the country is all the better for his participation in its polities.”