The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-05-12

DeUeIoDS come to the sur
face one of the
deepest and most bitter rows that
has developed incident to the admin
istration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
It is the controversy, long shoulder
ing, between the President and the
newspapers Of the country. It is out
in the open now, and the struggle is
a desperate one.
To 60 back few years, it will be
remembered how Mr.. Roosevelt was
described as having very friendly
press when he entered the White
House. He continued to maintain
the most pleasant relations between
his Office and the newspapers of the
country, and especially with the
Washington correspondents, until
doubt began to develop in the minds
Of some editors as to the soundness
of New Deal policies in 1885. The
number of opposition editors in
creased and in 1886 it was generally
said that the President had only
about one half of the newspapers
supporting him. But even then,
Mr.. Roosevelt continued to have ex-
ceedingly cordial relations with the
corps Of correspondents who report
on national affairs under Washing
ton date line.
The Washington correspondents
and columnists who found little or
no fault with the New Deal began
to dwindle in numbers eventually.
Now, as guess, would say that
probably only about one-fourth of
the five or six hundred writer's be-
ieve heart-and-soul with New Deal
policies. This does not mean that
those who observe weaknesses or
vulnerable points in the New Deal
do not write their commentator
when they believe it is due. The
difference is that they are no longer
completely "sold" on New Deal
statements or propaganda without
digging further into every situation.
AS result, obviously, attention is
directed daily to those, weaknesses,
as well as the strong points, of the
New Deal; the news is no longer all
ballyhoo for the New Deal.
Another result is that White House
press conferences no longer are the
jovial, carefree meetings filed with
laughter, good-natured jibes and ex-
changes, friendly shots back and
forth between the President and the
correspondents. On a number of
occasions, quite the contrary has
been true. The President has spok-
en- some very harsh words now and
then about news dispatches from
Washington by certain writer's. He
has not minced words when some
Republican writer, like Mark Sulli-
van of the New York Herald Trib-
une syndicate, for instance, wrote
his observations of a critical nature.
Altogether, I believe it can be said
that the newspaper criticism at
times has got under the Presidents
skin and has made him quite irasci-
BILE and squeamish. I do not mean
to say that this condition obtains
every time the President meets with
the press, but it has happened with
greater and greater frequency of
late that Mr.. Roosevelt has found
fault with what the correspondents
were writing. -..
Such things, generally, are not
written. Newspaper men usually do
not inject themselves into rows, nor
do they consider that they are more
than the eyes and ears for their
readers. That is to say, they con-
slider their work irnpersonal and for
the reason that it is impersonal sell
dom take the public into their con-
fidences on matters that seem to
them to be purely personal in ma
ture.
In the last two weeks, however,
the differences between the Presi-
dent and his advisors, on the one
hand, and the editors throughout
the country and their Washington
correspondents, on the other hand,
at last have been brought into the
open. That is, and I believe this is
a fair statement, Mr.. Roosevelt has
brought the row into the open.
The match seems to have been
touched to the dynamite by Mr..
;. Roosevelt at a re-
dynamite cent "off the rec
Set OFF ord" session which
he held with the
members of the Managing Editors
society. The society meets annually
in Washington and always during
their stay, they are invited to a
White House meeting. In the past,
such meetings have promoted bet
ter understanding between the edi-
tors and the administration, but the
last session appears to have done
exactly the opposite.
It is not permissible to disclose
what goes on in those meetings and,
not having been present, I cannot
vouch for details of the recent meet
ing. I know, however, that hereto
fore the editors came away always
feeling that benefits of the meeting
had been important. At the last
meeting, according to common un-
derstanding around Washington, the
discussion was heated. The Presi-
dents remarks to the editors must
have been vicious. In any event,
there were few of the editors came
away in a good humor. Indeed, at
a breakfast of the society the next