Conan Doyle on Wilson

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Conan Doyle on Wilson is an article published in The New-York Times on 1 july 1914.

Extract of an interview with Arthur Conan Doyle in Canada before returning to England.


Conan Doyle on Wilson

The New-York Times (1 july 1914, p. 1)

Says "the Most idealistic Men Get into the Worst Messes."

Special to The New York Times.

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario, June 30. — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Lady Doyle left here today for Montreal, whence they will sail for England. The creator of Sherlock Holmes looks burly and ruddy after his vacation in the Canadian Northwest. He was enthusiastic today in telling of that part of the world and the possibilities of its development.

Sir Arthur said that the action of Sir Lionel Carden in advising all British subjects to leave Mexico seemed most significant.

Of the President of the United States, Sir Arthur said: "President Wilson is a fine fellow, but it seems singular, doesn't it, that the most idealistic men get into the worst messes, like this Mexican affair. Take Gladstone, for example."

The novelist said that he had spent a very pleasant time in Jasper Park, the Canadian mountain reservation on the line between British Columbia and Alberta and had gone on the trail for a week. He was greatly impressed with the progress that was being made in the new farming country of the Northwest. What surprised him most was to find such a number of prosperous little cities and towns of which he had never heard.