Evening star., 1936-09-21
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VIE.

AS soon as he launches his series of
honest o-goodness political" speeches
at Syracuse next week President RooSe-
welt is expected to embark at last upon
hammer -andtongs campaign tactics.
Spurred by pro-Landon trends exempli-
fled by the Maine election and otherwise,
F. D. r. is ready to roll up his sleeves
and wage a whirlwind flight from now
on His punches are not likely to be
pulled in any direction and jabs and
uppercutS at Gov. Landon personally in
retaliation for some of the Governors
own recent blows of the same character
are not excluded. New Dealers to date
have been sailing along more or less
serenely in the belief that two-fisted in
fighting on the Presidents part was not
really necessary to assure his reelection.
Things have been happening rapidly
during the past fortnight to shake, If
not shatter, the strategy Of letting Mr..
Roosevelt more or less rest on his laurels.
The speeches he is about to deliver will
typify the high commands revised con-
yiction that October must be month
of genuine battle and intensified effort
on the Presidents part all along the
line, with emphasis on such pivotal
electoral pickings as New York and
Pennsylvania.
In the course of his impending cam
paigning it wouldn't be surprising If the
President springs brand-new, imagina-
on-gripping slogan on the country. Hes
been emphasizing lately that on account
of the European situation he does not
want to be too far away from Washing
ton and may abandon a Pacific Coast
tour on that account. At Chautauqua
last month Mr. Roosevelt, at the end
of a graphic recital of his experiences
overseas in 1917-18, declared: L hate
war" There are wiseacres who think
that some such sentiment may shortly
be sloganized by the President as an
appeal to the mounting peace sentiment
of the American people. Should ex-
plosive conditions in Europe suddenly
take a really critical turn, ringing
Rooseveltian campaign pledge to keep
the United States unentangled might
prove as irresistible an electioneer1ng
point as Woodrow Wilson's victorious
kept us out of war" in 1916. Gov.
Landons hint at Portland on September
IL that the New Deal trend away from
democracy" is a war-breeding policy
would give additional point to vivid
peace pronouncement by Mr.. Roosevelt.
y
One of the most honored names in
American naval annals has just taken
it's place on the active list OF the United
States Fleet with the commissioning OF
u. S. S. Mahan, latest of the new-type
of 16 destroyers authorized by Congress
in 1898. The Mahan commentaries
Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan.
whose famous work, THE Influence OF
Sea Power on History" has long been a
standard text book throughout the world.
The Mahan, built at the New York Navy
Yard, will be commanded by Comdr.
j. B. w. Waller. 1t carries crew OF
1876, is BAL feet long and mounts five s.
inch guns and eight torpedo tubes, con-
stituting one of the most powerful de-
stroyer units af1oat.
y
Speaking of Democratic slogans, Col.
Frank Knox has just suggested that
President Roosevelt adopt one reading:
HE Kept Us in Depression" New Deal
publicity chief, Charles Nicholson, de-
claring that Publisher Knox does not
feel as despondent as does Candidate
Knox," quotes a recent advertisement OF
the Republican vice presidential NOM
inee's Chicago Daily News in Printer s
Ink, newspaper trade organ, reading as
follows: Here in Chicago, the worlds
second largest Market storekeepers are