Evening star., 1936-09-30
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

President Roosevelt's decision to open
his real" campaign for reelection al
Syracuse denotes the paramount stress
he laws not only upon carrying New
York. but upon amaSsing whale OF an
upstate vote. Upon keeping the Re
publican total there within reasonable
bounds depends the Democrats cnance
of baeging the Empire Commemorative
bumper electoral vote DiSturbingly I'M
pressive reports reach Washington re-
garding Republican prospects OF SMASH
ing Democratic hopes. There's talk OF
Landon's arriving at the Bronx with
a plurality of anywhere from SOO,OoO up.
Any such figures would represent an
enormous advance over the vote wnlcn
gave Hoover an upstate margin OF 27o.-
600 in 1882. Roosevelt won New YORK
CITY by roundly $4,000. which gave him
the state by nearly 100000. The New
Dealers apparently this year may nave
considerably to outstrip their pig city
vote of four years ago to meet the
irrespective Landon landslide so con-
fidently reported to be piling up in the
provinces. The tale will be told. as
usual by the enthusiasm with which
Tammany goes to bat for the ticket.
The tiger may have to roll up Demo-
cratic plurality of close to lOOO.0OO to
keep the State absolutely safe for +. d. X.
Just the night before Gov. Landon
assailed the social security law in Mil
waukee last week, A. J. Altmeyer,
member of the board, was detailing its
progress before the Biennial Conference
of Social Welfare in the same city. He
reported that wisconsin is one OF the
States whose citizens are eligible to all
10 of the benefits and services created
by the act. AS result. 1t has already
received approximately S., SOC, 900 of Fed
eral aid, The La Toilette principality
Qualities for social security honors and
lareess because 1t has always been
pioneer in social legislation, having been
first in the Union to enact both old-age
assistance and unemployment compsn-
sation laws. 1t was special pleasure
to Mr.. Altmeyer to compliment Wis
consin, because he is not only a native
Badger. but before coming into the New
Deal was chief statistician and secretary
of the wisconsin Industrial Commission.
incidentally, it's understood that the
President assured life insurance execu-
tives the other day that his social Sc
curity program isn't going to compete
with private insurance.
Throuehout the United States Navy
for the better part of IS years there
always have been strong pro-Sims and
anti-Sims men, who achieved those
designations because they either ardently
espoused or vehemently opposed the late
admiral during the controversies he
periodically provoked during his stormy
career. Admiral Sims generally had
more supporters than antagonists. be-
cause the reforms he proposed invariably
had the single-minded purpose Of pro-
noting efficiency. Any ofdcers who ever
served under him proverbially became
his devoted followers, especially his war
time subordinates at London and
Queenstown, who revered "the old man."
as they fondly called him, with admira-
ton and affection. Insistence that only
Naval War College graduates should be
eligible to key positions in the fleet or
Navy Department was one of the prop
ositions earnestly advocated by Sims In
his later life.
washington is mum as an oyster about
European reports that somewhere IN
the Anglo -Franco-Ameri stabilization
agreement there's tucked away war
debts understanding. Premier Blum's
political opponents at Paris assert he
had to promise resumed payments as
the price of American protection for the
franc. Whether or not there's any truth
in that, it's an open secret that the
administration-to say nothing Of the
American people-would be highly graft
fed II John Bull and La Belle France
should really come across with another
debt token" or two, however modest.
OH the record. such 4 move. under al