The Washington times., 1934-03-03
POLITICS RISES
AS CHIEF PERIL
-TOPROGRAN
Chief Executive in Excellent
Health and Remains Sc
reneIy Confident
by International News Service


BY International News Service
President Roosevelt completes
his first year in the White House
tomorrow.
The New Deal is a year old.
It has been, friends and critics
agree, one of the most remark
able periods in the peace-time his
tory Of the country, and certainly
one of the most tempeStuouS first
years any Administration ever
put m.
Things have moved at breath
taking speed since that bleak
fourth of March a year ago, when
Franklin D. Roosevelt took over
the reins of government from Her
bert Hoover on the wind-SWept
plaza of the Capitol.
Bank Holiday First Step
The next day he electrified the
country by an Executive order
closing every bank in the country,
and from that date onward the
new Administration has moved at
. dizzy pace to combat the forces
pf depression and unemployment.
Great experiments have been
embarked upon; precedentS shat
tered right and left; new agen-
cies of Observation-Disclosures
OF a year ago-have been set up;
business and industry regimented
under hundreds of codes; agricul-
tural production controlled Dy
Federal edict; billions of dollars
poured out for human relief
needs; prohibition repealed; Rus
Sia recognized; the country taken
off the gold standard and the dol
Lar devalued to SO cents; a $500
million dollar public works pro-
gram inaugurated; in a hundred
and one different ways the Fed
eral Government has moved into
the lives of its citizens.
There is no period comparable
to it in American history.
PartiSanShip Appears Now
Most of it has been marked by
an absence Of political partisan
ship, but now, as the first year
ends, political opposition is begin
ming to appear. The Republicans,
as we'll as Democratic opposition
lists, are beginning to question the
wisdom of various phases Of the
New Deal.
Democratic pointing with pride"
is interSpersed with Republican
viewing with alarm" There are
increasing indications that the
second year of the New Deal is not
to be as smooth sailing as the first.
For the Administration, it has
been year of experiment and or
ganiZation.
The numerous recovery agencies
have been thrown together at
fast clip, and as the year ends the
pace at last shows signs of slowing
down. It is felt by Administration
officials that the spade work"
has been pretty generally accom-
pliShed, the foundations laid. and
that henceforth it is more ques-
ton of building upon what al
ready has been erected.
Second Year Is Test
The NRA, the AAA, the PWA
and all the other alphabetical or
ganizations created in the past
year will receive their baptism OF
trial in the second-year opening.
Mr.. Roosevelt himself ends his
&irst year in the White House in
q genial mood.
His hair is a little thinner and
q little grayer than year ago,
and there are lines in his face
that weren't there, but he still
laughs and jokes with newspaper
reporters and with friends, and
maintains a serene confidence.
His physical condition is good,
thanks to a strict regimen; his
digestion is good, he sleeps well,
and on the whole he feels what
his predecessor of the same name
described as bully" He swims
daily in the White House pool, his
only form Of exercise.
To Be Dinner Guest
No particular celebration is
planned for the end of the first
year, other than that the 10 mem
bers of his Cabinet will tender
him a dinner tomorrow. He calls
all of them by their first names.
None except members of the
Cabinet will be at the dinner.
On Monday, however, Mr..
Roosevelt is going on a national
radio hook-up, in which he is ex-
pected to give a survey of the
years accomplishments.
The vehicle for this accounting
Is conveniently furnished by the
presence in Washington of several
thousand business men and indus
trialists drawn here for a code con-
ference. Ostensibly, the President
will be addressing them, but
actually he will be talking to the
country.