Champ Clark Heads Wilson Pilgrimage.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 21, 1912:
Democratic Congressmen, on a Visit to Sea Girt, Assure Candidate of Their Hearty Support.
ALL OF THEM ENTHUSIASTIC
Greet Governor's Family and Then Adjourn to the Sea Shore and Rifle Range — Clark Visits Col. Harvey.
Special to The New York Times.
    SEA GIRT, N. J., July 20.— Speaker Champ Clark at the head of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives marching two abreast, came up the path to New Jersey's "Little White House" this afternoon, hailed Gov. Woodrow Wilson as Democracy's new leader, while his fellow-Congressmen applauded, and then went away for a long conference with Col. George B. Harvey, with whom Gov. Wilson broke off relations at the outset of his campaign before the convention.
    Before departing to visit Col. Harvey, Mr. Clark presented to Gov. Wilson an autograph album containing the names of all of the Governor's Congressional visitors, and made a speech on the veranda of the  "Little White House," in which he told Gov. Wilson that only those Presidents had been successful in office who had maintained friendly relations with the House of Representatives. He warned Gov. Wilson that if, as President, he fell out with the House it would mean certain disaster to his Presidential career.

Congress to Adjourn Aug. 15.
    For four hours the Congressmen who had come to Sea Girt were entertained on the lawn in front of Gov, Wilson's home. They brought much political information with them and carried back a store of anecdotes told by the Governor. One piece of news, let fall at the reception, had a cheering effect upon the visitors. It was reported that Speaker Clark, after a conference with Congressman Fitzgerald of New York, who is in charge of the supply bills now under consideration, has decided upon Aug. 15 as the date for adjournment. Many Congressmen had come to the conclusion that they would he kept in Washington all Summer, and they cheered the news that they would be able to get away in less than four weeks.
    Another bit of news did not cause quite so much enthusiasm. While talking with Speaker Clark Gov. Wilson asked about the legislation necessary to carry out the Democratic platform pledges. The Speaker replied that as soon as Gov. Wilson was inaugurated the thing to do would be to call Congress together in extra session. He said he thought it would be impossible to meet the platform pledges and adjourn before it was time for the regular December session to begin. An all Summer session for next year was practically promised by the Democratic leaders in the event of Gov. Wilson's election.
    Gov. Wilson on his part declared that the one paramount duty of his followers in Congress, as he saw it, was to work incessantly at the task of making living conditions easier for the masses. The demand for easier living conditions, he said, was all he could see in the outpouring of support to his cause.
    From the South cheering news for the Governor's new Campaign Committee was brought by Congressman T. W. Hardwick of Georgia, who became noted in the investigation of the Sugar Trust. Congressman Hardwick explained to Gov. Wilson that his friends in the South had been thinking things over.

