WOODEOW WILSON 551 not been for the break in the Republican Party. On the other hand it might be said that even with the break another Demo- crat could not have been elected. But whether the election was the result of a peculiar political situation or of the appeal of Mr. Wilson's intellect and personality to the American people, or of both, he was put into the president's chair. Any estimate of his fitness for the position cannot well be made at such close range of time. But several things are evident at even this near perspective. The American people are no longer afraid of a college man in politics. The intel- lectual discipline of the classroom, and the careful appHcation to a study of the principles of government do not seem to un- fit a man for participation in the real game of politics and the real business of government. Moreover, the fight for dem- ocracy and human rights is a many-sided one. Privilege and the claims of special interests show themselves in many places and in many forms. A man who is their foe in one form or in one place may be expected to be their foe in other forms or places. Apart from the merits of the legislation which he has secured, three things stand out in his policy : his refusal to allow any traditional system of checks and balances to keep him from using the presidential office to force from Congress legislation that the people have demanded; his disregard of precedent, when such (Usregard is in the interest of greater effectiveness and service; his deliberate purpose to make a party responsible for the measures that it has advocated in its platform. BIBLIOGRAPHY PERIODICALS Dr. Woodrow Wilson's Policies. Outlook 96:300. Sand of Man Woodrow Wilson Is. By W. Q. McAdoo. Century 85:744. President Woodrow Wilson. By Robert Bridges. Review of Re- views 26 :38. Woodrow Wilson. Century 65 :161. Woodrow Wilson, By Alfred L. P. Dennis. Contemporaneous Re- view 102 :790 ; Living Age 276 :3.
