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WEATHER FORECAST ^ 'E T T T"> i\\ If \ II A \/ f \ 1^1 TVTTTVT ^ 1"^ ^ THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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- T ■* " whin'd spirit
!• feather'd oftentimes with h<:«\en1.»
CITY EDITION -- words.
J YOL. 53—NO. 199. OMAHA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1924. • TWO CENTS " °^V,^ Ei.u.wh.rB.luff*- ^ y
^ By Mall (I Tear): Dally and Sunday, to; Sunday, $2.60, within tha 4th tone. Outaide the 4th Zona tl Tear): Daily and Sunday. $12; Sunday only. $6.
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Pathos Fills
Last Years
of Wilson
After Intensely Active Life as
World Figure, Chained
hy Disease to
Seclustion.
Confident of Vindication
- By Associated Preas.
Washington, Feb. 3.—After Wood
row Wilson left the White House to
1921, he took to the life of a retired
man of letters, which he continued
until death.
He lived alone with his wife in a
comparatively modest home for a man
of his place, and maintained most of
the time a modest establishment of
three servants and a used car.
His daily routine was modeled on
th» eight-hour day which e once
told congress was "adjudged by the
thought and experience of recent
years, a thing upon which society is
justified in insisting in the interest
of health, efficiency and content
ment.” He always said grace before
meals even in the days when life was
at a low ebb and he had to steady
himself on the back of his dining
chair and whisper the words. He
never failed before closing his eyes,
for what he knew always might be
the last time, to read aloud a few
verses from the Bible which lay on
the table at his bedside.
Confident of Vindication.
His daily mail was a heavy one.
Old friends discoursed on tha politics
of the day and criticized the republi
can administrations; crank* cluttered
his mall box with pleas for financial
aid, endorsement for this, that, or the
other movement; hundreds afflicted
with his malady wanted to know the
details of the treatment his physi
cians ga\e him. Mr. Wilson answer
ed most letters himself; directed a
secretary how to answer others and
always signed all himself.
lie read the newspapers with avid
ity, was abreast of world affairs and
. red confident in the conviction that
the principles he espoused would be
accepted In the end.
Fighting for life day by day Wood
row Wilson realized he lived in the
presence of death. A man of his age,
stricken with a similar ailment—par
alysis and general breakdown—seldom
lives long. The best medical skllf,
• areful nursing and the constant at
tention of a devoted wife, however,
lengthened his span of life toward
tlie three score and ten as even his
most ardent well wishers had not
dared to hope.
trained Fortune During Presidency.
Mr. Wilson took a modest fortune
with him from the White House and
although he never earned any money
during his retirement he was able to
live comfortably, but carefully on his
capital. When he came to Washing
ton from the governorship of New
.Jersey he brought with him a few
thousand dollars in savings well in
vested. His salary as an educator was
never large and his pay as governor
was also small. He had been rais
ing a family of girls, and although
lie had written many books, his royal
ties were desultory. When he cante
Into a salary of 175,000 a year—the
largest he ever had received—years of
thrift assSWed themselves and he
saved money. Royalties from his
writings jumped suddenly and tremen
dously because his books came Into
great demand.
Social activities at the White
House were discontinued because of
the war and he saved a great part
of his salary. It was estimated that
when he left the White House, Wood
tow Wilson was worth more than a
quarter of a million dollars.
Mrs. Wilson had a modest fortune
of her own before her marriage.
tjuiet Interest In Polities.
Nobody ever knew completely what
his feelings were for politic* during
hi* retirement. He took no active
part, but there were sometimes indi
cations that those close to him were
urging him to do so. He once asked
his medical advisers If they thought
he could undertake a campaign and
was advised that a political melee
would surely kill him. Apparently,
he gave up the thought If, Indeed, he
had any, and contented himself with
expressing himself on political ques
tions when asked by some correspon
< ut. He never lost an opportune
however, to drop a bombshell on some
officeseeker running for re election
who had failed to support his policies
while he was In the White House.
On some few occasions he acknowl
edged the plaudits of admirers who
gathered In the street. In front of his
Inline and he delivered one address by
radio, but ho made few public ap
pearances. The most notable of the
latter were at the services for the
unknown soldier and nt President
Harding's funeral ceremonies.
