The Washington times., 1933-03-31

come, he felt, to turn once again
to his business interests and the
practice of law. A campaign
for reelection beckoned alluring-
ly but in 1912 he had put the
idea definitely behind him. He
had no sooner made his decision
than a rumor reached him that
"Boss" Murphy and his cohorts
were just as we'll pleased to
have him withdraw from the
fray and that in any event
they would oppose his renomi-
nation. His plans underwent
an immediate change.
once more he took the stump,
this time declaring himself for
the continuance of the policies
advocated in his initial cam
paign and asking the support OF
his constituents on the basis OF
performance rather than prom
Use. While Franklin toured
the district renewing acquaint-
ances and making new friends,
Eleanor and the children settled
down at Hyde Park to await
results. Always a firm believer
in the magic of the spoken
word, hC lost no opportunity Of
addressing crowds, however
slim.
Late one afternoon he was
scheduled to speak at PaWling.
It went over with apparent sue
cess and after light supper at
the butcher House there, Frank
lin and his party drove on to
Poughkeepsie and home.
Local Hero by Error
Imagine his aStonishment
then when upon picking up
the wspaper the next
morning the following head
lines stared him in the face,
"Dutcher House practically
burned to the ground. Senator
Franklin D. Roosevelt hero Of
the hour. Rescues women and
children by carrying them out
of the flames" To this day,
Franklin has been trying to dis
cover who impersonated him on
this occasion and by his bravery
turned him into a local hero.
How largely this romantic leg
end, denied though it was, in
fluenced Franklin's vote-getting
propensities, one cannot, of
course, determine, but when the
ballots were counted at the
campaigns end he was sent
back to Albany with a much
larger majority than he had
been able to muster when he
first rarI.
Meanwhile, beneath the sur
face the national political arena
was fast becoming a battle
ground. Franklin had long ad-
mired Woodrow Wilson's pro-
gressive thinking as evidenced
by his leadership while COVER
nor of New Jersey and during
a visit he paid him at Trenton
in 1911 he was completely won
over to the idea of Wilson for
President. From that day for
ward he worked ceaselessly to
that end. He formed a committee
which called itself '"The New
York State Wilson Conference"
organized for the purpose of
putting Mr.. Wilson forward as
a presidential candidate. AS
chairman of subcommittee
which, entirely without official
standing, sought to promote
New York State sentiment for
Wilson at the Baltimore Con-
vention, he resorted to a very
effective trick.
Given Clark Buttons
Hearing that the Champ
Clark supporters were planning
to send several hundred men to
storm the convention floor de-
manding that their candidate
be nominated, Franklin, in ca
boots with a great friend of
his who was active in Baltimore
politics, arranged to borrow a
hundred of his men to offset
the Clark offensive. To these
he added another hundred who
had been brought from New
York and supplied them all with
Clark buttons so that they
could get past the door. Once
inside they drowned out the
cries of 1--WE want Clark" with
shouts of I'VE want Wilson"
until in the end both factions
were elected from the floor to
prevent what began to assume
the proportions of riot.
But an unmistakable trend to-
ward Wilson was under way
Each vote found his strength
growing until on the sixty
fourth ballot of what my son
tells me was one of the most
stirring conventions in history,
Mr.. Wilson was nominated for
the Presidency of the United
States.
Thereafter, Franklin turned
once again to matters that lay
closer to him. 1t was not long
before he was bucking a power
full lobby that was threatening
his program to regulate COM
mission merchants.
He succeeded in having his
bill passed and had the salts
faction of seeing it work out
even beyond his expectations.
Went to Washington
A little later, some few days
before the Inauguration of
President Wilson, Franklin went
to Washington on a short visit.
During his stay. there was con-
siderable discussion over making