The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1935-10-17

1t looks as though President Frank
lin D. Roosevelt pulled a boner" Ito
use a current slang expression that
seems pertinent in this case) when he
sent what purported to be a personal
letter to thousands of clergymen thru
out the United States, asking them to
aid him, by their advice and counsel,
in solving the great problems con-
fronting him and the country.
According to replies made public by
clergymen, many of the ministers OF
the country are not favorably impress
ed with the New Deal; many of them
take him severely to task for his acts
and conduct as President of the United
States.
The advice given him by the clergy
will, of course, not be needed, and the
criticism and denunciation of his acts
and policies by the preachers Of the
land will not get under his skin, be-
cause it is doubtful whether any Of the
unfavorable letters will ever be read
bv him. 1t stands to reason that he will
not have time to read all, or even more
than a very few of them. His secretar-
les will see to it that only such as are
favorable to his administration will
ever be brought to his attention.
The good faith of the President in
asking the preachers to write him
their candid opinions and give him
their personal counsel is questiona-
BILE. There is reason to suspect that 1t
was only a gesture to secure the SYM
pathy and support of the clergy by
f1attering them with the pretense that
he was making a personal appeal to
them for their friendly consideration
and advice.
Tricky Politics
Frank R. Kent, of the Baltimore
Sun papers, one of the ablest and best
known Washington columnists and
political commentators, classes the
gesture of the President to secure the
goodwill of the clergy by addressing
them in the manner above referred to,
as ''the sort of tricky politics which
clashes with the traditions of the
White House." and adds: "a clear
repetition of the facts may make 1t
more difficult for politicians in high
office to indulge in this particular form
of humbug in the future as well as
render it less easy for gullible people
to swallow when they do.
'Ten days ago Mr.. Roosevelt wrote
to a large number of clergymen what
purported to be an intimate personal
letter in which he appealed to them as
friends, regardless of parties, to aid
him by advice and counsel concerning
the great problems of the period. 1t
sounded sincere. It's appeal was to
patriotism, and it was couched IN
man-to-man terms. He could not, the
President said, do it all-no man could.
He needed their help in material as
we'll as spiritual things. Would they
give it?
"Well, to the seasoned and synical,
this plainly seemed politics. 1t seemed
designed to fatter the clergymen thru
the intimate personal letter method.
1t was essentially the same process
as the first name calling Of the news
paper men and the repetition of the
You and l, my friends, phrase over
the radio. But one hesitated to say SO
at the time. For one thing, it is not
pleasant to charge a President with
playing politics with piety; for anoth-
er, perhaps, Mr.. Roosevelt really was
sincere in this business. Perhaps the
letter came from his heart and was
spontaneous, if somewhat curious, Ell
fort to get advice. Perhaps he really
wanted from the pastors what he SAID
he wanted.
Phoney Letter
Gail such notions vanished, however,
when, two days later, it developed that
Mr.. Roosevelt had not written the
letter himself at all. He had not even
the idea of writing the letter. On the
contrary, it was a practically verbat-
i'm copy of letter sent out to Wis
consin clergymen months ago by Gov
ernor La Toilette, a great friend OF
Mr.. Roosevelt. The La Toilette letter
was regarded in Wisconsin as smart
political stroke. 1t had, it was said, a
good reaction Who gave Mr.. Roose-
welt the letter and persuaded him it
would be good to send out from the
White House is not revealed. Proba-
bly, it will not be.
"What has been revealed is that the