South to Provide Campaign Fund.
    "I want to tell you, Governor," he said. "that we all have decided we're going to send you up a little something more than 'hot air' in the line of support. We talked it over on the train coming here, and every Southern Congressman has made up his mind what he's going to do. He knows he can't help on the stump, because the South is solid for you, and he knows he can't help with money for local use, because the local committees will attend to that; but he can set up a fund for you to use in emergencies.
    "Now, that is going to be our campaign work. Every one of us is going to the county newspaper in his home district and put his name at the head of a subscription list for the biggest sum he can spare. Then he will canvass for subscriptions, and it is the unanimous opinion of the Southern Congressmen that we can obtain money enough to keep the campaign going whether any other section of the country chips in or not. And it will be a fund to which no 'strings' or implied obligations will be attached."
    In the party from Washington were 113 members of Congress and a score of attaches of the House and secretaries to Congressmen. The party's special train arrived at Sea Girt at 1:15 o'clock, and the Congressmen stepped from four  Pullman cars and a diner into the dusty road. It was only a short distance to the "Little White House" and Speaker Clark knowing the way from his previous visit, led the party across the highways and into the path to the Governor's house. The Congressmen fell in behind , the Speaker, two abreast, and this formation was maintained until the column had passed by Gov. and Mrs. Wilson on the veranda of the "Little White House" and each member had been presented to the Governor's household.
    Gov. Wilson awaited his visitors on the veranda, but as Mr. Clark turned into the pathway leading to the house the Governor ran down to greet him and threw one arm over his shoulder.
    "Well, Mr. Speaker," he cried, "I am mighty glad to see you here again, Sir."
    The Speaker had lost all of the sternness of manner which marked his first visit. He was serene and affable and returned the Governor's greeting heartily. The Governor fell in line beside the Speaker, and the two marched at the head of the procession on up to the porch and to the front door of the Governor's home, where they met Mrs. Wilson. She had come out just in time to greet the Speaker and assure him that he was as welcome on his second visit as upon his first.
    The Speaker did not spend much time in greeting members of the Governor's family. He halted the column of Congressmen and began a short speech, in which he said:
    "Gov, Wilson, these Representatives have made this pilgrimage, because in the eternal fitness of things men engaged in a great work should become acquainted with each other. You in your high position as President of the United States will have frequent occasion to confer with the members of the houses of Congress.
    "History has shown that those Presidents have succeeded best who have been on the best terms with Congress, and most of those who have come to grief have come to grief because of quarrels with Congress. After you get better acquainted with the House of Representatives, and I speak for it, you will find that it is composed of a very fine set of men. I have had frequent occasions before to defend the membership of the House, both generally and in some cases particularly, and I give it as my opinion that there isn't a more enthusiastic or patriotic body of men assembled anywhere on the American Continent. I hope that the relations of the President and the House will be extremely pleasant, and at their request I present to you with their compliments a book containing the autographs of practically all of the Democratic members of the House."
    The Congressmen applauded this with the enthusiasm of schoolboys. Gov. Wilson accepted the album, advanced to the edge of the veranda, and addressed the double file of men before him.
    "It is with the greatest pleasure," he said, "that I greet you in this way. It is a great courtesy that you pay me in coming to Sea Girt. The speaker has said that those Presidents of the United States who have not kept in close and intimate touch with the House of  Congress have been unable to fulfill properly the high duties or their office. It seems to me that the real value of the House of Representatives is not really summed up in its own deliberations, but in those things that happen outside the sessions, when men confer intimately with regard to the interests and the opinions and the purposes of their fellow citizens. It has seemed to me that the real difficulty of politics in our day is that men have not laid their minds alongside those of others in order to have a common understanding as to what it was they were seeking to do.
    "You can't accommodate interests by setting them one against another. You can accommodate interests only when they are willing to be accommodated, and so long as any interests hold off from the rest and will not come into the common accounting, I do not know any means for such an understanding comparable with the counselings of men who represent all parts of the country, and represent them in the peculiar way you represent them.
    "For you do not represent interests, so much as regions and people and those things that go very much deeper. And therefore it is with peculiar pleasure that I have the opportunity to-day to meet you. I have known many or you for some time, and have profited greatly by the knowledge of what is in your thoughts, and I hope that this is only the beginning of a long acquaintance which will be a union, not a single high undertaking. I have said and I need not tell you that I think without affectation, that the circumstances of my nomination did not fill me with the least degree of elation, but rather with a very profound sense of responsibility because, when I received this great honor, it was enough to sober any man.

Country Demands Reforms In Living Conditions.
    "This country expects us to make living easier for it. Now, that is a hope and a confidence in us, which is felt by the plain people of this country. It isn't going to be easy to concert the counsels which will make that easy. That is a duty the more solemn because of its difficulty and complexity. And I look forward to being your comrade and partner. I greet you to-day therefore, as I should like to believe, as my future friends and associates."
    Speaker Clark, as the Governor concluded, called upon Congressman Hughes of New Jersey to introduce his fellow Congressmen to Gov. Wilson.  Mrs. Wilson, Miss Eleanor Randolph Wilson, and Miss Jessie Woodrow Wilson took positions beside the Governor, and the line of Congressmen began to move forward. It was planned that they should pass to the left, and off the veranda by a set of steps at the left. But the leaders moved only far enough away to make room for those immediately behind them.  Mr. Clark sat down cm the porch railing behind Gov. Wilson.
    Suddenly as the group on the veranda became large enough to gain confidence the shrill tenor of Congressman Hamlin of Missouri broke forth. Congressman Hayden of Arizona, a State which went for Clark 11 to 1 in the convention, joined in with a deep bass, and the rest picked up from the leaders this chorus:

We're bound to win with Wilson,
We're bound to win with Wilson,
We're bound to win with Wilson,
He's good enough for all.

    Then came a chorus that brought smiles to the faces of all present, including Champ Clark. Ten Missouri Congressmen sang it alone:

He's good enough for old Missouri,
He's good enough for old Missouri,
He's good enough for old Missouri,
He's good enough for all.

    The Glee Club gathering courage and strength from the increasing number of those who had met the Governor and his family, rang the changes on a large medley of campaign doggerel. Most of it had been written and rehearsed upon the train on the way up from Washington.

