PROFESSOR WILSON

A paper read by George L. Denny before the Indianapolis tilterary Gltib April 2, 1928. Woodrow Wilson has bad many biographers In the last fif­ teen years* The more Important are Joseph Tumulty, David

lawrenoe, uiii£am Alien White, Ray Stannard Baker, William Mward Dodd, William Bayard Hale, Henry Jones Ford, Josephus Daniels and Lucian Knight. Then there are the Colonel House papers, edited by Professor Charles Seymour of Yale, and the Page letters, both largely about Wilson, but dealing primarily with the War and other international matters of his administrations* The list Is by no means complete* It would be next to Impossible to catalogue all that has been written about him in magazines and elsewhere# The Wilson alcove in the Princeton Library doubtless approaches most nearly the complete collection* H^ Recently Ray Stannard Baker has published the first two volumes of a four-volume work, entitled •'Woodrow Wilson, Life T*5=7 and Letters•* The first volume bears the sub-title ^outh11 dealing with his life through 1889 when he was called to Princeton, and the second, ••Princeton/1 which covers the period from 1890 to 1910* This work is largely a compilation, being based upon an enormous mass of correspondence and other docu- T7 ments which President Wilson had accumulated, and which he left to expressly to Baker as his chosen biographer* i

i M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 001 The second volume of the Baker work entitled ••Princeton* covers in a most interesting way the intense and dramatic struggles of the President of Princeton in his fight for the definite and drastic educational and social reforms of the ftoiversity which lay so near to his heart* There is, however, very little of Professor Wilson In this voltpe, and in this it would appear to be lacking* Indeed, there Is a noticeable lack in all the extensive biographies of Woodrow Wilson on the subject of his teachings In the field of jurisprudence and politics as an university professor* When we remember that practically every situation he confronted in his career as President, with the possible exception of certain inter­ national problems, was more or less definitely covered, in an academic way, by his lectures to students at Princeton and elsewhere, it would seem that this would be a fertile field for someone* The failure in this by Baker can, perhaps, be explained by the interest that attaches quite naturally to the ambitious program of reform of Wilson, the President of Princeton, to which this volume is largely devoted* neverthe­ less. If the boy is father to the man, surely Wilson, the student and professor of political science, was the father of Wllsonf the statesman* Woodrow Wilson was always distinguished by a group of first-class enemies* It appears somewhat strange that one of these has not before undertaken to show inconsistency between

M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 002 the statesman and the professor of statecraft* We would expect such an effort by one of the numerous class who Insist that no theory of a college professor can possibly work out in practice* One such effort was made, during Mr* Wilson1 s life, by a newspaper reporter* The conversation is reported by David Lawrence as follows: ^Mr. Wilson, I find, upon reading your works,1 said another newspaper investigator, fand talking with men who attended your classes, that for a great many years you declared that the Initiative and referendum would not work. I also find that in one of your political speeches you declared that it would work* How, between the time you began teaching that It wouldn»t work and that political speech, the Initiative and referendum has become a popular political doctrine throughout the Middle West and Far West* Wefd like to know why you switched.* *Mr. Wilson pulled a leaf out of the side of his desk, picked up a pencil, drew forth a sheet of paper and leaned for­ ward on his forearms* •••Thatfs a perfectly fair question,1 he said, fand Ifm going to give you a perfectly honest answer* Now, I can sit here and in fifteen minutes I can demonstrate to you that the initiative and referendum wonft work* I can demonstrate it with a degree of conclusiveness approaching the conclusiveness of a mathemati­ cal demonstration, but - the unfortunate part of my demonstration will be the fact that it does work* I demonstrated to my own

M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 003 satisfaction for years that the initiative and referendum would not work, and then along came Mr* Uren and some other gentlemen from Oregon and introduced me to the fact that it does work* I*ve simply had to throw away my useless demonstration*•* The particular subjects of his courses In the late nineties were Outlines of Jurisprudence, Elements of Politics, Constitu­ tional Government, American Constitutional Law and English Common Law* All juniors and seniors who possibly could, certainly all Who were preparing for the law, elected Professor Wilson1s classes* Such was his standing with the student body* Though I took aU his courses, I had had no personal contact whatever with him and, like most of my fellows, had merely studied under him and admired him from a considerable distance as a sort of stern, mysterious super-man* Only once, I think, did I attempt to break through the very formal relation of professor and student that his manner seemed to Impose* It was at the end of my senior year and 1 had just finished my last examination* Naturally I was somewhat elated, and as I handed up my paper, I foolishly made bold to suggest to Professor Wilson that it was my last examination and that possibly I mig#it then claim to be "educated** I overlooked the obvious fact that no "educated* person would have laid such a trap for himself* In any event, the trap was promptly sprung with the curt remark, *That remains to be seen*" Of course, he was right, but he might have made allowances. Nevertheless I respected him then, as I have consistently ever since, and If I remember correctly, shortly after this Incident, I voted for him aa the most popular professor at Princeton*

