Evening star., 1937-02-06
News Release Dramatized
Roosevelt Achieves Surprise in Reading Supreme
Court Views to Correspondents.

knows the best possible use Of a half
hour Of presidential time Is to do Just
what he did. BY reading 1t he could
put the emphasis on the points he
wished emphasized, and in all respects
keep within his own control the first
impression on the minds OF the news
paper men. BY controlling the first
impression on the minds Of these he
would, to a degree, determine the flrst
presentation in newspapers and there
by the first impact on the public
mind.
Modern politicians and modern
statesmen know that much Of their
art is exercised through waves Of pub
lie emotion-starting them. stopping
them, diverting them, substituting
waves they desire In place Of waves
they do not desire. Mr.. Roosevelt
knows this condition better than most
men; and he Is master Of the art to
degree not equaled by any living
public man. In his talk to the news
paper men he was about to begin an
attempt to line up public emotion be-
hind startling proposal, and he was
willing to take painstaking care that
the launching Of the proposal should
be Just as he wanted it to be.
He read US the message. He read,
as the terminology Of music puts 1t,
ICON amore," with emphasis where he
wished emphasis to be put. Possibly
I oyeremphasize when I say that Mr..
Roosevelt's motive for reading his
message to the newspaper men was to
get 1t out just as he wished 1t to 60
out. In addition. there was the sheer
pleasure he took in the reading. an
almost voluptuous pleasure in being
dramatic.
With Gusto and Zest.
He read it with gusto and zest, with
the enjoyment Of an artist in his crea-
ton. AS he read, and as he sensed
the sensation he was making upon the
newspaper men, he became humorous
at points. Where he read, In his text,
that in 1918 and nearby years, Attor-
ney Generals then in Office had made
a recommendation about lower court
Judges who reach the age of 10. he
told us in an aside what was not in
the text, namely, that one Of the
Attorney Generals who thus recon-
mended was Mr.. McReynolds-who Is
now himself over 70 and a justice Of
the Supreme Court. That got
laugh.
From his text he reai a quotation
about elderly judges, They seem to be
tenacious of the appearance of ade-
quacy" In the text that sentence
merely stands within quotation marks,
without saying from whom 1t was
taken. Mr. Roosevelt, as he read it
to US, said that he would not tell us
who said 1t, he would leave it to us to
find out. That was the best possible
way to achieve emphasis; it would set
the newspaper men to finding out who
said it. I imagine they will probably
find it was said by some one who him.
self later became judge over TO
and that discovery, printed in the
newspapers, will make another point
for Mr.. Roosevelt.
Only once did there seem anything
that would raise a question Of taste,
and that was not SO much in the text
as in Mr. Roosevelt's manner Of read
ing When he brought forward the
question of aged or infirm judges, and
said this was a subject for delicacy.
Mr.. Roosevelt's voice had q tone Of
irony, which was not delicacy at all,
which, indeed, might perhaps be SUBJ
ject to the charge Of cruelty.
Timeliness Weighed.
About one point there will be a world
of surmise. Why this particular timing
Of the message? On this, surmise
might readily 60 wrong. Obviously
the move was not improvised. OBJ
viously the preparation of the message
must have taken weeks of the time of
Mr.. Roosevelt and of some Of his young
legal satellites. Yet all the newspaper
men know that Mr.. Roosevelt in many
Of his actions takes account Of the
element of timeliness. He has often
said so.
For sending this message at this
time he might have had any one of
several reasons. Possibly 1t could have
been to take the limelight away from
the dangerous developments in Michi-