Townspeople Storm the Reception.
    When the last Congressman had passed the Governor and his family, the entire party by common consent left the veranda and took places in rocking chairs on the lawn or gathered in groups for intimate conferences.  Gov. Wilson came down among them. He took a seat next to Speaker Clark and the others gathered around while a moving picture machine clicked off 800 feet of film. The usual multitude of Jersey picnickers flocked in upon the Congressmen, every father accompanied by a host of children, whom he insisted the Governor should meet. Many of them were accompanied by their families in wagons. They seemed to think the proper, thing under the circumstances would be for the Governor to leave his guests and tramp down the dusty road, where he could be introduced to those in the wagons without the necessity of their leaving their seats.
   While Gov Wilson's secretaries pleaded to be allowed to call in the police to drive the intruders out, the Governor would have none of it, and continued his conferences with Congressmen in such brief intervals as interrupting picnickers afforded him.
    Congressman Hayden from Arizona said to the Governor: "We are going to vote for you, because we don't like Taft for trying to keep us out of the Union, and don't like Teddy for trying to bring us in yoked up to New Mexico. That was even worse than leaving us out." Congressman Hayden had only two things he wanted Gov. Wilson to do for his constituents. One was to have his managers send him bales of Wilson buttons, and the other was to have the Governor come out and make some speeches.
    There was no formality among the Congressmen. Not a single frock coat was in evidence, although the member from Maine, Mr. McGillicuddy, wore something very much approaching one. The New York members wore Panama hats, the Middle Westerners plain straws, and the representative from Arizona, as befitting his rough-and-tumble Commonwealth, a large sombrero.
    Each Congressman took to the kind of fun he most liked. The Middle Westerners hurried after the introductions were over to the seashore. Some of them, including Mr. Robinson of Arkansas, had never seen the Atlantic before. Mr. Hayden of Arizona galloped off to the rifle range the minute he heard the shooting, and he was soon planting Springfield bullets through the middle of the bull's-eye. Congressman Hayden had led four rifle teams from his State to National rifle matches, and he found in Gen. Spencer, Gov. Wilson's military aid, an old friend.  Mr. Hayden stayed in the rifle butts until train time.
    While the Arizonian was trying out his trigger finger Mr. Robinson of Arkansas, who had never seen the ocean, was having an experience all his own that delighted him so much he refused to go back to Washington on the Congressional special. Congressman Robinson was introduced to a dinner of soft shell crabs, the firsts he had ever eaten. He consumed them all and demanded more. He ate a second half dozen, and then arranged to come back to the same shore hotel for dinner to-night and breakfast to-morrow.
    From Georgia came a Congressman in the person of Mr. Hardwick who was fascinated by the swamp growths along the sea coast. He removed his shoes and stockings and waded out far enough to cut down tall rushes, which he proudly carried back to the "Little White House.
    "Well, Hardwick," Gov. Wilson said, "what are you doing with those cattails?" "Cat-tails nothing," retorted the Georgian. "Those. Sir, are bulrushes, the same as those among which Moses was found. And what is more, Sir, I don't like the way you Jersey men persist in calling them 'cat-tails.' We shall have to educate you to using their proper name."
    Congressman Hardwick bore his bulrushes, to the special train. He said he was going to have them compared to the Georgia rushes, and if they were of harder fibre he was going to have them introduced into the swamps at home, since there was bound to come a day soon when their fibre would become almost as famous as cotton as a cloth fabric.
    Mr. Hardwick sought out Mrs. Wilson to explain to her how it all came about that her home State was not with Gov. Wilson. He blamed it all on the Booker T. Washington incident in New York and a campaign canard circulated about it in the country districts, that Gov. Wilson had written, a letter to Booker. T. Washington sympathizing with him over his arrest in New York. He pledged to Mrs. Wilson that her old neighbors would make up in campaign activity their coldness in the pre-convention period.

Clark Visits Col. Harvey.
    Champ Clark, after the first greetings were over and the moving picture machines had taken his picture alongside that of Gov. Wilson, disappeared from the party. He drove by automobile to the home of Col. Harvey at Deal Beach, where his daughter, Miss Genevieve, was a guest. After visiting with Col. Harvey for three hours the Speaker returned just in time to catch the special train back to Washington.
    Many of the Congressmen demanded that Gov. Wilson come to their States. He promised Congressman Francis of Ohio that if he made a speaking tour he would include Ohio. Mr. Rubey of Missouri attempted to obtain a similar promise, but was not successful. The ten men who came from Missouri united in assuring Gov. Wilson that their three absentees were away only because they were not in Washington when the party was made up. Mr. Francis reminded Gov. Wilson that Ohio took a keen personal interest in his career, since it was in Ohio that the Governor's parents met and were married, and for a long time made their home.
    Congressman McDermott, who smokes cigars at the angle made famous by Speaker Cannon and hails from the Chicago stock yards district, told Gov. Wilson in picturesque language that Illinois was his to put in his pocket.
    The longest conversation Gov. Wilson had in the day was with Congressman Fitzgerald of New York. It lasted an hour. As Secretary  Thomas F. Smith of Tammany Hall was flitting about among the Congressmen and button-holing them whenever possible, the long talk of the Governor with Fitzgerald was credited with having something to do with the New York situation. It was supposed that some split in the ranks in New York has occurred, and that various factions wished their side to be known to Gov. Wilson. Dudley Field Malone, son-in-law of Senator O'Gorman, sought an interview with Gov. Wilson soon after Congressman Fitzgerald had left him.