Evening star., 1932-06-05

1916. 1t should be added also that
most OF the Roosevelt partisans have
already more or less consciously de-
cided to try to win without New York
All the emphasis of Roosevelt's appeal
for months past has been to the South
and West.
There is second reason why the
Walker mess hurts Roosevelts chances
for the nomination. at least a little.
There is a feeling on the part of some
peOple-and a great many. but an i'm
portant some-that he should have
acted about this whole Tammany mess
before. many months ago. The scan
dal has been stewing for more than a
year. 1t has included developments
affecting judges and other officials
which. in the Judgment of some. ought
to have excited Roosevelt's Indignation
and led him to energetic action long
time ago
One day last year Western Progress
sive leader. one of the very men upon
whom Roosevelt is now depending for
support in the election. said to the
writer of this article. in reference to an
early explosion about Tammany and
Roosevelts inaction about it: That is
not what we expect from a Roosevelt
If Franklin Roosevelt had ANYTHING of
Theodore Roosevelt in him, he would
have acted
Indignant at Clerics.
Several weeks ago two New York
clergymen. apparently then aware of
what has now publicly transpired,
made public demand upon Roosevelt
that he remove Mayor Walker. Roose-
velts reply to the clergymen showed
indignation. against them, not against
Mayor Walker. 1t was said. perhaps
mainly by persons seeking reasons to
feel critical about Roosevelt. that
throughout the long history of this
Tammany mess. the first sharp words
uttered by the Governor were directed.
| not against Tammany. but against
Tammany's clerical critics.
To some extent this feeling about
Roosevelt exists. Probably it is not
enough to hurt him provided his ac
tion about Walker should be sufi-
ciently forceful. Roosevelt's attitude
Tammany scandal was strictly that of
judge-perhaps too strictly so for the
best bearing on his political fortunes
He declined to act on informal COM
plants, he waited for the complaints
to come to him in official form; he eX
amined the complaints and he studied
the evidence, and then he acted. In
one case his action was to remove
minor Tammany official from Office.
the removal being accompanied by
words of disapproval of the officials
conduct as strong as any one could
wish.
But much of the public, to great
degree unjustly, has expected more than
that from Roosevelt. When a man
reaches the stature before the public of
Governor of New York and when fur
ther he becomes an aspirant for the
presidency. partiSanS gravitate to him.
Some of such volunteer partisans are
overeager in temperament and they
build within their own minds a picture
of a hero which the object of their
ardor sometimes cannot possibly live
up to. In many cases they expect the
| impossible of him; sometimes they eX-
pect him to act, for the purpose of suit
ing their ideas. in way which. from
the point Of view of the general public,
would be improper.
New York Disliked.
There is yet another reason why the
Walker scandals and the whole Tam
many mess works in some degree
against Roosevelt
The whole country has a low opin-
ion of some aspects of New York City.
Has a low opinion" is an understate-
ment. Most of the country dislikes
New York City, or is vaguely suspicious
of it. This emotion extends to even so
! eood a man, so "un-New York" man,
AS Roosevelt 1t extends especially to
any public figure in New York politics
Because Tammany is Democratic, the
anti-New York feeling extends partic-
ularly to any Democrat prominent in
New York politics, even where, as in
Roosevelt's case, the man, in his per-
sonal qualities, is so different, so far
from, so completely the opposite Of the
things that make Tammany odious.
This feeling of the rest of the coun-
| try against New York has been restim-
ulated by the Walker scandal. Not
only by what Walker has done. The
spectacle Of attitude of the New York
populace toward Walker, their hero
admiration for him, their failure to be
moved to disapproval of his actions
all that has intensified the country's
distaste for New York City as whole,
including (unfairlyEbf course even the
best of its citizens. The country raw
the New York mayor accused OF what
in other communities would normally
make man at the least an Ishmael.
They saw these charges convincing.y
supported by evidence And then they
saw the hearings take the form of a
mere duel of personalities between Sam
uel Seabury representing good and
Walker dramatized as the opposite.
They saw Walker apparently in the
first days at least, win the duel. They
saw Walker, by the exercise of wit.
adroitness, glibness and actor-like
! qualities of charm, apparently able to
overcome, in the eyes of the New York
| City crowd the grave charges of moral
defect made against him. The New
York City crowd. of course, is one
thing: the discriminating and thought
! full citizens of New York are. as in
most places. different thing. The
country is apt to forget that Mr.. Sea-
bury is as much New Yorker as Mayor
Walker There are New Workers and
New Workers.
Walker Is Thorn.
That spectacle of the New York
crowd applauding Walker for his abil-
ity at wise-cracking, apparently quite
unmoved by the moral factors involved
that spectacle has intensified the
country's distaste for the metropolis 1t
has revived the country's memories OF
| the other faults and infections which
the country feele. whether justly or not,
I that new York City has put upon it.
The revival and intensifcation of all
! this has increased the country's dispo-
sition to hold itself aloof from New
York City. This disposition extends to
some degree to every citizen of the
city, even to so fine a one, and SO
utterly the opposite of Walker, as
Roosevelt Is.
Politics being politics, this anti-New
York feeling will be stirred to express
| sion, to Roosevelt'S disadvantage. 1t
already has. When Roosevelt tried to
get the California delegates, his defeat
| was due in part to the fact that he is
a New Yorker. There were three candi-
dates for the California delegates. Two
Of them, Roosevelt and Smith, were
from New York: the third, Garner,
wes a Texan. The most effective in
strumentality for Garner-more ac-
curately against Smith and Roosevelt