The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1938-08-11

siderable part of the talk is based up
on unfounded rumol but there is a
leavening of hard fat that points to a
number of interestirL conclusions.
There are variouh. obvious barriers
to any presidents I,hird-term ambi-
tions. In the first zee, the strain of
the White House Itually is a man.
killer-as the fact t at we have never
had more than two b.x-presidents liv-
ing at one time ind Gates. However,
in the case of Mr.. Roosevelt, this is
not as important as :, the case of most
of his predecessd s-no president
since his distant col sin Theodore has
seemed to thrive so H,ell on the colos-
sal labors that fall lpon the Chief Ex-
ecutive. !
In the second place, "no-third term"
tradition is still held by millions of
voters. Various polls, such as those
conducted periodically by Fortune,
show that the majority of the people,
including those favorable to the New
Deal and the President, are generally
opposed to more than eight years of
office for any president.
In the third place-and this is
especially true today-a president who
is known to be seeking third term
cannot help but meet stiff opposition
within his party ranks. Many SEN
ators, governors, government officials
and others envisage themselves in the
role of national leader. They seek the
mantle of greatness. And while they
will not, for the most part, openly op-
pose an incumbent's third-term ambi-
tions, they will usually pull all the
strings they can, privately, to make it
impossible.
Looking at the other side of the
picture, there are valid reasons to in
dcate that Mr.. Roosevelt has an ex-
cellent chance to run again for his Of
| fce-whether he seeks it or is drafted
by his party. The New Deal is very
largely personal thing-and the
dominant personality is Mr.. Roosevelt
He has his satellites and official fol-
lowers, of course, but none of them
loom large enough in the public eye to
be frst-rate presidential candidates
All the talk centers around Mr.. Roose-
welt. He gets the blame and the praise
for everything the government does
No man in his party stands out, for
example, as Hoover did when Coolidge
was President. His cabinet seems to
contain no one who could be counted
| o%1
standard bearer for the Democratic
party.
Governor McNutt has the personal.
ity, many believe, and he apparently
wants the nomination-bu it is also
believed Mrf,Reasevelt opposes him
There is talk about Postmaster Gen.
eral Farley-but Mr.. Farley, so far as
is known, has no economic or socia
philosophy. 1t is generally thought
that he would work as hard for con.
servative president as he does for Mr.
Roosevelt. Mr.. Farley's dominant char.
acteristic is loyalty, to whoever is heac
of the party he belongs to.
Most important of all is this ques
ton: Does the President want third
term? He hasn't said yes. Mrs. Per
kins recently made headlines when she
recounted how she had asked the Pres
ident the question-and said that hi
looked thoughtfully out of the window
smiled, and gave no answer. And h,
hasn't said no. There is a sound reason
for this, even if he doesn't seek thu
nomination. If he declared himself ou
of it, the party would fairly seeth will
efforts of Democrats to put themselve:
forward. BY saying nothing, he keep!
his party control-and at the sam,
time keeps his underlings on tenter
hooks.
1t is a reasonable supposition, hell
by the bestinformed commentators
that the President hasn't yet made w
his mind. The question of preceden
doesn't worry him-as he often says
he has shattered more precedents thar
any president, and he prides himself
on it. And there seems to be no prob
lem of physical capacity-his healtl
and energy always astound Whit,
House attaches. Thus, the view i:
growing that it all depends upon con
dltlons two years from now-that i
the time seems ripe, Mr.. Roosevelt will
run again, and that if it doesn't, hi
will retire and dictate the choice O.
his successor for the nomination.
X x X
The business outlook continues tt
improve. AS one business magazin,
puts it, prospects of business re-
vlval were never better"
The lift in the stock market ha.
been sustained-which has confoundet
some of the experts, who at first re
garded it as minor and temporar,
furry.
The summer business decline wa!
less severe than many anticipated, ant
the ground lost by seasonal change i.
being rapidly regained in most lines
Steel operation has made importan
gains. Electric output is getting
closer to last years record levels. Ever
carloadlngs are improving-tho tn,
railroad problems gets worse, rathe
than better.