The Washington times., 1938-12-21
CONGRESSMEN
SEEK ANSWER
TOE.D.'S TREND
Is He Turning Right?
Ask Leaders
BY THEODORE HUNTLEY

BY THEODORE HUNTLEY
President Roosevelt's forthcom.
ing message to Congress will be
watched by returning members
Of the Senate and House for the
answer to No. 2 Public Question
No. / Public Question is: Will
he run for a third term?
No. 2 comes just behind 1t: Is
he going conservative?
No one familiar with political
processes expects the President to
say at any time soon whether OF
not he intends to run again. There
is the widest divergence Of opin.
ion in political circles on this sub.
ject.
STRAWS IN WIND
The best guess is that he won't.
There are StrawS in the wind,
including some of the Presidents
own gestures and words both on
and off the record, to support it.
1t is quite probable that he would
like to have a third term and
would take it if handed to him on
platter-any platter. But he
isn't going to risk his place in his
tory by trying for it-at a guess
on any other basis.
Question No. 2 comes in a differ.
ent category. In view Of the con.
Eervative swing reflected in No
vember election returns and the
pressure being eXerted on him to
placate and encourage business,
and in view Of the Presidents own
assurance at Chapel Hill that he
eats scrambled eggs and not
broiled millionaires for breakfast,
he can side safely enough with
either the right or left wingers Of
his party. His choice Of direction
Is expected to find its first ex.
preston in the messages now in
preparation, and to be delivered
when Congress meets.
THE WRONG GENERAL
Gen. Hugh johnson, who has
been about SO 98-100 wrong in a
good many Of his guesses of the
last few years, in a current maya
zine article guesses that his for
ner chief is going conservative,
that his purpose in doing so will
be to solidify his party and win
back leaders who abandoned his
cause in the Supreme Court and re-
organization battles, and that, hav.
ing done this, he will run again
and not only get the Democratic
nomination but be elected.
Hereabouts the good general Is
regarded as a better photographer
than prophet. In other words, his
piece is readable but pretty damp,
II not all wet. It's just the gen.
erals notion, and everybody in
Washington knows that for some
time past the general has been
on the outside, looking in. Nor
has he been seen in spots where
the political winds blow with
greatest force.
But be that as it may-and de-
spite the possibility that Franklin
Roosevelt may be competing with
the general after 1910 as a Wash
1ngton newspaper columnist and
writer for the magazines-the
question as to where he will go
from here is still unanswered.
Aside from the answer to be
found in his messages to Congress,
he has a chance to answer it in
filling the job Of Secretary of
Commerce Roper. If Harry Hop
kins gets it, the New Deal can be
considered in full flower, and
ready to burst forth in new bloom
whenever the sun shines.
COMMERCE POST
If they put Harry somewhere
else, and give the Commerce post
to someone whose name means
more in the martS Of trade, and
who might be expected to serve
as a bridge across which business
might approach the White House
in search Of a better understand
ing, General johnson will be right
up to that point, at least.
There will be no right" or
"left," New Deal or conservative
issue in the national defense mes
sage. But there will in the gen
eral attitude Of the President to-
ward continued large-Scale spend
ing for other purposes; In what
he says and does about relief and
the WPA: In how he reacts to de-
mands from every quarter for
modification Of the Wagner labor
act; and in the tone Of the mes
Sages no less than in their sub
stance.
If they prove conciIiatory, In
the spirit Of "All right, boys, let's
sit down and work this out to-
gether," look for the New Deal to
spend the next two years putting
its house in order rather than
starting any new family fights and
getting some more Of the furni-
ture broken.