4 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 004 It Is not my purpose to attempt what the newspaper reporter failed in ^ to show the inconsistency between Professor Wilson1s political theories and President Wilson^ political acts* That would be an unworthy effort, and futile as well, for any such case can be explained by the manifest fact that, about 1900, Professor Wilson rapidly became a Liberal; and moreover, that many of his acts as President were the result of the abnormal conditions of the times* Instead, I should like to attempt a very rough sketch of Wilson, the student and professor of Politics, in the hope that It may help us somewhat to a better understanding of the man and the statesman* But first let us recognize the difficulties of the task* We must concede at the outset the integrity of his purposes a^nd the thoroughness and scope of his intellect* The trouble is that he was so temperamental that he often appeared fickle, so that at times even his closest advisers despaired of understanding him* David Lawrence, the author of *The True Story of Woodrow Wilson* was in personal contact with Mr* Wilson as a student cor­ respondent of the Associated Press at Princeton from 1906 to 1910, and thereafter, as a representative of the Associated Press in Washington, was assigned to the White House to report the events of the first administration* Later he covered the Paris Peace Conference and other activities of the President* His opinion of the man is expressed in part in the opening paragraphs of his book as follows:

5 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 005 "Woodrow Wilson died as he lived — unexplained and un- revealed* None — not even his intimates — ever knew the mental processes which crystallized his decisions on policy or flung friends of a lifetime into the coldness of utter detach­ ment* Those who held office under him lived in fear of his disfavor — they repressed their criticisms* Those with whom he broke were involuntarily prejudiced against him — they were tempted to exaggerate his defects and minimize his virtues* *Stern and impassive, yet emotional; calm and patient, yet quick-tempered and impulsive; forgetful of those who had served him, yet devoted to many who had rendered but minor service; unforgiving and fierce In his contempt for some who had dared to disagree with him, yet generous with others even to the extent of appointing them to high office; precise and business-like, and yet, upon occasion, Illogical without more reason than in­ tuition Itself; seclusive, yet a crusader for democracy - thus might his characteristic contradictions be grouped incoherently in a series of paradoxes*" An article by Joseph Cummings Chase, the artist, on Dr* Wilson's character as indicated by the facial revelations, says the head is Indicative of a high degree of intelligence, but that the face tells much more of the character; that the mouth, in particular, and the eyebrows show determination* The upper half of the face shows ideality, but the lower part is not in keeping with the upper part, because it denotes doggedness and wilfulness* The mouth, he says, shows selfishness; the chin is a very peculiar

6 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 006 one, due to the construction of the teeth and of the jaw, which allow of a great variety of expression* He says the nose showed a studious trait, and that the eyes looked out from under heavy straight lids in a way that boded evil for anyone who crossed them, and that the face portrayed sensitiveness* Another interest­ ing comment by Chase Is that Wilson9s face shows greater Intellect than that of Bryan, Marshal Foch, and several other subjects men­ tioned, but that the selfcenteredness indicated would at times limit the operation of that Intelligence, whereas Foch's face •hows an ability to think clearly and accurately, regardless of the personal equation* This opinion Is consistent with that of Colonel House as to the Wilson character* House says that Wilson1 s weaknesses were mostly temperamental* Other biographers have attempted to ap­ praise and to explain the Wilson character, but it remained for David Lawrence to speak of him as "the personal paradox*" "Mere Literature and Other Essays," published by Professor Wilson In 1896, is especially enlightening in an attempt at ap­ praisement of Wilson, the author, the professor, and the statesman, It contains a number of essays that had appeared in several of the best American magazines in prior years; moreover, it was published at the time when the authorfs mind had just about found Itself and when the rare literary style, that excited the admiration of the world in the message to Congress of April 2, 1917, had fully developed* Notable among these essays is that entitled, *A Literary Politician" about Bagehot, Burke, Sydney Smith, Carlyle,

7 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 007 Lord Jeffrey, Wordsworth, and other great Englishmen, but mostly about Bagehot, for whom Doctor Wilson always had the profoundest respect* This essay demonstrates the length and breadth of his insight into the lives and characters of men who Interested him* Indeed, he says somewhere that we cannot understand institutions unless we know men* A paragraph which Illustrates my meaning is the following: "You would go to Burke, not to Bagehot, for inspiration in the Infinite tasks of self-government; though you would, if you were wise, go to Bagehot rather than to Burke if you wished to realise just what were the practical daily conditions under which those tasks were to be worked out*" The conclusion of this essay seems almost to define the goal he had set for his own mind, if not for his career; "The literary politician, let it be distinctly said, is a very fine, a very superior species of the man thoughtful* He reads books as he would listen to men talk* He stands apart, and looks on, with humorous, sympathetic smile at the play of policies* He will tell you for the asking what the players are thinking about* He divines at once how the parts are cast . He knows beforehand what each act is to discover* He might readily guess what the dialogue is to contain* Were you short of scene- shifters, he could serve you admirably in an emergency* And he is a better critic of the play than the players* "Had I command of the culture of men, I should wish to raise up for the instruction and stimulation of my nation more than one

