EX
BEATS OF WAR LEADER
MOURNED BY MILLIONS
ALL FLAGS OF COUNTRY WILL BE FLOWN HALF
MAST FOR PERIOD OF THIRTY DAYS—“WIL
SON EXERTED NEW AND ENLARGED INFLU
ENCE IN AMERICA ” SAYS PRES. COOLIDGE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.—Ex-President Woodrow
Wilson died peacefully yesterday morning at 11:55, after
remaining unconscious the past 24 hours, the immediate
cause of his death being extreme weakness due to diges
tive disturbances of a week’s duration. Only immediate
relatives and a few friends were at the bedside when his
soul sped. An unbroken stream of condolences has been
pouring in from all parts of the world. Mrs. Wilson is
bearing up well under the strain. Mrs. Calvin Coolidge
was one of the first women to leave cards.
Secretary Hughes called on all diplomatic consular
posts to half-mast their flags for thirty days, and Presi
dent Coolidge directed that the flags of the Nation be
half7masted for a like period. In his message President
Coolidge said in part: “He gave utterance to the aspira
tions of humanity with an eloquence which held the at
tention of the earth, and made America a new and en
larged influence in the destiny of mankind.”
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th presi
dent of the United States was born in
Staunton, Virginia, in 1856. a son of
Rev. Joseph R.. and Jesse Woodrow
Wilson, of Scotch-Irish ancestry on
both sides. He was one of the lew men
who by the progress of events are
called upon to exert great influence on
the affairs of the whole world. It
was under his leadership that the Uni
ted States abandoned its policy of iso
lation, became an active participant
in European affairs, and, establishing
itself as a great military power, end
ed the deadlock between the Allies
and the Central Powers, bringing Ger
many to defeat.
How?v,;i history may assess this na
tional metamorphosis, it must record
the facts that the years when Mr.
Wilson was president marked a radi
cal diversion from the path of the fa
thers.
The first Democrat since Andrew
Jackson to serve two consecutive
terms as President, Woodrow "Wil
son's career in office resembled in
some respects that of his illustriour
predecessor. Jackson was a rough,
self-willed, soldier. Wilson was intel
lectual, “a polished schoolmaster."
Both achieved their ends, the one bv
force, the other by grace and suavity.
With the possible exception of Theo
dore Roosevelt, Wilson was at the
same time the most idolized and the
most bitterly assailed President since
Abraham Lincoln.
No other President, certainly, e\ei
took such a part in world affairs; no
other President ever exorcised such
an influence upon thrones and cabi
nets, upon Kings and Premiers. . He
began smashing precedents almost
immediately upon his induction into
office by delivering his addresses in
person to Congress and finished by
going to Europe to attend the peace
conference. What he accomplished
there wall remain for posterity to ap
praise.
Three epochal periods characterized
Woodrow Wilson’s entrance into pub
lic life. Elected president of Prince
ton University, in 1902, the country at
that time obtained its first glimpse of
him as a National figure. This was
accentuated by what has been called
his fight for the “democratization” of
the University in which student
cliques were abolished and the sons of
rich and poor men were encouraged
to fraternalize. Eight years later, in
1910, he was elected Governor of New
Jersey.
Governor Wilson’s administration
was notable chiefly for his advocacy
of progressive legislation. Political
opponents charged him with radical
ism. “The Seven Sisters” laws,’ a se
ries of seven bills drafted at his rec
ommendation, were passed after a leg
islative contest. They forbade the in
corporation of predatory trusts with
in the commonwealth, New Jersey
previously having been used as a ren
dezvous for National monopolists.
The nomination of Governor Wil
son to the Presidency by the National
Democratic Convention in June 1912,
at Baltimore, after a long deadlock,
was one of the most dramatic epi
sodes in American political history.
No less interesting was his election
to the chief magistrate of the nation
the following November when he re
ceived 435 votes in the Electorial Col
lege to 38 for Colonel Roosevelt and
8 for Mr. Taft, who was renominated
by the republican party to succeed
himself.
During President Wilson’s two terms
of office there was a world upheaval
such as had never before witnessed
since the dawn of time. Empires
crumbled and thrones collapsed. The
map of Europe was torn to shreds..
China that aeons old monarchy, had
already become a Republic and with
the ending of the world war Russian
autocracy had been humbled in the
dust. German militarism crushed,
Austria-Hungary disembered and Tur
key driven out of the Holy Land.
