The Washington times., 1934-03-29
True To
Type
Must Jaywalkers
Choose Fate
Of America
BY GILBERT SELDES
Note on . Pamphlet


Secretary Wallace's America
Must Choose" is probably the
most important publication, out
side Of Presidential messages, is
sued this year, but think Of
the title at the wrong times.
The idea Is that America is
facing q serious, even a critical
choice, and Mr.. Wallace is par
ticularly good because he ex-
plains the pains and penalties,
as wen as the profits, likely to
come to us from any plan we
select.
Behind it lies the thought that
we, Americans, are capable OF
thinking and exercising judg'
ment. That is where my ILL
chosen moments come in.
I think of America Must
Choose" whenever I see women
rushing baby carriages with
babies inside) across city streets
against the traffic light. I
think Of it when I see long
line Of motor cars and watch one
car cut out, dash madly a hun
dred feet, cut in again, gain
ing a total Of perhaps 10 seconds
in a 15-mile journey-and note
that the car contains two won1-
en- and three children. Some
how nv enthusiasm for letting
America choose dwlndles when I
think Of some of the Ameri-
cans who are going to do the
choosing.
Nor am I peculiarly cheered
at the thought that the in
telliN2nt ones, and particularly
the intellectuals who influence
the others, will determine the
choice.
The intellectuals have made
wrong guesses as often as the
ignorant, and have been q
little more arrogant about
them. They have messed up
their own lives and the lives
Of their children. They can't
lace their shoes correctly
and they are supposed, with
the mad motorists, to choose
between two delicately adjust
ed systems Of economic pro-
cedure.
Note on History
The idea that Roosevelt Is
only the Kerensky" Of the
American Revolution" was COM
monplace last August, and I
recorded then my conviction
that those who said this were
a little ignorant Of history,
because there is another char
acter whom he resembles
more: the patrician Caius
Gracious who took the side
Of the common man in Rome,
tried to relieve him of his
debts, to give him a chance
again-and who was defeated
by the maSSed energy Of the
powerful and the wealthy of
his own class.
There have been "brain-
trusters," I am sure, who
wished that the President
would go faster to the left
and others who wished he'd
hold more firmly to the good
old conservative tradition; but
If either side talked freely to
outsiders about ditching Roose-
velt for a MuSsolini or a Sta
lin, they were writing the
Republican party's campaign
planks-which is luck for the
Republicans. It occurs to me
that the idea is weak in only
one place: the President isn't
Kerensky.
Making History
Russian historians, with good
Communist theory to support,
may insist that Kerensky failed
because Lenin and "tI4e people"
were stronger. It is simpler to
think that KerenSky failed be-
cause he could slot supply food
to the starving and because he
attempted to do something that
Russia did Tot want him to do
that is, ccntinue the war on the
side Of the Allies.
I think that Roosevelt has
made and probably will make
mistakes; but his mistakes are
NIT going to be Of this colossal
order. Kerensky was a COM
promiser who failed to compro-
mise with his strongest enemy:
Roosevelt is a master of another
kind of compromise-standing
between two enemies and max
ing them do the compromising.
And anyhow these historical
parallels are a little bit forced
and a little bit hooey. We do
not repeat history; we make it.
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