8 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 008 sane, sagacious, penetrative critic of men and affairs like Walter Bagehot* But that, of course. The proper thesis to draw from this singular genius Is this: It is not the consti­ tutional lawyer, nor the sttadent of the mere machinery and legal structure of institutions, nor the politician, a mere handler of that machinery, who is competent to understand and expound government; but the man who finds the materials for his thought far and wide, in everything that reveals character and circum­ stance and motive* It Is necessary to stand with the poets as well as with lawgivers; with the fathers of the race as well as with your neighbors of today; with those who toll and are sick at heart as well as with those who prosper and laugh and take their pleasure; with the merchant and the manufacturer as well as with the closeted student; with the schoolmaster and with those whose only school Is life; with the orator and with the men who have wrought always in silence; in the midst of thought and also in the midst of affairs* if you would really comprehend those great wholes of history and of character which are the vital substance of politics." Woodrow Wilson was not an accident in politics, as has some­ times been said, although the time and circumstances of his en­ trance into public life were fortunate in the extreme* His appearance on the political stage was the result of a lifelong ambition and a most extensive preparation. It is doubtful whether any American ever came to high public position more thoroughly qualified by education* The peculiarity of his appearance lay in

9 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 009 the road he had traveled to reach the goal of his ambition. When the President of Princeton University went to Trenton in September, 1910, to accept the nomination of his party as Governor of New Jersey, he had never before been in a political convention; he was wholly without political apprenticeship of the usual kind - like President Coolidgefs apprenticeship, for instance, which has covered an almost continuous political activity and office tenure from the time of his graduation at Amherst* However, as we have seen, the time and circumstances of Doctor Wilsons appearance were most fortunate*

In 1910 and in 1912 the call was for Liberals, and Professor Wilson was a Liberal - a Liberal "taore conspiciously because of his conservative background. The stage had been perfectly set for the appearance of this particular actor - just as though they had had him alone in mind in the setting of it, and there have been few, if any, equally dramatic or promising appearances* Previous ad­ ministrations had been distinctly conservative - for example those of Cleveland, McKLnley and Tftft. In 1896 Mr. Bryan, the Liberal, had gained a real following both in and out of his party, and he held it and perhaps strengthened it up to 1912, when it fell to Governor Wilson to lie in the bed that Mr. Bryan had been so in­ dustriously preparing for himself* As a matter of fact, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan could usually be found at exactly opposite ends of any definite political issue. It is doubtful whether Professor Wilson even voted for Bryan in 1896 or 1908* A number of men considered by the new President for Cabinet positions in 1913, were shown to be Irregular party men.

10 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 010 One especially was reported as having voted for Taft Instead of Bryan In 1908, and the Presidents answer came, "You would not keep him out on that account, would you?" We remember also the letter of Doctor Wilson to Adrian Jollne In 1907, in which he expressed the hope that something might be done "to knock Bryan once and for all into a cocked hat** But "politics make strange bed-fellows* and when Governor Wilson repudiated the conservative backing of Colonel Harvey and his Wall Street associates, he secured the Bryan blessing and with it the backing of a considerable group of dele­ gates at Baltimore. With all their essential differences, they Wtre both Liberals, and in those days Liberals had the call poli­ tically, whatever their particular stripe. When Bryan was named Secretary of State, the President was simply paying an obvious political debt, and also securing for his own ambitious legislative program a considerable Congressional support. The fact that Colonel House Immediately assumed the real duties of the Secretary of State and that Mr* Bryan resigned In 1915 in more or less of a huff, de­ tracts nothing from President Wilson1s qualities of statesmanship in the appointment. But Mr* Bryan was not alone in playing into the political hands of Governor Wilson* The Roosevelt administration helped* There was enough of trust-boating, as well as of broncho-bus ting, about Roose­ velt to give the voters a taste for both* Roosevelt, of course, was also a Liberal and his term in the White House kept alive the Liberal appetite*