Born in Staunton, Virginia, Decem
ber 2Sth, 1856 ,ot Scotch-Irish parent
age, and christened Thomas Woodrow
\\ ilson the future President was
known as “Tommy” until he graduat
ed from Princeton in 1879 and was
thereafter known only as Woodrow
Wilson. His father, the Rev. Joseph
Ruggles Wilson, a prominent Presby
terian minister, moved to Augusta.,
Georgia, when Woodrow was two
>ears old. Later the family went to
Columbia South Carolina and there
young Wilson, at the age of 17, enter
ed Davidson College, leaving soon to
go to Princeton. Upon graduating
he studied law in the University of
\ irginia and in 1882 began the prac
tice of law in Atlanta, Georgia.
W hile in Atlanta and at Augusta, he
became engaged to marry Miss Ellen
Louise Afflsen, daughter of a Presby
terian clergyman of Savannah Ga.
Tlie young lawyer’s clients were few
and he soon abandoned a legal career.
For two years thereafter, he was a
student at John Hopkins University
and while there published his first
book, “Congressional Government,” a
study of American politics. It won
recognition both in the United States
and abroad and is believed to have
been influential in evoking offers of
professorships from Bryn Mawr and
Wesleyan University. He married
Miss Axsen on June 27th, 1885.
He became successively, professor
of history and political economy at
Bryn Mawr and at Wesleyan Univer
sity and later professor of jurisprud
ence and political economy at Prince
ton where, subsequently he was made
head of that institution. Meanwhile,
Professor Wilson had gained high re
putation as a writer. Some of his
works, with the date of their produc
tion, were as follows: “The State-Ele
ments of Historical and Practical Pol
itics,” (1889); ‘Division of Reunion,”
(1893); “George Washington” (1896)
“A history of the American People,”
(1902); “Constitutional Government
in the United States,” (1908); “Free
Life,” (1913); “The New Freedom,”
(1913); ‘When a Man Comes to Him
self,” (1915); “On Being Human,”
(1916). ‘An Old Master and Other
I Political Essays” and ‘ Mere literature
i and Other Essays” were among his
earlier writings. His State papers
notes to belliegerent governments and
addresses to Congress would fill
many volumes.
The honorary degree of Doctor of
Laws was bestowred upon him by
Wake Forest College (1887); Tulane
University (1898); John Hopkins in
(1902); Brown University, (1903);
Harvard University (1907); Williams
College, (1908); and Dartmouth Col
lege (1909). Yale made him a Doctor
of Literature in 1901.
In an intimate pen picture of the
President drawn by himself before the
National Press Club in Washington,
Mr. Wilson once said: “When I think
of the number of men who are look
ing to me as the representative of a
party, with the hope for all varieties
struggling with in the midst of it, it
makes me tremble. It makes me trem
ble with a sense of my own inadequa
1 cy and weakness and if I seem circum
1 spect it is because I am so diligently
trying not to make any colossal blun
ders.”
A curious fact of Mr. Wilson’s ca
reer was that when a young man he
wrote an article under the name of
“Thomas Wr. Wilson” in which he de
preciated the tendency toward auto
cracy in American Presidents. This
was in 1879. Thirty-eight years later,
on the floor of the United States Sen
ate, Lawrence Y. Sherman, a Republi
! can Senator from Illinois, savagely as
sailed Mr. Wilson as an "autocrat"
1 and offered a resolution declaring his
office vacant. The resolution was kill
ed.
Princeton, with its great oaks, its
shaded lawns and historic halls furn
ished the setting in which Mr. Wilson
did much of the literary work which
later commanded the attention of the
world. His family life was ideal and
serene. Surrounded by his wife and
three daughters—Margaret, Jessie and
Eleanor—the fierce controversy which
raged over the preservation of demo
cratic ideals at the University disturb
ed him but little.
Heretofore he had not been regard
ed as a politician. Indeed, it had com
monly been reported that the Presi
dent of Princeton, never a wealthy
man, was contemplating retirement up
on a teacher’s pension in 1910. In
September of that year he was nomi
nated by the Democrats for Governor
of New Jersey. Elected the following
November he served until March l.
1913, when he resigned to take up his
duties in Washington.
It was a speech by Colonel George
Harvey early in the Spring of 1912
at Savannah, Ga., that first launched
the name of Woodrow Wilson
for the Presidency. Boombs in other
States quickly followed and soon the
Ney Jersey State Democratic commit
tee indorsed him for the nomination.