Besieged to write Ids memoir*, or
I Ik own account of tile peace treaty
tight, or anything else for that
matter, Mr. Wilson always declined,
except In one or two Instance*. He
spent a good deal of the time writing,
propped up In bed, after the habit
nf Mark Twain, hut It was not what
publishers were asking for. All bis
material on llie peace treaty be gave
to Hay Ktannm 1 Dak' r, wIDi per
mission to write what he would.
Woodrow Wilson
Committee Will
Go on With Oil
Scandal Inquiry
Senate Will Pass W ithout Op
position Resolution to Kx
tend Authority of Pub
lic Lands Body.
By Universal Hen lee,
Washington, Feb. 3.—The senate
will pass without opposition the
resolution to extend (he authority of
the public lands committee to con
tinue Its investigation Into the oil
lease scandal, satiate leaders an
nounced today.
The committee's authority was
challenged by former Secretary Fall
when called as a witness yesterday,
on the ground that the resolution
under which the committee has been
proceeding was passed In the last
congress, and the authority therein
conferred has not been conllrmed by
the present congress
To safeguard the committee's In
vestlgalion and meet the objection
robed by Fall, the senate will ask
passage of a resolution In Identical
terms, giving the committee authoi
lly to go on with its Investigation.
The death of former President Wil
son necessarily will delay action by
the senate, and also cause a. post
ponement of the committee hearings
Chairman 1,enroot of the public lands
committee had planned to ask
unanimous consent for passage of the
lesoludon as soon as the senate
should be called to order tomorrow.
Under the procedure agreed upon,
however, calling for Immediate ad
journment out of respect to the late
executive, action on the resolution
will be put over until later In the
week, probably Friday.
The committee session called for
Tuesday morning, at which Fall waa
to have been given an opportunity
to testify or again make a refusal
on the ground that his testimony
would tend to Incriminate him, also
has been postponed. Chairman lc-n
toot announced, If the resolution Is
l>nsseil Friday, Fall may lie i ailed
before the committee Hiturday mono
log.
Wilson’s Tour to Speak for League
Taken in Spite of Doctor’s Advice
By AiMM'lfttcd PrfM.
Washington, Fsb. 3. — Woodrow
Wilson's speech-making trip for the
league of rations, which snapped his
nerves am! culminated In his long
Illness, was undertaken after his per
sonal physician had warned It might
seriously and permanently impair his
health.
•T do not like to disobey you.”
he said to Dr. CJrayson, "and I never
have done so before. But 1 feel X
must go out and make tills fight, even
if It costs my life.”
As If the approach of Illness had
fostered a premonition that the
worst fears of his medical adviser
would be fulfilled, he expressed to
several audiences during the swing
across the continent his willingness
to make the great sacrifice for the
treaty.
"If 1 felt that 1 personally stood
In the way of this settlement," he
said at Omaha. "I would he glad to
die that It might he consummated.”
Arduous Trip.
The 10,00(1 mile Journey, with 40
public addresses and a kaleidoscopic
succession of trying public functions,
was one of the must arduous ever
undertaken by n president. It began
nn September 3, 1919, less than two
months after Mr Wilson returned
from Paris, and the return to Wash
Ington was made on September 2H,
after his special trnln had sklited the
Pacific coast and almost touched the
t.'anadlan and Mexican borders.
From the start, Mr. Wilson adopted
a righting attitude, putting Into his
addresses nn energy of expression nnd
gesture. Almost until the collapse
came, ho presented an outward np
pea i'll me of health and assurance,
facing the crowds always with h smile
nnd jentlng nnd laughing with those
who gathered around his private mi
nt the way stations.
For the last week nnd more of Iho
trip, however, he suffered constantly
from headache nnd some times from
sleeplessness nnd touches of indlges
lion. The break really began at Han
Fran ■■Inch, where four years later an
other president, Warren tl. Harding,
one to the country on a slmllaj
IoIsmIoii, the world court. Urol.e uu
der the strain of hit trip and died
suddenly sfter his physicians thought
he was on the road to recovery.
Insists on Going On.
Wilson, like Harding. Insisted on
going on, after It was apparent to his
physicians and others about him that
the strain was beginning to tell. It
was at San Diego, Cal., In the third
week of hi* torlp that Mr. Wilson first
permitted his Indisposition to Inter
tore with his prearranged sehedule.