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M0338 Box24 Folderl9 1928-04-02 Oil Incidentally, Roosevelt, the glaring college man, bookish type, showed the people that a man might wear spectacles from too much reading and still be a soldier, cowboy, friend of prize fighters, and a good fellow generally* To that extent, the Harvard man helped to set the stage for the Princeton man* Then followed the quite reactionary period of Taft from 1909 to 1913* He too was, of course, a first-class college man and learned, though not so obviously a literary man as was Roosevelt* But Taft was anything but liberal, and his four years seemed to weld together, in the white heat of their own resentment, the Liberals, Progressives and Populists* During those four years the political pendulum took a long swing toward Populism so that by 1912 the finishing touches had been given for the appearance of Wilson, the Liberal* Meantime, he had been doing a first-rate job as Governor of New Jersey; he had become quite skilful in the use of the "Big Sttck" then so popular; he had promised that, if elected Governor, he would be the real leader of his party and had kept his promise* Jim Smith and Nugent and the other big bosses of the Democratic party in New Jersey, who had thought their schoolmaster-candidate for Governor would be easy to handle, reckoned wrong and the people on the sidelines applauded Governor Wilson1s independence and free­ dom from boss control* 1912 was a big year for the common people. The Liberals had the choice between Roosevelt and Wilson, and Wilson won. Here was a man upon whom even the conservatives of his own party might almost have agreed, for he was at least an intellectual aristocrat, the

12 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 012 author of a, number of rather highbrow biographies, histories and learned books in the field of political science; he had been, per­ haps, the oustanding educator of the country in that field* Through­ out the length and breadth of the land there were former students of Johns ffopkina, Bryn Mawr, Weslpyan and Princeton, who had studied With and under him, upon them he had made a tremendous Impression by the quality of his scholarship, the soundness of his political principles and the charm of his written and spoken words. He had even published a volume of eight essays entitled "Mere Literature," most of which had formerly appeared in such magazines as the Atlantic Monthly, The Century Magazine, and The Forum. He had for years ad­ dressed literary clubs pretty much everywhere throughout the land. That these one-night stands had created for the man a most favorable impression may be attested by some of you here tonlghtwho heard him oh such an occasion, in Indianapolis, in 1902. Following that lec­ ture a letter appeared in the "Indianapolis News" suggesting the young professor of Princeton as a man of presidential caliber* I am told that the author was and is a member of this Club* That is said to have been the first public suggestion of the kind. To return for a moment to the reasons for Doctor Wilson's claim upon the Liberal vote of the Country, we must not overlook his specta­ cular record as president of Princeton from 1902 to 1910, when the publicity given to his efforts at educational reform, especially to hia fight for the democratization of Princeton, attracted to him the attention both of the educational world and of the people generally* This was all front page stuff and by 1912 he had become the Champion of Democracy.

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 013 Perhaps too the element of curiosity aided his candidacy for the same reason that the thick-necked ward boss backed Booth Tarklng- ton In his race for the Indiana Legislature in 1902* He wanted to "see how a durned fool author would behave*" But beneath all these fortunate circumstances that tended to- ^*ward his success as a condldate, both in 1910 and 1912, lay the tremendous will, the outstanding intellect, the interesting per­ sonality, and above all, an ambition to put into practice certain political Iprlnclples that had come from a life intensely devoted to the study and teaching of English and American history, biography, law, and political science* With that came a certain grace and ability as a public speaker, along with a literary style that some­ how appealed to the educated and uneducated alike. The politicians who had packed themselves into the opera house at Trenton ifc Septem­ ber, 1910, prepared to scoff at the schoolmaster-candidate, listened with open mouths to a great speech of acceptance* They liked him. He was a find. The turning point of Woodrow Wilson1 s life and career was his remarkable address entitled, "Princeton In the Nation1s Service* delivered at the Sesqui-centennial celebration of Princeton in 1896. It was about that time, I think, that he said, "The business of all education is to fit men for public life." This statement in Itself would appear to define the purpose of education In a narrow way, but by that time Professor Wilson had become engrossed in the necessity of improvement of our governmental system and of calling to public office a higher and better-educated type of citizen. In any event, it seems clear that this declaration just about defined his own goal

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 014 and the uses to which he wanted to put his own educated mind* His brother-in-law, Stockton Axson, who lived with him during these years, says that at about that time Professor Wilson became quite impatient of conditions at Princeton, of political conditions generally, and of Mis own calling, and cried out one day, "I am so tired of a merely talking profession; I want to do something*" William Allen White is authority for the statement that in the Sate nineties, Professor Wilson1s father called on an old colored servant, named Dave Bryant, at Wilmington, North Carolina, and con­ fided to him that one day Professor Wilson would be a candidate for President of the United States, and he exacted Davefs promise to vote for the professor* Robert Bridges, a classmate at Princeton and a lifelong friend, says that a political career was always in the back of his head* When Wilson, the professor, before he became President of the Uni­ versity, complained of the conditions at Princeton, he said to a Princeton trustee, "I can go into politics." There is much other evidence that an ambition for politics had long been forming* In his student days he often ended a discussion somewhat flippantly by the remark, *Wefll argue that question out when I meet you in the Senate.* By 1896, however, the idea of entering politics appears to have become quite definite, and a few years after Professor Wilson1s mind evidently turned at times toward the White House* The Sesqul-centennlal address was a real triumph. Wilson was then just forty years old and had found himself* The address estab­ lished his position definitely as the leader of the younger and more progressive members of the Princeton faculty. He had always excelled

