Evening star., 1937-08-29

~~-AAAAASAA keAec~A1i. "A lOSCIlU al LlCl0 III
the Saturday Evening Post tells us
that in the White House camaraderie
Mr.. Thomas Corcoran is Tommy the
Cork" Judge Samuel Rosen is Sammy
the Rose think it was Gen. Hugh
johnson who printed that in the
White House Henry Morgenthau is
Henry the Morgue" Some one else
tells us that Mr.. Benjamin Cohen is
Benny the Cone"
Now whoever heard OF a mature
man making up such names, espe-
clally man carrying heavy burdens?
But now frequently have we seen CAV.
hlgh-spirited, insouciant BOYS do it?
And how many adults find this sort
OF thing shriekingly funny? But Mr..
Roosevelt laughs pretty easily-that's
juvenile, too.
Associated with Mr.. Roosevelt's per.
petual youthfulness, and flowing from
1t, are some other qualities. Like
many boy, Mr.. Roosevelt wishes that
certain condition exists. At once
ne thinks the condition actually does
exSt-and he is irritated by any one
VINO pictures the condition differently
from the way Mr.. Roosevelt would like
it to be.
A little while ago. during a visit
Mr.. Roosevelt paid to Hyde Park, he
mad among his callers Tammany
leader, VINO took lunch with him
Inc name OF the Tammany man wa.
not on the list of visitors given out
10 the newspaper men. But some of
Ihem recognized the visitor, told the
others and wrote about the visit. CIV
Ing their stories a color to the effect
That the Tammany visitor had talked
with the President about the New
York mayoralty contest.
Mr.. Roosevelt was outraged. He
reproached the newspaper men pri-
Vately. Publicly he had Secretary
Mcintyre denounce the stories. In the
course of the announcement he said.
The President repeated for the
thousandth time that he has not taken
part, Is not taking part and will not
take part in any local primary cleo
tlon except in his own home town
and home county"
1000 Per Cent Right"
HOW easy to recognize that as the
explosive affirmation Of an angry bow
O1 course, it may be that Mr.. Roose-
VeItS denial Was-to use one of his
own frequent forms of expression-a
thousand per cent accurate. (That
TOO. the use of extravagantly exces-
slve emphasis is one Of the signs OF
Mr.. Roosevelt's juvenilism It NAV
oe that the Tammany leader called
on Mr.. Roosevelt just for the pur-
pose OF discussing surrealist art or the
comparative merit Of the music OF
Debussy and George Gershwin.
But I do not mean to jeer. Mr..
Roosevelt's denial may have been
wholly exact and his Indignation
wholly justified. 1t may be that the
newspaper men, seeing a Tammanv
leader calling on Mr.. Roosevelt And
seeing Mr.. Roosevelt apparently no,
wishing to have the call knoyn-it
Is possible the newspaper men NAV
nave read into the incident an in
depreciation that did not exist. Mr.
Roosevelt says emphatically they did.
And our trade sometimes does that
sort OF thing, does it much too much.
But Mr.. Roosevelt said he has made
his declaration "for the thousandth
time. The thousandth time?" Now.
now! Count EN-, Mr.. Roosevelt. count
EN-!
Well, maybe ten times. I find among
the clippings in my desk ono other
occasion when he said much the same
thng. 1t was in q campaign speech
last year. Mr.. Roosevelt said:
Outside my own State Of New
York I have consistently refratned
from taking part in elections Ia anv
other State"
Let's Recall Case.
Mr.. Roosevelt said that on October
T. He might as we'll have said. Il
have consistently refrained from run
ming for President" Exactly one week
before he said that he had sent a
public telegram of thanks to a Demo-
cratic candidate for the Senate In
Minnesota who had taken himself out
OF the race in order that a Farmer
LABOR candidate might win. True. In
the public eye it was National Chair
mansPostmaster General Farley who
brought about that arrangement. But
did Mr.. Farley do it without direction
or consultation with Mr.. ROOSEVELT
AS doubtless Mr.. Farley's ancestors
and mine would have put 1t, "Arrah
go on, you're only fooling." Or, in the
Scotch, "Hoot, mon!'
The thing to observe in Mr.. Roose-
velt's 1886 campaign statement Is not
whether or not it was true. The i'm
portant thing which has bearing on
Mr.. Roosevelt's personality (and on
Americas fate) is that he thought 1t
was true. With Mr.. Roosevelt some
times the past does not exist and the
future does not exist. This trait IS
what has led to some of Mr.. Roose-
velts appalling inconsistencies, and
to what, as respects his statements
about the future, his opponents and
critics call his broken promises, some
times q shorter and harsher word.
Improvfsing Truth.
There was an English statesman
who used to do something like his
something like 1t. but not identical
with 1t. OF the English statesman a
satiric versifier said-I quote from
memory:
Able. as occasion doth arise,
Lifelong convictions to improvise.
Only, in Mr.. Roosevelt's case. Il
Is not merely convictions. OF Mr..
Roosevelt that versifier doubtless
would have written:
Able, as occasion doth arise,
Imaginary facts to improvise.
1t Is this trait, his frequent living
solely in the present, without remem-
bering the past or anticipating the
future-it Is this that makes Mr..
Roosevelt diff1cult to understand.
And it is this trait that makes him,
most seriously feel, q dangerous