This ignoring of his predecessor by the new President caused much 

 unfavourable criticism as a display of bad manners. It was not that, but 

 the exaggerated expression of an honesty that was so straight that it 

 leaned backward. Mr. Wilson had so bitterly criticised Dr. Patton's 

 administration that any eulogy from him would have been barefaced 

 hypocrisy. This was most unfortunate and unnecessary, for there was 

 a great deal of praise which he might have given to Dr. Patton with 

 perfect candour and sincerity. When President Hibben was inaugurated 

 in 1912, this regrettable precedent was followed and Mr. Wilson was 

 ignored in a way that greatly wounded his friends. One of these ex- 

 pressed to me his indignation over the way in which all mention of 

 Wilson's name had been studiously avoided. I agreed with him, but 

 said: "You must admit that Wilson brought this on himself." The 

 friend was made very angry by this and said : "I don't agree with you." 

 To this I rejoined: "Don't you remember that, at his inauguration, 

 Wilson ignored Patton in precisely the same way?" "Oh!" he said, 

 "I had forgotten that." 



As soon as the election of the new President was announced, I called 

 on him and poured out a stream of proposals for reform and recon- 

 struction, not a single item of which met with his approval. To say that 

 I was disappointed is an understatement, but he subsequently changed 

 his mind and adopted nearly all of the suggestions, for the widely 

 held notion that he was inflexibly obstinate was altogether erroneous. 

 I had several such experiences with him and it was these, I fancy, that 

 made him say to Dr. Keen: "Professor Scott has a very inconvenient 

 habit of being right." With the opening of the new administration in the 

 fall of 1902 there came a wonderful revivification and clearing of the 

 air, and the stimulating effect of Mr. Wilson's personality and leader- 

 ship exceed my powers of description. 



A radical revision of the curriculum occupied a large committee for 

 some months and, though it had certain obvious defects, it was a great 

 improvement, as was also the organisation of the college into depart- 

 ments. In the discussions of those changes some of the most difficult 

 sides of the new President's character became manifest. When opposed, 

 or annoyed, he grew arrogant and sarcastic and he occasionally spoke 

 to me in a way that I would not have tolerated from any one else, but 

 he was always open to conviction and would change his mind when 

 good reason was shown him. On the other hand, the large patience of 

 the statesman, which he learned in Washington, he did not always ex- 

 hibit in Princeton and his impatience for prompt action and immediate 



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