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 015 in debate, and he loved to take the lives of statesmen and the science of government as subjects for his studies and writings. At college he had been known as a man of destiny; in his senior year, the Inter­ national Review had published his paper on Cabinet Government of the United States, which very much Impressed the members of his class* From Princeton he went to the University of Virginia to study law in 1879* It was generally understood by his Intimates that the law with Woodrow Wilson was merely a step to politics* He had graduated forty- first in a class of one hundred and twenty-six, barely making the honor roll* He was not known as a grind, but was famous as a debater. His best work was outside the classroom* He was managing editor of the Princetonian, a member of the Glee Club, and prominent in the Athletic Association. In May, 1882, we find him in a law office at Atlanta, but still without any intention of practicing law. These facts seem to refute the statement, often heard, that Woodrow Wilson was a failure at the law* It was here that he started "Congressional Government in the United States." The following year he went to Johns Hopkins and ^5pent two years as a Fellow in history and continued his writing. Leaving Hopkins with a doctor1s degree, he became Professor of Poli­ tical Science at Bryn Mawr, and later at Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut. He complained of Bryn Mawr as uncongenial because there were no men with whom he might fight out his politi­ cal ideas. He returned to Princeton as the Professor of Jurisprudence in 1890* He was elected the President of Princeton in June, 1902* I happened to be present when the announcement was made by the Marshal

16 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 016 of the class-day exercises* He said, "Fellows, word has just come from the meeting of the Board of Trustees that Doctor Patton has resigned as President of Princeton, and that Professor Wilson has been elected to succeed him** The announcement made a tremendous impression* There seemed to be something prophetic about It. During his twelve years as a professor at Princeton, Woodrow Wilson had several times been elected the most popular professor byt various classes* When we consider that he was aloof and un­ sociable toward the student body, and that the Princeton faculty in those years included such charming men as Henry Van Dyke, Andrew West and Bliss Perry, we begin to realize the force of his somewhat unusual personality* There could be no question about the impres­ sion created upon his students by the mere power of his intellect and the intensity of his convictions. And Woodrow Wilson was a deeply religious man. Not alone in the class room did he Impress the student body, but when it came his turn to serve at Chapel, what he said and the way he said it left an impression. He came by his rigid Scotch Presbyterian re­ ligious principles from both parents* His father, the Reverend Joseph Ruggles Wilson, his mother1s father, the Reverend Thomas Woodrow, and two of his great grandfathers were Presbyterian preachers. The Wilsons were from the north of Ireland, apd the Woodrows were Scotch* Woodrow Wilson was an elder for many years in the Presby­ terian Church at Princeton and later a communicant of a Presbyterian Church in Washington. He recognized religion in his teachings of political science* For instance, in his course on Politics, he gave

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 017 as the vehicles of progress of a state, first, struggle, with its discipline, second, religion, with its ideals of duty, third, edu­ cation, with Its enlightenment and its instruction as to means, and fourth, law, with its applications of accepted and enfbrceable rules. He made it clear to his classes how law differed from ethics and morality, and defined Individual ethics as "the instructed dis­ tinction between what is right and wrong - the rectitude of relationship to God in respect to his revealed command and the dictates of conscience*" He gave religion as the first object of law. Then followed Justice, Morality and other objects. One day he gave us a sort of sermon on the text, "The word • Politician1 should not bear a bad sense with it.11 I wish every college man and woman, and every one else who thinks he is a good American citizen, or material for one, might have heard that lec­ ture and have learned that lesson. The author of "The Literary Politician" did not fall to exalt the politician of the right type, but he 8corned the other kind and showed him his place many times in later years* And the author of "Princeton in the Nation1 s Service* naturally sounded the clear call of political duty to his Princeton students in those years. The fact that he himself was then quite innocent of *practical politics* did not detract from the clear­ ness of his call. He was not there to teach us how to make up a slate of good candidates, or to control a convention, but time and again he exhorted us to keep abreast of the politics of our country, certainly, and, if possible, politics everywhere* I think it was