To have an Interrupted evening, he
ranceled the plan to remain at a San
Diego hotel, had his train stopped
for the night on a quiet siding near
Del Mar, and late the next morning
tried to slip Into 1,0* Angeles quiet
ly. Rut he failed to elude the crowds.
Asids from hla public speeches In
overcrowded and overheated audl
(Tarn to Pag* Three, f oltintn Seven.)
W. J. Bryan Classifies
ll ilson With Immortals
Houston. Te*., Feb. 3 —W. J.
Bryan, In a tribute today to Wood
row Wilson, declared "Ho cannot be
denied a place among tho Immortals;
bln failure to abolish war cannot dim
tho glory of that effort."
"No president, except Washington
and IJncoln, whs ever confronted by
problems ns grave, and no president
c-ver brought to their solution greater
Intelligence, patriotism, courage
these three qualities without which
statesmanship Is Impossible." be said.
Fo these ha added sympathy with
the masses.
"ilia first administration brought
\lctory and embodied in law more
ecouonilc reforms than were ever se
cured before in the same length of
time. Muring this administration,
also, our nation whs linked to three
quarters of the world by 30 treaties
that made war almost impossible b<
tween the contesting parties.
"Hia efTorta to abolish war bv con
federation between nations was a*'
coble an effort as was ever made bv
man, and his failure to acoompllsh j
bis purpose cannot dim the /my of!
that effort.
"He cannot be denied a place
among the Immortals lln substan |
ilit 1 achUvements will live long alter
Ids mistakes are forgotten. ’
Nebraska Swept '
by Heavy Snow |
and Sleet Storm
Telegraph and Telephone
Wire* Down West of Omaha j
—Trains Running Be
hind Schedule.
Destructive sleet and snow atnrni
la reporte*J to be hurling Itself east
ward early Sunday night.
Trains on the Union Pacific all were
reported late 'tom the west. The
Los Angeles Limited, which was due
in Omaha at 7:05, was weported al
most two hours late.
Hastings hs* four Inches of snow.
Snow w ,ia reported at Sioux Ctty
at *.
All Hurllngton wires are down be
tween IJneoln and Hustings.
Telephone lines nto down In the
west No connection could be made
ui a last nirht with Holdrege. Kear
ney, Norfolk, Hastings. Kreinont and
Columbus.
Western Union telegraph company
official* stated tlmt several of their
wires were down. Some of the cop
per wiis invited with from one to two
Inches of sleet.
In the Kupld City amt Itlnck Hills
dh.lt let tic wires all ate down. Me*
Hares, relayed from this section, atste
that a terrific rale Is drifting the rap
Idly falling snow and the mercury t*
dropping
l.irly Sunday night the snow was
drifting dangerously in western Kan
sns. driven hy high winds.
r
“Sunny Side
L ]
The |Mi|nilni It v of thin
fentnre of The OmnliH
I loo loinln un to irt\« It
Krenter prominence
It will lie found on the
IMltorlnl |>t»ge In both
morning itinl evening
edit tone
V
\
GOES BRAVELY TO END;
“I’M READY” LAST WORDS,
AS WIFE CLINGS TO HAND
Wilson’s Paris Trip Called44Voyage
Leading to Discovery of Europe”
It) AiMriHlfd Press.
■Washington, Feb. 3.—Woodrow
Wilson's participation in the peace
conference at Paris, at the conclu
sion of the world war, was aptly
described by one writer as a “presi
dential voyage leading to the dis
covery of Europe." It was a voyage
which aroused the bitterest partisan
ship in the United States.
Mr. Wilson's judgment was that
rince the United States had taken a
principal part in ending the war. and
since he, as president, had laid down
certain principles of the peace as a
means of preventing wars, his place
was at the conference where the
peace was to be made.
There was much opposition in con
gress, but. having made his decision,
Mr. Wilson went ahead, as was
characteristic of him.
E. M. House, whom the president
appointed a member of the American
peace mission, already was in Paris;
fo was Major General Bliss, another
member. Henry White, former am
bassador to France, appointed a mem
her as a republican, and Robert lain
sing. Mr. Wilson's secretary of state,
went on the same ship with the
president.
Many Farts Distorted.
Hostile critics of the presidential
voyage distorted many facts In con
nection with It, and, as a result, Mr.
