208 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



IS HE THE COMING PRESIDENT? 



Dr. Woodrow Wilson, the Dcmocmtic candidate 

 for the American Presidency, is the subject of a 

 character-sketch in the American Review oj Reviezvs hy 

 Henry Jones Ford, Professor of Politics in Princeton 

 University. 



HIS LOVE OF FUN. 



He says that the most sah'ent characteristic of 

 Woodrow Wilson is a love of fun, which creeps out on 

 every occasion : — ■ 



Whatever his experience may be he instinctively sees tlie 

 funny side of Ihini^s, and he returns from every excursion with a 

 fund of amusement for the home circle just as a bee brings honey 

 to the hive. It is a very merry home circle. There seem to 

 be no secrets there. 



When nominated for Governor of New Jersey the 

 papers made unpleasant remarks upon the way his 

 nose fits his face : — 



But he himself got hold of a Limerick that seemed to him to 

 cxjjress his position exactly, and he recited it with glee : 

 " As a beauty I am not a star ; 

 There are others more handsome by far. 

 But my face, — I don't mind it ; 

 For I am behind it ; 

 The people in front get the jar." 



The camera cannot catch the mobile features and the 

 eye twinkling with fun. 



HLS V.\RIOUS RULES. 



He has an extraordinary capacity for getting through 

 work without strain or fret. His " Congressional 

 Government " ranks with Professor Bryce's " Holy 

 Roman Empire." As a lecturer he has greatly 

 developed : — 



He holds that information without insight is of little value, 

 and 01 late years his method has been- to put a printed syllabus 

 in the hands of his students and make his lectures an elucidation 

 of the theme. 



Ilis ability as public speaker has also greatly 

 advanced : — 



His voice, always good, of late years has acquired a peculiar 

 vibrant quality that carries its tones without strain or efi'ort. 

 He spciks very distinctly, and although his voice does not 

 appear to be r.iised above a conversational pitch, it is heard 

 without difficulty, whether in a great auditorium or in the open 

 air. When he has to make an important speech, he prepares 

 himself carefully as to matter and ideas, but he can safely trust 

 himself to the occasion for his diction, which is unfailing in 

 literary distinction. 



Ills HABITS. 



He is fond of outdoor exercise : — 



Some years ago he was very fond of bicycling, but of late 

 years golf is his favourite game, just because of its distinctly 

 out-of-door character. He puts in a good deal of time playing 

 golf during his summer vacation, which he used to spend at 

 Lyme, Connecticut. When at Princeton and he can find the 

 lime, he likes to pl.iy around on the golf links there. In his 

 personal habits lie is abstemious. He neither smokes nor 

 drinks, and he does not serve wine on his table, although he 

 provides cigars for guests who ilo smoke, .\lthough spare in 

 figure, he has a wiry strength, conserved by his lifelong haliits 

 of temperance in all things and replenished by a fine faculty for 

 Liking his rest. lie is a good sleeper, and nothing that can 

 hap|>en seems able to agitate his mind or cause wakefulness. 

 This makes him a good traveller. 



His spirits are remarkably equable, neither elated by 

 success nor discouraged by failure. He is very easy and 

 democratic in his manner, meeting all sorts and con- 

 ditions of men without reserve or precaution. The 

 writer says that " under the Parliamentary system he 

 would undoubtedly have been a great leader, equal to 

 Gladstone or Lloyd George." in capacity for expounding 

 and advocating great public policies. 



HIS ATTITt'DE TO RELIGION. 



Of his attitude to religion the writer says : — ■ 

 It does not require much intimacy to discover of what thest 

 consist — namely, a deep religious faith, penetrating the whole 

 nature of the man and informing all his acts. This is the source 

 of that peace of mind which seems to make him immune to 

 worry or trouble. He takes things as they come, makes the 

 best of them, and .abides by the event with simple and completr 

 resignation to the will of God. The idealism that has "now 

 entered into philosophy from fuller knowledge of the implica- 

 tions of the doctrine o( evolution was long, ago perceived and 

 appropriated by Woodrow Wilson. 



1 remember once being with him at a gathering in one of the 

 students' clubs at Princeton when the conversation drifted 

 around to religion. We were grouped about a big fireplace, and 

 the talk had been of a desultory character, with a jocose element 

 predominating, when some mention was m,ade of Herbert 

 Spencer. Wilson caught the theme on the bound, and before hi 

 got through with it he had turned Herbert Spencer's philosophv 

 inside out, exposing the inadequacy of materialism and vindicating 

 the Christian creeds as symbols quite as valid as any known to 

 science. His attitude on such matters is ardent and positive, 

 very different from the negative position sometimes assumeil b\ 

 college professors, whose attitude towards religion might hi- 

 described .as respect lor a venerable social institution rather than 

 sincere belief in its truth. Scholars of this kind are among those 

 whom Woodrow Wilson is in the habit of classing as " ignoram 

 specialists." Although a member of the Presbyterian thurch 

 by birthright, and regular in his attendance, he does not talk on 

 such subjects along denominational lines ; but he is quick to 

 assert his Christianity and to claim for its dogmas a perfectly 

 secure basis in logic and philosophy. 



THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE 

 FOR VICE-PR ESI DENT. 



In the American Review oj Reviews 'I'homas K. Shipp 

 sketches the character and career of Thomas R. 

 Mjushall, of Indiana, now nominated by the Demo- 

 cratic Party as Vice-President of the United States. 

 He reports of Tom JIarshall — 



that he had lived in the State since he was born, at Xorth 

 Manchester, Indiana, March 14, 1854, that he went to the 

 common schools, the same as any other boy, attended Wabash 

 College, where he received the degree of bachelor of arts, in 

 '73 ; came back home, took up the study of law, in the office 

 of Judge Walter Olds, Kt. Wayne, and was admitted to the 

 bar, at Columbia City, on his twenty-first birthd.ay. He is yet 

 leading partner in the firm of Marshall, McNagny and 

 Clugston, of th.at city. .\s heretofore related, he had not 

 done much in a public way, before he became Covernor. He 

 had of course, accepted the duties and responsibilities that 

 usually fall to a man of his prominence in the conmiunity. 

 He h.ad been a member of the city school board, and «as 

 elected a trustee of Wabash College ; he was a Presbyterian, 

 and taught a class in Sunday-school — a thing he does yet — ami 

 he was a thirty-third-degrec M.ason. Tli.at was his " life and 

 works." ■ ■" ' 