18 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 018 he who Insisted that educated men owed a duty to touch elbows with the rank and file* He would have liked to have seen us all become *literary politicians," I think. Some of my classmates have become politicians, though none, I fear, measuresup to the Wilson specifications as laid down in his essay, or in his lectures. In his record on the prohibition question, President Wilson was absolutely consistent with Professor Wilson* You will remem­ ber he vetoed the Volstead Act, after having tried to remove the war ban on cereal beverages in the Agricultural Appropriations Bill, and then tried to get the San Francisco Convention of 1920 to adopt a light wine and beer plank. Here is what he told his students In the late nineties, legislatures can pass radical bills, but they can never be laws* Law is not the command of a sovereign in the vital sense of the term* Law is simply that part of the established thought and habit which has been accorded general ac­ ceptance and which is backed by force, etc*" Or, if that is a bit too philosophical to give you the meaning, this - "The first ques­ tion to be asked of any law is as to its expediency. Is it suited to its object." Then he said, "Abstractly, we should abolish liquor, but is it expedient?" And this: "Law is the expression of the average of morals; is seldom up to the level of the highest standard, since this standard is found only in the minority." And from memory I quote, "Any law that is in advance of the average morality of the people it affects, is inexpedient, unwise and, therefore, unenforceable*"

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 019 "Some objects are not attainable by law* For example, the curtailment of certain social evils which should not be attempted by law* We must be slow about making statutes which are not to be definitely enforced by law and policemen, because people then begin to discountenance law." Professor Wilson's method of teaching was calculated to in­ terest his classes intensely, and to encourage outside reading, thinking and discussion* He would begin his one hour lecture by elowly reading for a few minutes an putline of the subject to be discussed. This, at least, the student was expected to take down and learn. Then followed for the balance of the period a bril­ liant inspiring lecture, delivered in the most delightful style, in which he would draw upon his rich store of history, biography, literature and current events to elucidate and vitalize his text. For instance, he was lecturing one day on Patriotism - the atti­ tude of a people toward the state, when he said something like this, *A man might have to realize that his mother was a flirt, but you would feel like knocking him down if he admitted it.* Much in his lectures was necessarily abstract and philosophical. The syllabus or outline that his students were supposed to have in their note­ books, and upon which they depended to "get by" in examination, was often rather dry reading, but his elucidation of this was masterly. He constantly cited the very best authority for his conclusions, just as an able lawyer does in his briefs, and he urged his classes to this outside reading. In that way, only, one might keep in sight of him and get inspiration from the effort.

20 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 020 At one point in his course in Politics, he was explaining the cry of the French Revolution. His conception of the true meaning of Equality will illustrate. I will quote parts only of the lecture: "Equality is meant to express the cardinal principle of Liberty and (understood in its true historical significance) it doe8 so safely and truly enough. It must be taken not as a word ht fact, but as an expression of principle - the principle, that Is, upon which individual energy is to be released from artificial (that is, legal or conventional) restraint. Its true conception being expressed in the sporting phrase *A free field and no favor.1 This does not mean that the swift must wait for the slow, the strong yield to the weak; the skilful take care not to outdo the clumsy and inexpert, and nobody win. "In its historical significance it is easily discerned. The potency of Equality as a rallying cry arose from the fact that it expressed the reaction of the latter part of the 18th century, in so much as remained of that preference of classes which the Middle Ages had fixed upon the law of Europe. It was a demand for a free field - a passionate demand that there should be no favor. So far as it was just, it demanded a leveling of conditions, not actual, but legal. Only in its mistaken excess did it contemplate the leveling of individuals. In its reasohable Intention, it is a condition precedent to liberty. In its unreasonable exaggeration or misinterpretation, it is the sharp antithesis of liberty. Equality at the starting point - natural inequality at the goal*

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 021 •Statesmanship and progress might have been Impossible during the ages of class privilege had not the democracy of the Roman Catholic Church run along with and offset the exclusive class privilege of the feudal system. That Church served as an inexhaustible fountain; individual capacity offered every man, of whatever origin, equality of opportunity within its ranks and (within some degree) ^quality of educational preparation, though It maintained at its top an hierarchy, which constantly Illustrated the preferment and exalta­ tion of the most fit, the most able** I wish it were possible to quote more extensively, but that will illustrate Professor Wilson1s powers of analysis, and the great range Of ^historical fact he had assimilated, audited and classified* Perhaps also you may be interested in some of his references to international law. Among other things, he said, "There is no govern­ ment to stand behind International law; it Is addressed to the con­ science and good faith of nations. It is not enforced by fear and government. *HH* Every man is the trustee of It by his own conscience** Oh the relationship of nationality and humanity as a modern political idea he said, "Nationality Is those bonds which draw together people in political organizations* Humanity deals with the universal brotherhood of man. The question of the future is the question of the combination of powers* Spain, Italy and certain other countries are out of the rae&* Nationality precedes humanity* We must have a great single national power for the Idea of humanity to act upon* We must make the combination which will be of greatest advantage to the world." This quotation will illustrate the extent of his preparation for the tremendous task of accomplishing the humanlzation of the world twenty years later* 22 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 022 We must look also to his writings to appreciate the scope of Professor Wilson1s study in his chosen field. Of the several volumes published by him on the subject of government and politics, the one that perhaps throws the most light on his later career as a statesman is "Congressional Government, A Study in American Politics," first published in 1885. Doctor Wilson said of It, "If ever a book was written with fulness and earnestness of con- vlftion#*H*that book was.4B*#I hoped at the same time that It might $ateh hold of Its readerrs convictions and set reform a-going In a very definite direction.* In the preface, Doctor Wilson concedes that Congress is the central and predominate power of our governmental system and points out the striking contrast between Congressional government In this country and Parliamentary government in England; he shows that Congressional government is committee government, whereas Parlia­ mentary government is government by a responsible cabinet ministry. Throughout this volume he criticises the irresponsible and complicated system here, and prefers the. simplicity and the res­ ponsible^ is of the British Cabinet Ministry system. There appears no evidence of his ever having abandoned these beliefs* If there is one point above all others at which the criticism of the record of Wilson, the President, appears to be general, It is in his attitude toward the Senate from the time of the Armistice to the end of his second term with respect to the Treaty of Peace and the Covenant of the League of Nations. The criticism most often heard of his actions in this matter is that he was self-willed and bigoted, as well as exceedingly undiplomatic in his refusal to take