Wilson suffered some ip the public
eye. It was widely stated, for in
stance. that the president caused to
bo built Rt public expense on the
steamer Georgy Washington a glass,
inclosed promenade deck fpr Jps per
sonal comfort. The fact was that
the Germans had equipped the George
Washington with a glass enclosed
deck as an attraction to American
tourist travel. Mr. Wilson simply
used the same deck. It was widely
reported, as a subject of criticism,
that Mr. Wilson, at public expense,
carried along an orchestra to play
for him. The fact was that the
George Washington was being used
as a transport to bring home wound
ed soldiers and sailors, and in its
ships company was an orchestra of
enlisted men, which did play.
Mr. Wilson felt that sort of criti
cism very- keenly, although he never
answered it.
The president's troubles began be
fore the George Washington ever left,
the dock. He had ordered that only
the peace mission party and its
necessary attaches be permitted >o
board, and was amazed to find the
ship crowded with army officers,
naval officers, minor diplomatic at
taches, wives of admirals and gen-!
erals, and scores of others who had j
contrived to get themselves assigned;
to passage—ait with the obviously
principal objective of enjoying the
distinction snd prestige of landing In'
Francs aa a member of President
Wilson's official party.
t ails (or I Jet.
Inasmuch as Mr. Wilson had flatly
declined to take with him many other'
persons who made their requests a
personal matter and had even re
fused to take one of his sons-in-law
cn the ground that he could not
make the voyage a junket at public
expense, he was very much annoyed
and called for a full list of the pas
sengers, with definite descriptions of
the duties which they claimed.
"I have found,” he said, helpless
ly, to a confidante, "that nearly every
one of them is an assistant to an
areistant who is going to be an
assistant to an a.isistant to somebody
‘Turn to !*»*•■ Column Two.l
ilson Martyr
at Peace Meet.
Says Nebraskan
I / -
Ex-President Made Deliberate
t.hctice Between Life and
Death to Secure League,
Declares Prof. Fling.
Lincoln, Feb. 3 —"He was a real
martyr, for he made a delil>erate
Choice between life and death to
Isecure what he thought was the
salvation of the world, the league of
nations," said Prof. F. M Fling of
the University of Nebraska, when
apprised-»f *ti? drath v* former Pree
dent Wilson.
Prof. Fling was a member of the
American peace commission and per
sonally observed the work of the
former president at the peace con
ference In Paris.
"There is no doubt in my mind
about the place that he will occupy
in history,” he continued. "It is I
safe to put him down right now as!
one of the great figures, not only In |
United States history, but In world1
history. His great scene, the culmi-l
nation of it all, was in Paris. It
was a question whether we were,
going to have International institu
tions or an old-fashioned settlement.1
and President Wilson decided that |
we should have the former, when he'
personally Insisted that the league of
nations form a part of the final set
tlement.
Unwilling to Compromise.
*•1 have always thought that the!
characteristics of Wilson that se
cured the league of nations in the'
peace treaty were those that spelled
failure after he got back. Hts un-j
willingness to compromise, that won
the league in Paris, lost him the i
league In America.
"I had felt long before the war,
that a league of nations was a
natural climax to world relations and
that the war was due to the lack of
;t. And when Wilson put in the
league of.nations as his 14th point, I
(Turn to Pw** Thr**. ( oiimin Ml.)
BY THE PRESIDENT
OF THE* UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
To the People of the United States:
The death of Woodrow Wilson, president of the United State*
front March 4. IMS. to March 4. 1»2I. which occurred at 1F1S o'clock
today at hla home at Washington, Pistrict of Columbia, deprives
the country of a most distinguished cittern, and la an event which
causes universal and genuine sorrow. To many of us It brings the
sense of a profound personal bereavement.
His early profession as a lawyer was abandoned to enter aca
demic life. In this chosen field, he attained the highest rank as an
educator, and has left hla Impress upon the Intellectual thought of
the counti i From the presidency of Princeton university, lie was
called hy his fellow ctttsena to be the chief executive of the state
of New Jersey. The duties of this high offbe he so conducted as to
win the confidence iff the people of the United States, who twice
elected him to the chief magistracy of the republic. As pic rodent of
the United States, lie was moved by an earnest desire to promote
the best Interests of the country as he conceived them Mis seta wire
prompted by high motive* and tits sincerity of purpose cannot h*
questioned. He led ihe nation through the terrific struggle of the
World war with n lofty Idealism which never falle.t him He gave
utterance to the aspiration of humanity with an eloquence which
held the attention of nil the earth and made America a new and en
larged Influence iti the destiny of mankind
In tetlmony of the respect in which hi* memory i* held h> the
government and people of the United State*. I do hereto dived that
the flags of the White House and of the several departmental build
Inga be display l at lialfmast for a period of ltd days, and that
suitable tiillllar and naval honors, under orders of the secretary
of war and of the secretary of the navy, may be rendered on the day
of the funeral
Hone at the city of Washington thi* third da\ of | , -ruary.
