The Washington times., 1935-05-18
POLITICS SEEN
|NPRES|DENT'S
TRIP WEST
BY EARL GOODWIN


trip to the Pacific Coast starts
political tongues wagging; for no
President ever crossed the con-
tinent without laying down planks
to be used in the next party plat.
form.
Incidentally, President Roose'
welt, in visiting California, will be
going right into the territory from
which his predecessor, Herbert
Hoover, is now issuing instructions
to the Republican party and to
Congress.
It is not to be presumed. how.
ever, that President Roosevelt will
Go anything to quash Mr.. Hoover's
ambition to be the next Republ.
can candidate.
In fact there is every likelihood
that President Roosevelt would
do anything he could to foster
such an ambition to full maturity.
Mr.. Hoover is looked upon as easy
to beat by the Democrats.
No Date Set
Neither the date nor route of
the Roosevelt expedition to the
California Pacific International
Exposition at San Diego has been
set so far; and Congress will have
q large part in the entire pro-
gram. The President will not
leave here until Congress ad-
journs. What he talks about en-
route depends largely on what
Congress does.
The President is expected to
explain some Of the legislative
program. If Congress enacts 80
per cent Of the Administrators
"'truSt" program, it will be looked
upon as a batting average Of 800
pretty good, in baseball par
lance.
The President may be expected
to pay considerable attention to
the social security legislation, if
it Is completed, as he will be
going right into the land Of DR..
Townsend, author of the $200-a-
month old-age pension plan
which has had so heavy an in
dorSement in the Far West and
In California.
Stands or Falls
Power policies and public works
will come in for an explanation in
one or more presidential speeches.
it is assumed. The President will
probably speak at the dedication
of Boulder Dam, as the date for
this ceremony will probably be ar
ranged to coincide with the trip.
There seems to be a general
opinion that the Democratic party
will stand or fall on the success
of the four-billion-dollar work-re-
lief fund and the success Of its
execution.
By the time the President is
travelling toward the Western
Coast, the first hundreds Of thou.
sands of men will have been taken
from relief rolls and started on
public jobs. The eyes of the whole
nation will be on this vast expert
ment to bring back prosperity and
wipe out unemployment
The President will have an OPP
portunity to defend his AAA pol
tcies, and at the same time to put
the radical following of Senator
Long and Governor Talmadge of
Georgia into a sort of "lunatic
fringe" He will speak in Indiana,
it is understood, at Lincoln cele-
bration in the heart of the Mid
west agricultural section.
A Queer Mix-Up
There are two subjects vital at
this moment which may or may
not have any part in the speaking
program. No one knows today
what will happen to the bonus,
although the President will veto
1t. No one can untangle the
MIRA Snarl. The bonus, if not
passed over the veto, will remain
a political problem, but what
faces the country with respect
to the NRA is a question few
politicians care to fool with.
Never has this city seen such
queer political bedfellows as NRA
has made.
Labor organizations lining up
with bituminous coal operators in
favor Of NRA, while the Presi-
dents entire party in the Senate
opposes it, makes new mixture
entirely.
Just where it will stand by the
time President Roosevelt starts his
trans-continental trip is a mys-
terry.