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 023 with him to Versailles, on either of his two trips, any of the Republican Senators who might have advised with him, in the con­ sideration of the terms of these two vital documents, against the time when they would be submitted to the Senate under the consti­ tutional prerogative of ratification. Most of us have been dis­ posed to agree with this criticism and have assumed that the president had undue confidence in his own power to force the rati­ fication, or that he was too proud to concede a place at the council table to Senator Lodge, or to any other Senator of opposite politi­ cal faith* We remember the famous, Round Robin of the Senate by which notice was served upon him that the Covenant In its then form would not be ratified* Nevertheless, he stood fast in his determination to take with him to France, as his advisers, only a few public of­ ficials, none of them from the Senate, and a large collection of college professors and other purely private citizens* However, a new light is thrown on these important events by reading the Introductory chapter of *Congresslonal Government* wherein he speaks of "the treaty-marring power of the Senate." Thus it begins to appear that, instead of these acts on the Presi­ dent's part being due to his own temperamental short-comings or lack of judgpent or diplomacy, they were due rather to principles and conclusions formed years before In the active mind of Wilson, the student and professor. At one point he writes, "When we turn to consider the Senate In its relations with the executive, we see it no longer as a legis­ lative chamber, but as a consultative executive council. ### It

24 M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 024 deals directly with the President in acting upon nominations and upon treaties. It goes into fexecutive session1 to handle without gloves the acts of the chief magistrate." 4HHH* "The greatest con­ sultative privilege of the Senate, - the greatest in dignity, at least, if not in effect upon the interests of the country, - is its right to a ruling voice in the ratification of treaties with foreign powers." He then goes on to discuss "the organic reasons which have made it Impossible that there should be any real con­ sultation between the President and the Senate upon such business and which have, consequently, made disagreement and even antagonism between them the probable outcome of the system." He continues, "I do not consult the auditor who scrutinizes my accounts when I submit to him my books, my vouchers, and a written report of the business I have negotiated* I do not take his advice and seek his consent; I simply ask his endorsement or invite his condemnation. I do not sue for his cooperation, but challenge his criticism* And the analogy between my relations with the auditor and the relations of the President with the Senate is by no means remote* «*** Nay, in many cases the President may not even know what the Senate1 s objections were; he is made to approach that body as a servant conferring with his master, and of course deferring to that master* His only power of compelling compliance on the part of the Senate lies in his initiative in negotiations, which affords him a chance to get the country into such scrapes, so pledged in the view of the world to certain courses of action, that the Senate hesitates to bring about the appearance of dishonor which would follow its refusal to ratify******."

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 025 Another of these preconceptions that to some of us in Indiana, at least, has been distasteful, was that with regard to the position of Vice President of the United States. On this subject Professor Wilson has this to say, "It would, doubtless, be considered quite im­ proper to omit from an essay on the Senate all mention of the Senate*s President; and yet there is very little to be said about the Vice- President of the United States. His position is one of anomalous insignificance and curious uncertainty. Apparently he is not, strictly speaking, a part of the legislature, - he is clearly not a*member, - yet neither is he an officer of the executive. It is one of the remarkable things about him, that it is hard to find in sketching the government any proper place to discuss him. He comes in most naturally along with the Senate to which he is tacked; but he does not come in there for any great consideration. He is simply a judicial officer set to moderate the proceedings of an assembly whose rules he has had no voice in framing and can have no voice in changing. His official stature is not to be compared with that of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. So long as he is Vice-President, he is inseparable officialy from the Senate; his Importance consists in the fact that he may cease to be Vice- President. His chief dignity, next to presiding over the Senate, lies in the circumstance that he is awaiting the death or disability of the President. Tjhe chief embarrassment in discussing his office is, that in explaining how little there is to be said about it one has evidently said all there Is to say."

