The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-04-14
IN
AUTHOR ROLE
Volume Just Off Press
Gives Review of Admin
istration for Year
By H. ALLEN SMITH
United Press Staff Correspondent

United PreSs Staff SorreSPo
NEW YORK, April IA. (UP);
Franklin D. Roosevelt resumed
the role of author when his ne"
book "On Our WAY" was pub
lished in first printing of 80
600 copies.
simultaneously with the appear
ance Of the presidents book four
criticisms of it's contents were
published in a New York literary
magazine-The Saturday REVIEW
of Literature-written by Nor
man Thomas, A. A. Berle, Jf.,
Professor Raymond Moley ana
William Allen White.
Mr.. Roosevelt, in the MAN,
permits his own public utterances
to tell the story Of his first year
in the White House. His com
ment on his public oratlons, his
radio talks. his messages to con-
gress and his various other, oil.
ticial Communications is brief
and to the point.
In a summation of his views
on government, he ADDS a com
panion to Grover Cieveland's
Public Office Is a Public Trust, !"
by enunciating the principle that
"private office is a private trust." y
"Why," he writes, "in all COM
mon sense, should we apply one
rule to government and another
rule to, private business and the
private profession?
"After all, there is very little
distinction, so far as the effect
on human beings is concerned,
between the use of the authority
of an alderman OF q supervisor
who rules over a thousand citl-
zens, and that of the president of
a company who rules over thou
sand employees and stockholders.
In neither case am | thinking Of
graft; | refer to something more
important = conduct based on
good ethics and good morals.
81 do not indict all business eX-
ecutives, all labor leaders, all edi-
tors, all lawyers. But | do indict
the ethics Of many of them and l
indict those citizens whose easy
consciences condone such wrong
doing.
ga new public conscience joins
in this indictment. 1t condemns
business executives who put prof
its ahead of human lives, who do
not hesitate by unfair practices
to throw a rival and his employees
out of work, who speculate on in
side information, who profit by
deceiving the public with wrong
information or who sell watered
stock to innocent purchasers.
1T condemns labor leaders who
seek petty craft or who strive
for absolute power over the ac-
tions of workers who have the
right to be free and Independent.
1t has come to suspect and to
lose faith in editors who color
their news stories, who put per-
sonal or party advantages ahead
of q broader patriotism.
at condemns lawyers who ac-
cept retainers to find loopholes
in the letter of the law as we'll
as those who employ such law
yers. Public sentiment which once
found amusement in the clever
ness of those who got away with
it. is becoming less and less pa,
tient with wrongdoing, whether
it is based on deliberate and seri-
Gus criminality or me~e clever
ness. 1t condemns such practice
whether it succeeds or not, and
equally important, whether it is
in private business or public af-.
fairs.
The four men who wrote re-
views of the book quite natural
w were divided in their opinions
-Berle and Moley, for: Thomas
and White. mildly against.
owe are on our way" Thorn
as. the Socialist writes, "but it is
not a way clearly marked out by
the new deal. Sooner Or later
we shall swerve sharply to
fascist right or q socialist left.
Mr.. Roosevelt's further leader
ship for evil or for good will de-
pend on his making I'D his mind
on this question and deciding
which way he personally ought to
go and which way he can lead
the American people,"
Thomas paws tribute, however,
to the presidents particular
genius.
'It is something" he declares,
CATER. the waste years that we
have president who has cour-
age. nolitical shrewdness, a lib
eral point of view and a willing.
ness to act. Likewise it is some
thing that he is as articulate as
this book proves him to be-"
Berle, who was one of the
brain trusters, eulogizes Mr..
Roosevelt as a leader.
"Mr. Roosevelt" he writes,
""artly as politician, partly as
partly as statesman,
evolving ideas, discovering them,
or using them, vastly increased
the possibility of service which
a government could render, and
which his government did render.
That lesson is not likely to be
forgotten in our time. In a sense.
it is a standing proof of the old
philosophical doctrine that the
ultimate purpose of government
is, in the largest sense, educa-
tion."
Professor Moley. in his review,
attacks the "pedants and zealots"
who have cast stones in the di-
rection of the president.
If" he says, president Roose-
Welt has Snent his life ~, H. 80.