In the tear of Our l.ord tVne thousand niTie hundred and twenty
four, and of Ihe Independence of the l cited S'ate* of \ -n-- , .P#
hundred and fort* eigh'
FAFFIN' FOOFIPOK.
Hy the president *
' It MIFFS Fl\ \Nk HI i.Ill s
tSK.Vl.t Seore'arv o( Jfatc
• — . - . ... -
Thirty-Day Period of Official
Mourning Ordered by
Government
Agencies.
Capital Is Grief-Stricken
By As*«>cUt*d Pf«*».
Washington, Feb. 3.—For
mer President Woodrow Wil
son died at 11:15 o’clock this
morning.
The place of his entomb
ment and whether his funer
al will be public or private
will be determined later.
The end was peaceful, life
ebbed away while he slept.
A tired man, he closed his
eyes, and, “sustained and
soothed by an unfaltering
trust,” passed on to the great
hereafter, “like one who
wraps the drapery of his •
couch about him, and lies
down to pleasant dreams.”
Doctor's Final Bulletin
I)r. tirayson, his friend and
physician, announced the end of
Die great war president in this
bulletin:
Mr. \\ ilson died at 11:15 o'clock.
His heart's action became feebler
and feebler, and the heart muscle
was «o fatigued that it refused te
act any longer. The end came
peacefully.
"The remote causes of death lie
in his ill Ireaith width h-yr_.-n more ,
than four years ago.'namely:
tteneral arteriosclerosis with Itemb
plegia. The immediate cause
of death was exhaustion following
a digestive disturbance which be
gan in the early part of last week
hut did not reach an acute stage
until the early morning hours of
February l."
Grim Reaper Kilters.
Last Friday, the (.iri.n Reaper had
fon-ed his way into the house after
waiting on the doorstep more than
four years. Saturday, he had ad
vanced to the landing on the stair
case and stood counting off the ticks
of the great clock. Saturday night,
he knocked on the chamber door. A
faithful physician and a loyal wife
stood with their hacks against it.
At P o'clock he rattled the knob and
called to the peaceful. prostrate
figure on the bed—a great bed. long
and wide, a replica of the bed in
which Abraham Lincoln slept in the
White House, with a golden Ameri
can eagle and .1 tiny silk American
flag just over the head board.
The watchers knew the battle was
lost. At the portal of the door, now
open, the faithful negro servant hov
ered. On the bed. sitting beside her
husband, sustained with all the forti
tude and composure of a woman fac
ing a crisis, was Mrs. Wilson, hold
ing between her hands the wan. with
ered right hand that’ had proved the
pen mightier than the sword. Near
the foot of the bed w. s his eldest
daughter, Margaret, resigned to the
inevitable. Close bv. tears welling
from his eyes and coursing down hia
cheeks, was Dr. Grayson, taking the
measure of the fluttering pulse, weak
er and fainter with each effort.
Beckons I.1M Time.
Death advanced, and beckoned fon
the last time. The tired, farorn out
man drew a long breath, there was a
slight flutter of the eyelids an al
most imperceptible twitch of :be
newt tils.
Woodrow Wilson's soul had drift
ed out on the great dark tide that
runs around the world.
Put through a city stilled in a Sab
bath morning's reverential calm, hi*
name was being spoken from a hun
dred pulpit* In the Central Pres
byterian church, where he faithfully
went to worship while the flesh was
able, a choked up congregation had
suns "The Son of God Goes Wrth
to War," "How Firm a Founds! on "
and "Onward Chr:s!i*n Soldiers, fa
vorite hymns in which be loved to
lift bis voice in a happier. better dav.
Over a great land that had acclaim
ed him chief, and in lands across the
*'-a* where he had haded aa a God
of Peace, prayers were rising for
the repose of his soul.
In the street before the s; ia>e
brick house w here he ha* lived with
(Turn te I sir Three (slums lies.
The Weather
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