suffered
from any domestic sorrow of this kind, and the Ambassador was so
affected that it was with difficulty that he could summon himself for
the task that lay ahead.

In a few days, however, he left for Washington. He has himself
described his experience at the Capital in words that must inevitably
take their place in history. To appreciate properly the picture which
Page gives, it must be remembered that the city and the officialdom
which he portrays are the same city and the same men who six months
afterward declared war on Germany. When Page reached Washington, the
Presidential campaign was in full swing, with Mr. Wilson as the
Democratic candidate and Mr. Charles E. Hughes as the Republican. But
another crisis was absorbing the nation's attention: the railway unions,
comprising practically all the 2,000,000 railway employees in the United
States, were threatening to strike--ostensibly for an eight-hour day, in
reality for higher wages.

_Mr. Page's memorandum of his visit to Washington in August, 1916_

The President was very courteous to me, in his way. He invited me to
luncheon the day after I arrived. Present: the President, Mrs. Wilson,
Miss Bones, Tom Bolling, his brother-in-law, and I. The conversation was
general and in the main jocular. Not a word about England, not a word
about a foreign policy or foreign relations.

He explained that the threatened railway strike engaged his whole mind.
I asked to have a talk with him when his mind should be free. Would I
not go off and rest and come back?--I preferred to do my minor errands
with the Department, but I should hold myself at his convenience and at
his command.

Two weeks passed. Another invitation to lunch. Sharp, the Ambassador to
France, had arrived. He, too, was invited. Present: the President, Mrs.
Wilson, Mrs. Wallace, the Misses Smith of New Orleans, Miss Bones,
Sharp, and I. Not one word about foreign affairs.

After luncheon, the whole party drove to the Capitol, where the
President addressed Congress on the strike, proposing legislation to
prevent it and to forestall similar strikes. It is a simple ceremony and
somewhat impressive. The Senators occupy the front seats in the House,
the Speaker presides and the President of the Senate sits on his right.
An escorting committee is sent out to bring the President in. He walks
to the clerk's or reader's desk below the presiding officer's, turns and
shakes hands with them both and then proce