PRESIDENT WILSON "PASSES THE HAT."

Taranaki Daily News, 9 February 1918, Page 3

PRESIDENT WILSON "PASSES THE HAT."

The President of the United States of America, as becomes the leader of that democratic people, does not allow himself to be tied down by any hard and fast rules 0 f etiquette, but enters into the spirit of popular movements with a freedom that is typically American. An incident that aptly illustrates this side of the President's character is reported by the Chicago Tribune's Washington representative, who writes:— "President Wilson to-night actively assisted in the Y.M-C.A. 35,000.000-dollar war fund campaign :by passing a hat through his own box and the adjoining one at a local theatre. As one of the workers approached the box occupied bv the President, he took his hat, passed it round among the members of his party, and then carried it into the next box while the audience applauded." The campaign referred to was so generously supported by the public that the I.M.C.A. raised .£10,000,000, exceeding by over three million pounds the amount asked for. There is now a similar appeal before the people of New Zealand w..0 are being asked to provide £1 per soldier per annum, the sum required to maintain the YM.C.A. work among the boys in khaki. This appeal culminates on Red Triangle Day.