Evening star., 1933-06-11
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

| and is approaching the end of
i his first session OF Congress.
There will be unless another
special session is called, which is un-
likely q period of six months during
which the country will have opportu-
nifty to 60 forward in quiet with the
program of remedial measures COM
pleted. (This statement is subject to
! the qualification that the country will
! look frequently toward the London con-
| ference)
Any review of the last three months
If made by one close to the scene In
| Washington. is likely to put emphasis
on the personal impression made by the
1 new President. 1t is strongly appealing
Persons who come in contact with him
for the first time like him, are moved
by an impulse to be helpful toward
him. His confidence and cheerfulneSs
are infectious. and this quality has been
| tangible factor both in getting Things
done Immediately about him and in
creating a spirit of revival in the coun-
| try.
1t is no mere blind confidence. He
profoundly believes his measures are
| intelligently adapted to recovery and he
has buoyant faith in the recuperative
capacity of the country. With his
cheerfulness goes complete firmness. 1t
| is part of his technique of getting on
with men that an almost reSounding
mo" is accompanied by lips spreading
| into a wide smile and a friendly look,
with eyes warmly bright. He uses sus-
tanned good humor as part of his armor
of patience. He endures with tolerance
and with an always preserved smile
questions. remarks, conversations and
| incidents which, one knows, are counter
| to his convictions and to the interests
of his administration. Once, with very
real seriousness, he told newspaper
| man that story he had published was
completely inaccurate and had done
| harm to the country in its foreign re-
| lations AS he concluded he grasped
the newspaper mans arm with hearty
! friendliness, which ended the incident
without sting
Never Seems to Be Tired.
His endurance in his prodigious task
is almost incredible. To no one does
he ever give the impression of being
tired. No one ever has the expert
ence of putting new problem before
him toward the end of long day and
getting tired mans answer. Always
his mind is exact, smooth working.
Always he gives the answer which goes
precisely as far as the question calls
for and no further; which carefully
makes all the necessary qualifications
and leaves no room for misinterpreta-
ton. And always with buoyancy and
optimism.
His intellectual alertness Is response
BILE for one trait which causes his
friends and intimates to be on guard
in his interest. He Is extraordinarily
quick "on the uptake," prompt in his
grasp of new idea. To any President
| an enormous number OF new ideas are
presented; to bring new idea is the
| principal errand of majority of the
| White House door-ttey enter starry
eyed with something which, they think.
| will save the world, or solve an inn
| mediate problem. Mr.. Roosevelt likes
rev ideas. takes them in quickly. HIS
face lights up with appreciation. and
often he exclaims enthusiastically,
Good" or "That,S-as good idea" Mere
affirmation that an 1dea Is good Is
sometimes sraisinterpreted by enthusi-
astic callers as an undertaking by the
President to adopt the idea, which often
MI. Roosevelt does not intend until he
sees whether the new idea fits in the
pattern OF his program. or until, In q
survey with his intimate advisers, he
dCtCAhlAlCo WAACtAACi t4AC AIC6 40 " az
tical in the given situation. At that
some of the ideas adopted have not
come up to the prospectus of those who
urged them. I suspect this is what the
President meant, when in his recent
radio speech he said, quoting Theodore
Roosevelt, IF can be right rs per
cent of the time, shall come up to the
fullest measure of my hopes"
Amused at Dictatorship"
Persons close to the spring of events
in Washington are disabused of two
notions about the President. Three
months of contact and observation
bring conviction that Mr.. Roosevelt
personally has nothing but smiling
amusement for the notion that he or
any President should be a dictator
in the sense in which that word figures
sion. It carries the conviction also that
personally Mr.. Roosevelt has no
faintest wish to carry the country into
what is called ''radicalism." into a
permanent departure from either the
form of government or the social sys-
tenn. On the contrary, one gathers
strongly that Mr.. Roosevelt's wish Is
to get the country safely and perma-
nently back on the old track.
There is here, of course, twilight
zone. There Is distinction between
complete going back to literal and
minute conformity with the old way,
and on the other hand, acceptance of
such modification as is likely to hap
pen, and to be inevitable and whole
some, in any period of several years.
especially such years as we have just
passed through. Mr.. Roosevelt is toll
Grant of experiment; more than toll
Grant of it, intellectually he likes ex-
pertinent. But he Is as laughing to-
ward the notion of revolution as any
average American.
One should add here that some
among his advisers believe in the
United States taking steps in direc-
tion that can only be described intel
ligibly as form of sovietizing Amer
lea. But some others, of his advisers
are men who hold firmly to the
familiar American ideal. Between the
two groups, one observes that the
President rather frequently goes along
with the first as respects sympathetic
consideration of their ideas even eX-
perimenting with their ideas-but as
respects execution of ideas, and ad-
ministration of affairs generally, he
makes use of men who hold the old
American notions about government,
business and social organization. This
condition. two groups of advisers with
divergent views. is an essential part
of the picture. OF the two, the group
that believes in change are the more
energetic and resourceful in pushing
their ideas.
Knows Nation Is Sick.
The sum of all about this aspect of
Mr.. Roosevelt, as seen by observers at
once very close and well equipped with
insight, is that Mr.. Roosevelt knows
that America is very sick and must be
cured; that as a result Of the national
sickness there is in America a large
quantity of misery and discomfort,
which expresses itself in the popular
majorities with which, for example.
Huey Long of Louisiana, is able to get
hir,,celf alecfad To fha Sanafa. that this