Show I. I I I PUCE P lAC E EIN r rIN IN III WASHINGTON i IS UNUSUAL v WASHINGTON Oct 2 The The nations nation's nations nation's nations nation's na na- na- na tion's thoughts and feelings are being swayed these days through the medium medium medium me me- of Secretary Joseph P. P Tumults Tu Tu- Tu gestures and the- the tones of his voice For Mr Il Is the presidents president's mouthpiece and for the first time In the memory of a generation the president Is Js going it almost alone Inthe in inthe inthe the handling of or a a- great national crisis S SIn In domestic affairs we are an argumentative argumentative and opinionated r racy cy In International politics most of us are babes In the woods and the theman theman theman man at the corner grocery who can settle tho the tariff and currency issues I off oft hand is willing to leave leae it to Wilson Even the Washington correspondents correspond correspond- who usually know exactly what ought to be done cant can't make up their minds these days until they have seen At 10 o'clock every morning Sec See Secretary Secretary sits at his d desk sk with twenty or thirty correspondents grou grouped ed about him their ears stat strained ed to catch his every inflection He lIe says very little His manner is informal end ond he uses the usual measure of ot slang as he jokes with the newspaper men If U an la layman man new to Washington had attended of of these conferences recently hed he'd have left the White House with the impression that Mr had a grouch that morning and that J le e didn't approve of ot a certain Ya Washington dispatch Ina in ina ina a certain New York paper To the newspaper men who know him the few fW casual words let drop by the presidents president's secretary spoke volumes That afternoon papers from New NewYork NewYork ew York to Manila l heralded another crisis this crisis this time a real one ore dent ent Wilson Vilson Insist on a dis disavowal dis- dis avowal a of ot the Arabic sinking as a condition to continuing diplomatic relations Mr r. r name Is seldom mentioned and he is almo almost t never quoted Every day the Washington on dispatches s speak eak of high administration tion lion officials White House circles or of friends of th the pres president dent Nine times out of ot ten they mean Mr Tumult Tu Tu- Tu To the correspondent who knows er e every ever detail in the progress of diplomatic negotiations and every angle of the International situation ten words and a gesture by can be turned into a dispatch long enough to fill fm a column on the first page age and every word of ic it reasonably accurate The Dull Daily Planet had a n. good story tory this morning says sas to toone toone toone one of ot the correspondents in his most casual manner Ten minutes later latet there is a 80 rush for the Planet and within an hour the are carryIng carrying carry carry- ing ai an approximately accurate statement statement statement state state- ment of of- the presidents president's position in the matter or the stage o of ot negotiations negotiations negotiations on the submarine submarino issue Yet until had uttered his careless careless care care- le less s comment The Planets story probably represented merely a correspondents correspondent's correspondents correspondent's corre corre- lucky guess The man rean who trusts to gestures and inflections to guide the thought of a nation wh when n f peace aCe and war ire in the scales scalE's must be an artist Anti And Tu Tu- Tu- Tu Is that Thue Thise daily dally conferences conferences conferences confer confer- are something like a a. game and the Ue newspaper man who knows it well wll enjoys playing it He finds it exhilarating to pick out the big news from twenty minutes of small talk Part of th the game is to act as though cne ene of these chance remarks meant no more nore than the talk about the theather wather ather or the latest st joke between which they are often oft sandwiched There Is an unspoken understanding that will say exactly as much as he wishes s to say and no more He Is never nevet never asked to confirm cr explain It speaks well for the way things cre done at the e. e executive offices that I the he correspondents dont don't hesitate to togO togo togo go strong on one one of ot t tips Sometimes these tips Ups are al almost almost at- at most a a. as Intangible as thought sug If It t the fie e correspondent were asked for a a. verbatim quotation from Justifying his conclusions he couldn't think of a a. single sentence sentence sen san tence that would be admitted as evi evi- evi- evi dence Yet few lew mistakes are made and repudiations from the White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse I House are rare There are none of the storied prevalent In other days of the president using the press to send out feelers and then reversing his attitude if the publio's Ji reaction proved unfavorably unfavorable IS |