Evening star., 1933-02-19
BY WILLIAM HARD.

The task of getting the country and
the Congress and the presidency into
a united front against the depression
will be accomplished during the last
three weeks of March, say the op-
tinists.
The skeptics vociferously deny that
Franklin Delano Roosevelt has enough
iron in him to do it. They maintain
that he is better listener than in
itiator.
Hence the chief debate now going
forward in Washington. 1t has moth
ing to do with any presently proposed
legislative measures. Almost all such
measures are doomed to be still in a
merely proposed condition when this
session of the Congress adjourns on
March 4. The true topic of Washing
tonian conversation at this moment Is
simply and solely the character Of Mr..
Roosevelt.
Among those who doubt his desire
for dictatorship are many who have
known him from boyhood" and who
went to school with him." They are
almost ali of them-one must hasten
to add-Republicans. Mr.. Roosevelt
seems to have had surprisingly few
Democratic boyhood playmates- His
father and mother seem to have chosen
for him the politically wrong schools.
It follows that his schoolday contempo-
raries-llow many Of them in high Re
publican office-are prone to quote MS
presidential dictatorial stock below par.
X 4 4 \
They say that he is amiahle, al
fable, affectionate. receptive, impress
sionable, kindly, pleasant, agreeable and
accommodating.
They hold that he Is not outright,
Fortnight, decisive, sef-wiled, orig
NATIVE, commanding, directive or ruth
less. They contend that he has the
merits of a plastic material rather than
the merits Of an obdurate metal.
This analysis of him they are forever
fortifying in the thought of Washing
ton by the clnching observation: y
knew him when he was g."
On the other hand, there are those
who say that it does not make mucn
difference what Mr. Roosevelt's char
acter was at 8. They incline to the
view that it Is more important to de-
termine what his character is at 81.
This writer observes that the people
who take the most favorable view OF
Mr. Roosevelt are mainly those whose
acquaintance with him began after his
arrival at maturity. They are not con-
cerned with whatever he may have
been as a schoolboy. They have studied
him only as a practitioner Of politics.
Their story Of him Is much more
balanced They, agree with the recol-
lectors Of his childhood in stating that
he is indeed by preference team play
er rather than a solo player. His tastes
would lead him. they think. more
toward being sort of Archbishop OF
Canterbury, first among lot of equal
bishops" then toward being like a
Pope, with all other bishops subor-
dinated. They point to his own self
revelations of himself on this point
during the last campaign. They re-
mind Washington that at that time he
over and over again stressed the idea
that he had it in him to get along"
with the Congress in Washington, Just
as he had already demonstrated that
he had 1t in him to "get along" with
the Legislature at Albany.
They at the same time maintain,
however, that when Mr.. Roosevelt can
not achieve decisions through co-opera-
ton with others. he Is perfectly willing
to achieve them by his own sole act.
They even point to numerous occasions
during the last campaign when virtually
all of Mr.. Roosevelt's advisers coun-
seled him to take certain courses and
he, in the outcome, took courses pre-
recommended to him. They say-in
sum-that he would rather bend his ear
to suggestion, but that at need he Is
always ready to lift his fist for the CIV
ing Of orders.
X X
This moderate and temperate esti-
mate Of him seems to this writer to be
nearer the truth than either of the
one-Sided conceptions a. him which de-
clare him, respectively, to be, on the
one hand, a dictaphone for those about
him, and, ON the other hand, a covert
Napoleon determined to do all the die
tating himself.
Mr.. Roosevelt, as President, this
writer takes it, would thrust aside the
kingly crown, If he could, but would
Ak 1t on his head If he had to.
The question would then become:
In what degree will the circumstances
OF March 4 suggest crown?
In answer one may look at the hear
ings now being conducted by the Senate
Finance Committee. These hearings
are intended to elucidate the best eco
nomic thought of the country. The
witnesses have been persons. on the
whole, of the highest eminence and au-
thoritativeness. What has been the
result to date?
The witnesses belonging to schools
of economic philosophy commonly
called sound" have testified in favor Of
sound" measures; and the witnesses
belonging to schools of economic phi
losophy sometimes disparaged as "un-
sound" have testified in favor of "un-
sound" measures; and the so-called
"unsound" witnesses are firmly con-
vinced that the so-called Sound" wit
nesses are in fact altogether "unsound." !"
In other words, the same battles be-
tween "soundness" and "unsoundness'
as remedies for the deDreSaian are found