The President's News Conference

THE PRESIDENT. Good morning. I don't know that I have got anything to say to you. No doubt you are ravenous for news, and I haven't got it. I just got up from the best night's sleep I have had in a week.

Q. What are your plans, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT. I think I shall probably leave here Saturday night and go straight back to Washington.

Q. Mr. President, if you go back on the Santa Fe do you plan to stop off at the Grand Canyon or anywhere ?

THE PRESIDENT. No stop at the Grand Canyon this time.

Q. Which route will you take, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT. The Santa Fe. We will probably go out of here on the Southern Pacific so far as Los Angeles.

Q. What time will that bring you into Washington?

THE PRESIDENT. We will try to work it out to get as many nights on the train as possible and as many days in Palo Alto and Washington as possible.

Q. Mr. President, I imagine you are receiving a great many telegrams.

THE PRESIDENT. Literally thousands of telegrams. All very fine in their tenor. They express every determination of the Republican Party to go at it for 4 years of constructive work. I don't think there is anything else.

Q. Mr. President, have you heard anything from Roosevelt yet-any acknowledgement of your telegram ?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, a very pleasant acknowledgment. I don't recollect what the terms of it were.

Q. Mr. President, is there anything you want to say to the people who supported you ? I noticed you didn't say anything last night.

THE PRESIDENT. I haven't had time. I just got up. I probably will say something.

Q. Mr. President, for our guidance perhaps more than news, can you give us any idea in a general way as to your plans during the remainder of your stay--whether you plan to take automobile rides or what ?

THE PRESIDENT. I just went to sleep last night after the show was over, and I have got up, and I haven't any plans. I shall probably take automobile rides around this neighborhood.

Q. Have you any information as to whether Dr. Wilbur will get out of the Cabinet now ? I understand his leave from the university expires in December.

THE PRESIDENT. I think that was the arrangement that his time expires in December, but I haven't discussed the matter with him at all.

Q. That would be, probably, conjecture ?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't know whether there is conjecture on that or not before the 4th of March. The natural consequence will be to get out then.

Q. Mr. President, representing the Washington people, we want to know whether we will continue to have you as a citizen after the 4th of March--that is, will you remain in Washington ?

THE PRESIDENT. Oh, I would not live in Washington after the 4th of March. I will come back to California, I am sure.

Q. In that connection, Mr. President, have you any announcement to make concerning your plans after your return back to California ?

THE PRESIDENT. Not the remotest. I haven't thought about it.

Q. Does this mean the end of public life for you, Mr. President ?

THE PRESIDENT. I haven't given consideration to anything of that sort. I will probably have to earn something of a living. I have been in public service now ever since 1914, and it is a long drain on one's resources. However, I would not say anything about that publicly--just for your own information.

Is there anything else special that I can tell you except to take 3 or 4 days off? You have had as strenuous a time as I have.

Q. Can we depend on that? Or will we miss the train ?

THE PRESIDENT. You won't miss the train.

Q. Mr. President, as a matter of interest, have you kept any track of the number of words written since you started the campaign-major speeches and little speeches ? Is there any track of them kept?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so. They all appear in the newspapers. That is about all the record we have.

Q. It is stated that the telegraph companies have filed 2 million words.

THE PRESIDENT. It is a sure thing I haven't said 2 million words.

Q. Mr. President, you are an ardent football fan. Will you be at the game Saturday?

THE PRESIDENT. I have had that suggestion made to me this morning. But I have had only half an hour to make decisions, and I haven't bothered with any of them. I would like to go to the game--Stanford against the Army.

Q. Mr. President, would you care to give any comment on your philosophy of--

THE PRESIDENT. No, not on this short notice. Is there anything else I can tell you except to take it easy ? Unless something flows in on us from Washington, you won't have work to do for me.