Shrewd Democrats saw the war clouds
gathering between advocates of Pres
ident Taft and former President Roose
velt; they measured the possibilities
of a divided Republican vote which
would let a National Democratic tick
et through to victory even on a ma
jority poll. One of the Democratic
leaders went to the Baltimore con
vention saying: “We gather this year
not only to nominate a candidate, but
to elect a President.”
William Jennings Bryan, three times
the nominee of his party, wielded
still the power of leadership. Bryan
men dominated the convention. The
Nebraskan called upon all the aspi
rants to decline the support of so-call
ed ‘ Wall street” delegates. Wilson
was emphatic in his refusal to accept
such votes. Bryan and his followers
threw all their support to Ihe New
Jersey governor, notwithstanding that
a lew months previously Wilson had
written a friend expressing the hope
that Mr. Bryan might be “knocked in
to a cocked hat.”
Meanwhile the Republican National
Convention split in Chicago and the
Progressive party formed with Colonel
Roosevelt as its candidate. Democra
tic leaders were sanguine of success.
Champ Clark, Speaker of the House
of Representatives, an avowed candi
date for the Democratic Presidential
nomination went to Baltimore, it is
said, with more than a majority of' the
votes pledged to him.
hue Democratic convention never
had failed to give a candidate who
had a majority of the necessary two
thirds to nominate. Clark got his ma
jority and then, another political “mi
racle” took place. The convention re
fused the necessary two-thirds requir
ed by the democratic party. Mr. Bry
an took the floor as the supporter of
Governor Wilson. The convention ran
into its second week; the sweltering
days of a Southern midsummer wear
ied the delegates, but the battle con
tinued. Wilson finally v:as nominated.
The following November he was elec
ted. The country had a Democrat for
President for the first lime in sixteen
years—the first time since Grover
Cleveland.
The President-elect, in designating
his Cabinet, named Mr. Bryan as Sec
retary of State, a position the Nebras
kan filled until June 1915 resigning
because of differences growing out of
the war. With the exception also of
the Attorney Generalship, and the Sec
retary of War the original Cabinet re
main the same for practically ali of
Mr. Wilson’s two terms.
The policy of the new Administra
tion was outlined in one of the brief
est inaugural addresses ever made to
Congress. In it Mr. Wilson indicated
his purpose to revise tne tariff and to
| reform the currency system. The
President maintained that, the Repub
; lican protective tariff was a breeder
! of "trusts” and that the National bank
system which had not been changed
since the Civil War, gave Wall street
financiers too much power. Among
other innovations, Mi. Wilson announ
ced a policy of “piti.oss publicity”
and, until May, 1916, gave semi-week
ly audiences to the Washington news
paper correspondents. He said the
White House would oe “wide open ”
but correspondents were not seen by
him during the war. lie declined mem
bership in an exclusive golf club at
the Capital and joined a very modest
one where he went to play his favor
ite outdoor game. Later he determin
ed on rounds of all the outdoor clubs
and included the fashionable ones.
When Congress assembled for the
extraordinary session to revise the
tariff it was announced that Mr. Wil
son would go personally to the Capi
tol and read his message to the House
and Senate assembled in joint session.
It hadn’t been done since the days of
Adams and Jefferson. Congress had
been used to having the Presidential
messages transmitted in writing. On
April 6, 1913, contrary to all modern
practice, Mr. Wilson appeared in per
son before Congress. Republicans re
sented being ‘ lectured like a lot of
schoolboys,” but the Democrats ap
proved the new method and cheered.
His words, at any rate, were receiv
ed with the closest attention.
The President later gave notice of
what he expected - ,ongresi to accom
plish before adjournment. The tariff
revised after long and acrimonious
debate and charges by Mr. \\ ilson
that, big corporations were maintain
ing lobbies at Lie Capitol to obstruct
his program, he announced that the
next move wras to reform the curren
cy It had be, a a long, gruelling ses
sion, and a hot sultry Summit was at
hand. Despite this, the President de
clared he intended to remain in Wash
ington until Congress put through his
other pledge to the people. What fol
lowed was the enactment of the Fed
eral Reserve banking system on Dec
ember 23, 1913, the object of w'hich
was to make the National currency
more elastic and prevent panics.
“The Federal Reserve Act ” it has
been said, “was the result of a long
discussion by statesmen, financiers,
economists and bankers and wTas a
constructive measure based upon and
growing out of many bills which had
been introduced in Congress within
a period covering 20 or more years.”
