Evening star., 1932-12-18
The President Maker


Howe Is wress-6S with q problem -
takes a defective story to bed with him
instead of said problem, which is "oh
the record''-a favorite expression OF
his. The next morning he finds that
his subconscious mind has been work.
ing for him and the problem is solved.
Works Cross Word Puzzles.
He also uses crossword puzzles as a
| himself obsessed by an important
problem. Like the f1ctional old man
who knotted and unknotted cords
while concentrating on a crime prob
| lem. Louis Howe works out a cross
word puzzle, and by the time it Is fin
ished his real problem has evaporated.
During the pre-convention cam.
| paign, when the hullabaloo and bally-
hoo were at their height and hardened
politicians were running around in
circles yapping at one another a small
man in rumpled clothes. and mum as a
mummy, was hidden away in an Office
| just across the street from national
headquarters in Chicago. Here he was
| sought by the wise and otherwise, and
| while some of the so-called Democratic
| leaders became hectic and excited over
| the outcome Louis Howe was as calm
as F1atbush. That uncanny sixth sense
| of his told him that the friend for
whom he had been working for %
years was going to get the nomination
and the presidency as well.
Il am no master mind or anything
like that" he said deprecatorily. Il
have just ordinary common sense,
that's all. These master minds are
usually too intellectual to convince any
one but themselves, and. being so su-
pcrior, they never get the viewpoint Of
| the man in the street. That is why
they are such bad prophets. But I
have sort of knack for sensing the
other fellows reaction For instance,
when President Hoover made his re-
marks about gold during the recent
campaign felt intuitively that he had,
to use a slang expression, pulled a
boner'-and later l was not surprised
at Wall Streets reaction to those re-
marks"
! Seeks Rest at Seashore.
When this highly original little man
wants rest he goes 10 the RaShOre. The
| qu!etude Of mountains, which soothes
most persons, gets on his nerves; and
he has found by experience that the
great activity Of the ocean has a quiet
ing effect upon him when he can lie
on the shore and listen to the pound
ing of the waves. He is like the New
York boy who couldn't sleep in the
country because it was too quiet. This
love for the sea Is strong in him today
and he has a place on the shore be-
tween New Bedford and Fall River
To this retreat he goes every Friday
night and stays until Sunday night
! When he goes to Washington in March
to live in the White House. his family
will continue to live in Massachusetts,
and he will commute for week ends,
perhaps flying back and forth.
The ocean rolls directly from Spain
tc my place on the shore of Massachu-
setts." he said poetically.
AS a matter of fact Howe is very
fond of poetry, real poetry, and admits
unblushingly that he has written it
himself. But he won't tell what sort
of poetry it is. Nor will he have any
OF it published. In his youth, Howe
wanted to be an artist. and has con-
tinued drawing and etching for his own
amusement. He likes to work with his
hands. and has a settled conviction that
mans mind works better when he
does things with his hands. For this
lege education, although his own son
Is at Harvard.
| Ill Health in Youth,
When he was Is, young Howe had
tussle with typhoid fever and was i'll
for long time. That prevented his
matriculating at college. but his father
took him to Europe three years in sue
cesslon. and over there he studied,
Travelled and recovered his health. And
this. he thinks, did him more good than
college education. But he must have
a subconscious hankering after college,
he says. because he put his daughter
| through college and is doing the same
] thing for his son.
1t is one Of Howe's pet ambitions to
start school where children may try
out every road until they find the right
one. He knows that there Is no royal
road to learning, but he also knows that
| there are many roads to ignorance and
dlsilluslonment and he would like to
see children started on the road that
interests them most. Children, he
thinks should do their exploring while
they are young and thus discover the
path that leads to individual success.
Il would teach them history" he
says, for that is essential to people who
are going to take part in the worlds
progress. I'd begin them with Godfrey
Parsons book, The Stream of History;
1t would give them bird's-eye view of
the trend Of mankind"
| 62 Years Old.
He is g. years old, but doesn't look it.
He is one of those men of indeterminate
| age who never seem to grow any
younger or any older He was born in
indianapolis, but was taken to Sara
toga by his father at the age of 7.
Saratoga was a fashionable watering
spa and a great racing mecca for the
| country. Here swarmed politicians,
gamblers, health seekers and famous
men and women from all walks of life.
Young Howes father had bought the
Saratoga Sun and was also postmaster
and local correspondent of the New
York Herald. In this electrically alive
atmosphere Louis Howe kept his eyes
and ears wide open and absorbed poll
tics as a sponge abSorbS water. When
he was only II he had taken his fathers
place as correspondent for the Her.
aid, and later became the Herald's
correspondent at Albany.
It was at Albany that he met Frank
lin Roosevelt, then a new and very
green State Senator from Dutchess
County. But in spite of his greenness,
Roosevelt refused to take orders from
Tammany Hall. then under the iron
fist of Charley Murphy. Roosevelt
fought the New York organization
tooth and nail and Louis Howe went
to interview this independent young
ster. From the start he liked Roose-
velt's sincerity and earnestness and
decided that this man had the max
al n >s~.l -