ntred upon Washington.
President Wilson, as the official head of the government, was signalled
out as the one man to help them in their suffering and to listen to
their appeals. The belligerent governments addressed their protests
and their notes to Wilson. Belgium sent a special commission to gain
the President's ear. The peace friends throughout the world, even
those in the belligerent countries, looked to Wilson for guidance and
help.

In August, 1914, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, the President's wife, was
dangerously ill. I was at the White House every day to report the
developments there for the United Press. On the evening of the 5th of
August Secretary Tumulty called the correspondents and told them that
the President, who was deeply distressed by the war, and who was
suffering personally because of his wife's illness, had written at his
wife's bedside the following message:

"As official head of one of the powers signatory to The Hague
Convention, I feel it to be my privilege and my duty, under Article III
of that Convention, to say to you in the spirit of most earnest
friendship that I should welcome an opportunity to act in the interests
of European peace, either now or at any other time that might be
thought more suitable, as an occasion to serve you and all concerned in
a way that would afford me lasting cause for gratitude and happiness.

"(Signed) WOODROW WILSON."

The President's Secretary cabled this to the Emperors of Germany and
Austria-Hungary; the King of England, the Czar of Russia and the
President of France. The President's brief note touched the chord of
sympathy of the whole world; but it was too late then to stop the war.
European statesmen had been preparing for a conflict. With the public
support which each nation had, each government wanted to fight until
there was a victory.

One of the first things which seemed to appeal to President Wilson was
the fact that not only public opinion of Europe, but of America, sought
a spokesman. Unlike Roosevelt, who led public opinion, unlike Taft,
who disregarded it, Wilson took the attitude that the greatest force in
the world was public opinion. He believed public opinion was greater
than the presidency. He felt that he was the man the American people
had chosen to interpret and express their opinion. Wilson's policy was
to permit public opinion to rule America. Those of us who spent two
years in Germany could see this very clearl