THE BIGGEST JOB ON EARTH THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES, WHICH CARRIES WITH IT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PROPER MANAGEMENT OF THE HALF MILLION EMPLOYEES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHO GATHER AND EXPEND A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR AND WHO CARRY ON BY WILLIAM BAYARD HALE F EVER mortal man needed supernatural aid, that man is he who is now taking his seat at the head of the greatest governmental machine the world has ever known. Not that President Wilson will encounter any unique or unusual difficulties; not that he will be beset by any problems which his predecessors have not had to meet. Though in some degree this may be the case, owing to certain political complications, his friends entertain no concern over such probably exaggerated troubles. But simply because the Government over which he comes to preside is an affair of such magnitude; simply because the extent, the size, the importance, the reach, the diversity of the duties of the Presidency have, in the course of our national evolution, become so prodigious; because the White House at Washington has become the centre of a system, an organization, an authority, unprecedented in the history of political institutions no man could take up the colossal task they impose without fortifying his oath with a devout invocation of superhuman aid, in the words with which Washington, with far less reason, began his terms: "So help me God!" In 1856, when Woodrow Wilson was born, the United States were thirty-four; to-day they are forty-eight. Then, we possessed no outlying territory. To-day, we have Alaska, Porto Rico, the Panama Canal Zone, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and the Tutuila Islands more than 3,000 islands. Our population then was 28 millions; now it is 110 millions. In 1856, the country possessed 22,000 miles of railroads; to-day, 250,000. Then, not a telegraph instrument clicked, not a telephone bell tinkled. That year the people of the United States spent 7 million dollars for postage stamps; this year we shall spend 250 millions and stamps are cheaper, too. But, great as has been the growth of the country, the growth in the size and importance of the Government has been out ONE OF THE STRATEGIC POINTS THAT BUILD AND REPAIR THE SHIPS OF THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES, WHICH RANKS ONLY A LITTLE BEHIND GERMANY'S AND WHICH IS THE THIRD LARGEST IN THE WORLD THE NEWEST ACTIVITY OF THE POST OFFICE THE PARCEL POST, THAT IS ADDING MANY MILLIONS TO THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT'S RECEIPTS WHICH ALREADY ARE MORE THAN A QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. THIS DEPARTMENT EMPLOYS 300,000 MEN AND WOMEN, AND HANDLES ONE THIRD OF THE WORLD'S MAIL COUNTING THE GOVERNMENT'S MONEY EVERY BAG CONTAINS 1,000 SILVER DOLLARS. THE VAULTS OF THE NATIONAL TREASURY IN WASHINGTON ALWAYS HOLD MANY MILLIONS IN CASH AND BONDS |