Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-05-16
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

ington had a feeling of confusion.
If you can't make anything out
Of what is happening in Washington
now" wrote one experienced observer
don't feel discouraged; no one here
can make much out Of it, either"
A pro-administration chain Of
newspapers thought the reason was
that there had been too much Of
letting the President do everything,
too much "let papa fix"
Another seasoned commentator con-
fessed he was at loss to provide the
answers for a barrage of puzzling
questions about administration poll
cies and activities.
Nobody knows" this writer said.
"Nobody's going to know until the
court fight is decided. 1t looks like a
sit-down strike in the Gulf Of Mexico
against all functions Of national
government"
Possibly there is something in the
theory that Mr.. Roosevelts fishing
trip was part Of Presidential "sit-
down strike" strategy Of firing
Congress out-keeping everything
else up In the air until Congress
gives him the court change he wants.
Some OF the Presidents partisans say
he'll win on the court issue as soon as
he gets the help OF a powerful ally,
namely, hot weather-and Congress
men want to go home Grimly they
add, The White House is air.
conditioned; the homes Of the Con-
gressmen are not; and Washington
in Summer is very hot climate"
More Than Mere Strategy.
But there is more to the confusion
than can be explained as strategy on
Mr.. Roosevelt's part-assuming he is
practicing this strategy, which 1 do
not know and rather doubt.
Part of the explanation lies in Mr..
Roosevelt's temperament. He is an
active, energetic, restless person.
When he is in Washington every
thing seems to emanate from him,
and converge toward him. When he
is away things go lax This charac-
teristic OF Mr. Roosevelt has been
described by his wife, in one Of her
newspaper writings:
After the President and his party
left Sunday evening 1 suddenly real
lied l was very tired-I might as
we'll have been doing a hard days
work! It was all the result OF a Gu
rlous sense Of tension which follows
the President about. The moment he
goes the world around you let down
just as though it suddenly said: There
is nobody more to play up to, so let's
be our real selves for while"
Whether Mrs. Roosevelt was tactfu!
to write that OF her husband; whether
constant tension Is useful trait fo1
head Of state to have; whether ten
sion is the best atmosphere In which
to make decisions and carry on the
public business: whether America and
the world might be better served just
now by static, phlegmatic Grover
Cleveland; or by Calvin Coolidge,
lacking in nervous force, whose rule
was to do as little as was called for and
trust that many conditions can best
cure themselves If left alone-all these
are questions for discussion elsewhere
than here. But Mrs. Roosevelts re-
mark explains in part what happens
in Washington when the President
goes away.
The TRY Anything Once Rule.
Much of the confusion at Wash
ington is explained by a trait OF
President Roosevelt which is funda
mental with him, in which he takes
pride, which he has proclaimed
again and again. He put it in words
in his speech to Young Democrats
at Baltimore April IS last year:
Il say to you do something; and
when you have done that something
If 1t works, do it some more; and II
1t does not work, do something else"
Repeatedly Mr.. Roosevelt has Of
fered that as guidance for others
and as explanation and comnen-
dalton Of himself. Once he said a
wise man had told him that the
best way is to make a hundred de-
cisions, and If seventy-five are right
you'll be successful. you can forget
the twenty-five errors. However
that rule may work in private
career, it has disadvantages in man.
aging country, where mistakes are
less easily cured, and one seriously
erroneous decision may cause wreck,
and where the mistakes of a Presi
dent are paid for, not by him, but
by the rest of us.
In one of his early figures OF
speech. Mr.. Roosevelt described him
self, in relation to public affairs, as
being like foot ball captain OF
quarterback. Mr.. Roosevelt did not
push the figure of speech far
enough to remind us that a foot
ball captain frequently calls for
movements backward or sideways
and for movements designed to mis-
lead opponents and certain to mis-
lead the bleachers, and that once
in so often a foot ball team ceases to
aim toward one goal and aims at the
opposite one.
All Right for Depression.
1t would not be fair to recall these
subscriptions and self-recom-
mendations of Mr.. Roosevelt without
adding that when he made the most
of them he was talking about re-
covering from the depression. In
struggling free from a depression,
the TRY anything once" rule may
have something to recommend It,
Fairness calls for adding also that
most Of the country liked the do
something" technique. Before Mr..
Roosevelt took Office, we had been
following the orthodox method Of
getting over a depression, consisting
mainly of "let Nature. take its
course Many had found that
method too slow for our patience,
and were ready to welcome Mr..
Roosevelt as daring experimental
list, even an insouciant one.
But again it should be said, in
rebuttal to the rebuttal, that rule
which Is tolerable, even perhaps USE
full, in period of recovery from a
depression, may be less wholesome
as times become normal. And also
that Mr.. Roosevelts picture Of him.