Evening star., 1936-09-13
Evidences of Recovery
Confuse Campaigners
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

CHICAGO, September Ia impress
sions crowd in on the Warrington news
paper man leaving the self -centered
Capital to travel into the Middle West
by motor car.
There are the unmistakable evidences
that this country. economically, is on
the way out. Politically the signs are
almost as revealing. even II q bit more
obscure In their real significance. But
obviously politics this year Is not Slow
ing up business.
The story all along the way is that
the roads never have carried so many
tourists. Cars shoot by from nearly
every State of the Union-crossing State
lines with scarcely so much as a marker
to tell their occupants of the change of
sovereignties.
New cars are strikingly apparent,
everywhere, on the road, In the farm
yards. In the cities. Only an occasional
model "T Ford serves as q reminder
OF the past. One. bearing South Da-
kota license, was spotted chugging along
Pennsylvania highway.
Pittsburgh again is hidden in haze
Of smoke from steel mills that three
years ago had most Of their fires banked.
Streets are crowded and all signs Of
the Spring flood have long since been
removed.
Everywhere across the country barns
are being painted. Now and then new
barn or q new farmhouse Is under con-
struction. Even in small towns houses
are going up. People obviously are TAX
ing more hopeful view Of the future.
One reason may be that in Ohio and
Indiana and Illinois and Wisconsin
small grain crops have been good, corn
Is far from a failure and prices are at
prosperity levels. Another is that fac
tory chimneys In towns all along the
way are pouring out smoke.
In Gary, Ind, among the hardest hit
Of cities during the depression. due to its
dependence on steel, business is hum
ming.
More men are working in the mills,
drawing higher wages than ever before.
The city's street cars are carrying more
passengers than in 1929. Where houses
and apartments had been drug on the
market as late as two years ago, they
now are at premium. with rents rising
and new building started.
Neither in Pittsburgh nor Gary Is
much heard about the organizing activ-
tiles Of John L. Lewis and his c. I. o.
Attempted unionization of the steel in
dustry Is proceeding slowly and under
cover.
The Nations principal industrial area
centers around Gary and Chicago. To-
day 1t is hive Of activity. Long freight
trains again block the roads. Lake
freighters that had been tied up. rusting
at their docks. are back in service. An
idle factory is hard to find.
The impression given by Chicago Is
that Of boom city. La Sale street,
financial center of the Middle West, is
a beehive Of activity. in sharp contrast
to It's condition a few years ago. De-
partment stores are handling a daily
rush of customers that suggests Christ
mas crowds of the past. The stores are
unable in important cases to give ade-
quate service and are having to remodel
their facilities. At rush hours down.
town traffic is Of unprecedented propor-
tions.
If any large city would reflect re-
verses due to the drought, Chicago, as
the heart of the Middle Western farm
belt, should be the one. Actually, the
indices here are heading higher. Com
plant Is heard that competent labor is
becoming hard to find.
Stiu, In the face of what looks like
approaching prosperity. the relief load
everywhere continues high. The rea-
son constitutes the big mystery Of this
depression.
When it comes to politics. discovery
Is made that the excitement this year
Is confined to business groups.
Everywhere there is bitterness toward
President Roosevelt among business
men. They feel that he is going to
penalize them to provide for other
groups in the population. Among farm
ers and workers and the general run of
people there apparently is less than the
usual amount of election excitement.
This may be due to the fact that Gov.
ALI Landon, the Republican nominee,
has refrained thus far from waging a
vigorous, fighting sort of campaign, and
President Roosevelt. taking the cue. is
delaying the start of his own direct ap-
peal to the voters.
To the ordinary person outside Of
Washington budget problems. spending,
political maneuvers and political phil
osophies become strangely remote. Gov.
Landon, to succeed. apparently will have
to do more than he has done to date II
he is to dramatic his story and con-
vince the general public that it should
oust the present administration.
= ~
You learn that Democratic party or.
ganizations are taking polls twice a
month, with results that provide the
basis for the Presidents obvious con-
fdence over the November outcome.
In Chicago you discover that employees
Of the Chicago Daily News, published by
Col. Frank Knox, Republican vice pres
idential nominee, are almost solidly fol.
lowing the papers columnist, Howard
Vincent OBrien, into the Roosevelt
ranks.
Landon buttons predominant in the
cities, with hardly sign Of q Roosevelt
label. But again. most Of the display is
found in the business districts rather
than in the working quarters. where
voters are concentrated.
The principal complaint everywhere
concerns spending. People want to
know where all the money can come
from to pay the bills now being created.
More than suspicion that they are 60
ing to be called on to provide the money
causes a large part Of the bitterness on
the part of those who have sizeable in
comes and accumulations of wealth.