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 026 A quotation from the chapter on The Executive may also tend to throw light on events of later years. He says, "If the House and Senate are of one party, and the President and his Ministers of the opposite, the Presidents party can hardly be said to be in power beyond the hindering and thwarting faculty of the veto. #*H* It is this constant possibility of party diversity between the executive and Congress which so much complicates our system of party government." *MH* "Presidential elections may turn the scale of party ascendency one way, and the intermediate congressional elections may quite reverse the balance. 4HB* We are thus shut out in part from real party government such as we desire and such as it is unquestionably desirable to set up in every system like ours." In any attempt to appraise the record of a war-President, it Is but natural that the events dealing directly with the conduct of the war should overshadow the rest of the record, and yet, quite apart from the war record, President Wilson1 s two terms would stand out as eight very busy and important years in our national history. Four Constitutional amendments were adopted covering the Income tax, popular election of tJ. S. Senators, prohibition of the liquor traf­ fic, and Woman Suffrage. During this period Congress enacted the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act, the Tariff Commission Act, the Adamson Law, the Volstead Law, and the various drastic revenue laws covering the new Income tax, including the establishment of the complicated machinery of administration. In addition, the Pan

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 027 American Union was started, and a satisfactory solution reached on the troublesome Panama Canal Tolls question. Whatever may be our opinion of all or part of this record, it will, at least, be ad­ mitted that it was a tremendous program. When the business of the War is added, the extent of President Wilson*s accomplishments be­ comes staggering. Such a record would have been Impossible under •n ordinary President. At the end of his term, the country was gasping in its efforts to keep pace with the terrific speed of his mind, just as his students gasped at times over the tasks Professor Wilson set for them. Woodrow Wilson early keyed himself to this high pitch and lived and worked In that key to the end. He had no time mor sympathy for mediocrity of any kind, whether in his students, his Cabinet Secretaries, Senators, Congressmen, or anyone else, and he never failed to show his contempt for anyone who gave any signs of stupidity or sloth. On the other hand, he gloried in the company of men who caught his Intellectual fancy* BUt tbeelist of good men who pleased him for a time, only to be rebuffed and discarded, is a long and unhappy one - at Princeton, John Grler Hibben, Andrew West, Moses Taylor Pyne, Grover Cleveland, and all others who dared to cross him there; at Trenton, Smith, Nugent, and a flock of smaller bosses who had made him Governor; and the Colonels Harvey and Watterson who wanted to make him Presi­ dent; in the bigger world of Washington, most of his Cabinet members, his faithful private secretary, Tumulty, Colonel House, the former "silent partner," General Leonard Wood, Senators and Congressmen too

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 028 numerous to name. Either they could not stand his intellectual pace, or they crossed him or he thought they had, or for no apparent reason at all, one by one they fell from grace never to regain his favor* Only one man, so far as I can discover, ever did that - Henry Van Dyke, after disagreement with him at Princeton and getting the inevitable cold shoulder, by a particularly gracious act during the 1912 campaign was reinstated and given the diplomatic post in the land of his fathers* The wonder of It all is that anyone, even Woodrow Wilson, could ever have broken with so charming a man - even temporarily* These facts are stated, not in bitterness, but only in the effort to draw a true picture of Woodrow Wilson, if that Is possible. Each of us must form his own estimate of Woodrow Wilson and of the place to which he will be entitled in American history. From the short perspective of a decade or two, this is not an easy task* To me he stands as a powerful - though somewhat forbidding - figure, who, in spite of his acknowledged temperamental short-comings, has his proper place, shoulder to shoulder with our great War Presi­ dents. He was a noble gladiator in the struggle for democracy and for the highest ideals of government. His power and his position will stand forever on the sure foundations of an unquestionable in­ tegrity of purpose, the zeal of a crusader to wipe out what he deemed bid or weak, in American politics, and, above all, on an intellectual power perhaps unequaled among the public men of American history. True, he fought once too often at Washington, as he had at Princeton, but can we charge him with defeat in either of these great fights? In each case he fell from the final blow only because he considered

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M0338 Box24 Folderl 9 1928-04-02 029 it his duty to stand rigid, notwithstanding many of his best ad­ visers begged him to give ground. From this distance, we cannot say that his course was wrong in either case* We know that after he left Princeton some of the seeds he there had sown bore splendid fruit; and as to his prodigious undertaking at Versailles, whatever may have been his motive, however awkwardly he may have presented it at times, who would dare to say that it may not yet blossom into the glorious flower of his dreams?

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