Domestic concerns of the country
during the President’s first year were
serene enough; foreign affairs were
not so tranquil. The Mexican situa
tion and the anti-alien law' discussion
in California, a subject offensive to
the Japanese, confronted Mr. Wilson
almost at the outset of his administra
tion.
A revolutionary coup d’ etat in Mex
ica had overthrown President Madero
and placed in dictatorship General
Victoriano Huerta. Within a few days
President Madero and Vice President
Suarez were assassinated in Mexico
City. President Taft had deferred re
cognizing the Huerta government and
left the incoming President free to
make his own decisions. Mr. Wilson
refused to recognize Huerta and for
months thereafter follow'ed a policy of
what he called “watchful waiting.” He
isolated Huerta’s government by plac
ing an embargo upon the shipment of
arms and ammunition. Meanwhile,
he permitted troops of Venustiano Car
ranza, calling themselves the Consti
tutionalist forces, to import war sup
plies from the United States.
Two results of the embroglio were
the occupation of Vera Cruz by Amer
ican forces in April 1914 and the mil
itary expedition for the capture 01
killing of the Mexican bandit, Fran
cisco Villa, led by General Pershing in
March, 1916, following a raid and mas
sacre of American citizens of Colum
bus N. M. Finally Carranza’s gov
ernment triumphed a.id w'ss recogniz
ed.
On August 14, 1914, a few days af
I ter the beginning of the World War.
the Panama canal was opened to navi
gation. Great BrLain previously had
been pressing tne United Stiles to ra
peal the provision of the Panama ca-,
nal Act wh.ch gav3 free passage to;
American coastwise ships through the
waterway. She contended it was in
violation of the Hay Fauncefote trea
ty. President Wilson agi«-;d with
this view and personally appeared be
fore congress and asked it to nullify
the tolls exemption clause on the
ground that if this request were not
granted he would not know how to
deal with other matters of great im
portance. It was the President’s first
test of strength, and, although he was
opposed in his stand by Speaker
Clark and other leading democrats,
the tolls exemption was repealed.
When the European conflict burst
upon the world in all its fury Presi
dent Wilson in an address to his fel
low countrymen counselled them to be
strictly neutral. Exerting every ef
fort to avert the drawing of the Unit
ed States into the maelstrom, for
nearly three years he drew upon him
self the bitterest criticism of some of
his staunchest friends. About this
time, speaking of the example of Am
erica in regard to peace, he said.
“There is such a thing as a man be
ing too proud to fight. There is such
a thing as a nation being so right that
it does not need to convince others
by force that it is right.”
Popular resentment against peace
at any price was rising in America.
Fighting Europe ridiculed Mr. Wil
son’s policy but lated accepted the ex
planation of his friends that he was
maneuvering for delay, that the Unit
ed Slates was not prep’t nl to take a
big par* ;n the struggle, that the na
tion was not unitedly for war by rea
sons of its diverse population and di
vided sin *: ier.t.
A tragic moment -a tin* President's
life came, when sitting at the bedside
of his dying wife, he penned a mes
sage to the European powers suggest
ing a peaceful settlement. Mrs. Wil
son died on August 6, 1914, and the
President took her body to her girl
hood home in Rome, Georgia, for bur
ial. The family circle had been brok
en only a short time previously by the
marriage of two of the President’s
daughter’s Jessie and Eleanor, one to
Francis Bowes Sayre and the other
to William Gibbs McAdoo, then Secre
tary of the Treasury. Mrs. Wilson’s
death left the President alone except
for his eldest daughter, Margaret, who
was absent much of the time in wel
fare work.
The Wilson family had preserved its
simple domesticity upon coming to the
White House. The household furni
ture, including a sewing machine,
which had been brought from Prince
ton, was installed on the second floor
of the mansion away from the form
al settings of State parlors on the
floor below. There the President and
his wife and children lived among
their own personal belongings and it
was in this seclusion, after a hard
days’ work, that Mr. Wilson found
comfort and rest. Often he read aloud
in the evening to the members of his
family.
Mrs. Wilson’s death plunged the
President into deep personal grief.
With it came the anxiety of guiding
the country aright in a world afire.
