, 1935-11-11
Behind the
Scenes i'm
Washington
BY RODNEY BUTCHER
The Brownsville Herald Washington
Correspondent


WASHINGTON. Nov. lC. - An
swers to Roosevelt's famous letter
to clergymen have been coming in
at the rate OF several hundred a
week and the majority Of them are
sympathetic or favorable toward
the administration.
Just the same, there's no one in
the administration who wouldn't
like to live life all over again, in
solar as that letter Is concerned.
Most or the smarties here who
make a business Of figuring out
public reactions believe the net ef-
feet Of the stunt. for better or
worse. to have been negligible.
On the credit side, the White
House believes 1t has proved Roose-
welt TO have the support OF a ma
ioritv Of ministers. Inside whispers
there say more than 90 per cent
OF the thousands Of replies either
saw nice things about the admins
tratibn or are "sympathetically
constructive"
Although you're entitled to look
upon such a report with suspicion,
it comes from people who nave
never been caught lying In the past.
Benefit Is Wiped Out
Sending out the letter. asking
ministers for their advice and aid
in effect giving them unpaid JOBS
in the New Deal - was q clever
political move. even II you assume
il was conceived In humility and
sincerity. (Few doll A digest OF
the answers will be valuable 70
| Roosevelt.
But most II not all the winnings
were wiped away when the letter
was revealed to be a paraphraSe-
verbatim in certain paragraphs -
OF a missive from Governor PM
LaFollette to the ministers OF WIS
consin. And that tended TO make
the White House look ridiculous,
not Ia saw insincere. Even If no
great harm was done. the White
House crowd has writhed in embar-
rassment.
Some Of the ablest secret-chisel-
ers in town are still trying to chlSel
oft the secret Of how 1t happened.
But there have been few tighter
official secrets than this one.
Phil LaFollette Is commonly be-
lieved to have sold the idea TO Roose-
Welt. But II may have been a pro-
Roosevelt churchman or religious ed
Iitor. Apparently neither the White
House secretariat nor the Democrat
IN National Committee folk knew
anything about the letter until y was
too late.
Authors Name ShuShed
Certain wisps OF information in
dirate that the Job Of preparing the
letter and distributing 1t was given
~ \ commercial organization which
had a large mailing list OF clergy
men. But the name Of the pohtical
nitwit who drafted the letter PROB
ablv won't be known until Roosevelt
Is out or office.
The White House Is considering
making public a digest OF the an
swers. figuring that since all the
| publicity on the stunt TO date mas
been unfavorable, the adminlstra-
ton might As well have some favor.
able publicity If II can be had.
Small Consolation
"A certain high State Department
official. travelling far away, was
awakened recently at ! a. m, and in
formed by telegram that under a
certain act Of Congress the president
had approved his resignation
About dawn, after a night q
| frantic checking with the telegraph
| company. he found the word should
| have been designation" Mean
while. however, he had been conSol-
| ed by a telegraph operator VINO
commented.
you shouldn't worry about that.
Only a really big shot is fired BY the
president"
More Grief For Mr.. Davis
The mishaps Of the eminent John
wv. Davis. in his attempt 70 test con-
stitutionality Of the public utilities