To add to his perplexities, the prac
tices of the German government—par
ticularly in submarne warfare were
inexplicable to men of honesty and
candor. He found it hard to believe
that the innumerable atrocities charg
ed against U-boat commanders could
be attributed to the orders of the
German government but his disallu
sionment finally came after the most
prolonged exchange of notes and war
nings.
On May 7, 1915, the great steamsnip
Lusitania was torpedoes and sunk off
the coast of Ireland with a loss of fif
teen hundred lives, more than 110 of
| them American and many women and
I children. Great Britain in her block
| ade, had been accused of violating in
| ternational law but her acts involved
I only losses of property and damages
1 which could be assessed in money.
This situation, however, served to af
fect a large element of Americans and
worked to the advantage of the Cent
ral Powers. With the sinking of the
I Lusitania, however, sentiment chang
{ ed. The fact that Germany was tak
ing her toll in human lives of neutrals
was emphasized. There was a wide
: spread camor in the United States tor
war.
Still President Wilson hesitated.
Formal diplomatic protests,—note
writing his critics called it—contin
ued. Meantime German spies and pro
pagandists were active. Munition
plants, ships and wharves were being
burned or dynamited to hinder the
: shipment of supplies to the allies. The
President was slowly reaching the
conclusion that the United States was
being forced into the war and that it
must soon determine to defend its
rights against such aggressions on the
land and sea.
The first Lusitania note to Germany
solemnly warned the German Emper
or against the wanton murder of Am
ericans “on peaceful enjoyment of
their rights on the high seas.” The
German government replied with a
blast of irrelevancies. It adroitly tri
ed to use the United States as a club
to force England to lift the blockade.
In the midst of the note writing, Mr.
Bryan, one of the foremost advocates
of world peace, and Secretary of State
resigned because he disagreed, it was
said with the President’s course in
his negotiations with Germany. They
parted friends, however, and Mr. Bry
an supported his former chief for the
renomination in 1916.
The net result of the diplomatic cor
respondents with Berlin was that Ger
many, one year after the loss of the
Lusitania, pledged herself to respect
the rules of civilized warfare on the
sea.
Ship after ship had been sent to the
bottom without warning and this cli
max came with the sinking on March
24 1916 of the English Channel stea
mer Sussex. The President, in a final *
note, served notice on the German
Emperor that he might expect war
with the United States if the ‘inhu
man and illegal” practices continued.
His warning to Germany that she
would be held to “a strict accountabil
ity ’ and his later declaration that Am
erica would use “force without limit,”
birred responsive chords in the
hearts of most Americans.
Germany for a few months kept her
promise. Mr. Wilson, dubious that '
her comparatively good behavior
would continue, addressed the Senate
in December 1916. and urged the na
tions at war to attempt a settlement.
Tt was the celebrated “peace without
victory” speech and it aroused the ve
hement Democratic and Republican
partisans. Within a few months, ear
ly in 1917 Germany announced her
intention of resuming unrestricted U
boat warfare and sinking neutral and
belligerent merchant men and passen
ger ships without search and regard
less of the safety of passengers or
crews.
President Wilson, accordingly broke
off diplomatic relations with the Ber
lin government and gave Count von
Bemstorff, the German Ambassador,
his passports. Everybody knew it
meant war, that the conflict was close
at hand. Meanwhile a happy domes
tic event in the President’s life serv
ed to lighten the burden of his offi
cial cares.. He was married to Mrs.
Edith Boling Galt the widow of a
W ashington merchant, who immediate
ly became his constant companion and
confidant.
Germany’s latest threat caused the
President to take a step regarded as
a precedent to actual hostilities. He
recommended the arming of merchant
ships for their own defence against
the illegal attacks by submarines. It
was the much assailed policy of arm
ed neutrality. A little while before
this the famous McLemore resolution
was introduced in the House.. Ir pro
poed to warn Americans against the
exercise of their lawful right of trav
eling on the high seas in the ships of
a belligerent. Mr. Wilson demanded a
vote by the House—the Senate alrea- jf
dy opposed the resolution—and the
measure was defeated. It solidified
American sentiment for war.
In attempting to put into effect his
plan of arming American merchant
ships, the President encountered a fil
ibuster In Congress. The House waa
willing to authorize him to proceed
but opposition in the Senate delayed
the President’s program until the
next session. Because of the filibus
ter by "twelve wilful men,” as Ur. *
Wilson called the obstructors he
fought for and obtained a change in
the Senate rules making it impossible
for a minority to prevent legislatk>»
(Continued on Page Seven)
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