Evening star., 1938-08-22

party primaries. n.,,a,
They quoted
chapter and verse and recounted how
Mr.. Roosevelt became indignant that
the newspapermen should be even
thinking of such a course on his part.
In view of the fact that in recent
weeks, Mr.. Roosevelt has absolutely
contradicted himself by intervening
In primaries in Kentucky, Georgia,
Maryland and New York, Mr.. Sulli-
van makes this comment:
The serious aspect Of Mr.. Roose-
selt's sequence of actions lies in the
light it throws on his very unusual
personality, and on the question
whether anything In his past is any
assurance about anything in his
future"
Now It seems to this correspondent
that Mr. Roosevelt has been misunder-
stood. 1t would appear to be a mis-
take to select this particular incon-
sistency as measure of the Presi-
dents personality when there are
explanatory incidents in the press
conferences which actually shed light
on Mr.. Roosevelt's purposes and
methods.
Recalls Football Game.
1t will be recalled, for instance, that
the President told the press that his
administration was on "24-hour
basis" 1t will be recalled also that
he often uses the illustration of a
quarterback in a football game who
waits to see if one play works before
he tries another. and he reserves the
Yight to shift from play to play as the
spirit moves him. What unfortu-
nately is not understood always by the
critics is that Mr.. Roosevelt has no
more use for consistency than has
Senator Ashurst Of Arizona, and that
at bottom this is the real reason why
he dislikes the Supreme Court of the
United States. If not our whole sys-
tenn of constitutional law.
For years, America has been gov
erned by precedent. But Mr. Roose-
welt feels that ne can make his own
Erecedents. His is streamlined doc
trine. confirmed perhaps by recent
German or Italian precedent, that
each genera ton is a unit unto itself,
that each month or even each day is
q unit and that what has happened
before has only an academic interest
TO those who still believe that people
who lived in the past really possessed
any capacity for craftsmanship.
Take. for instance, the precedent
about two terms for Presidents. After
all as the Rooseveltian naturalization
has it, what right has George WASH
ington to make rules for America that
Franklin Roosevelt does not possess?
Did Washington ever win by 100000
and then by II 100000 votes? Plainly
there is in the Roosevelt concept no
precedent of the past which could
possibly fit the present situation and,
II it did, 1t would be worthless be-
cause, as Mr.. Ickes has already ex-
planned, the alternative to Roosevelt
Is some evil reactionary anyway.
"A Law Unto Himself"
What Mr. Sullivan forgets is that
Mr.. Roosevelt is a law unto himself
and that, under the New Deal, in
consistency is neither sin nor an
error of political strategy The trou-
bic with most of us who have dis
agreed with the Rooseveltian idea of
one-man government is that we are
old-fashioned. We worship, it seems,
the folklore of bygone day. We still
for example, cling to fetish that, if
you borrow money, you have to pay
it back. We still think that a con-
tract Is a. commitment and carries
with it moral obligation. We some
how have failed to understand the New
Deal philosophy because we insist on
believing that a mans word given
solemnly one day, must be maintained
the next. Such doctrine of con-
sistency, the New Deal philosophers
tell us, is as impractical as it is in
convenient.
Thus, upon reading the recent book
Of Assistant Attorney General Thur
man Arnold, The Folklore OF Cap
1tallSm," one discovers that all these
precepts are mere conventions, that
budget balancing is more or less
absurd and that a constitution is Just
an instrument of foolish annoyance
invented for the delectation of lawyers
and selfish conservatives and that true
liberalism" does not countenance any
such restraints upon any code it may
see fit to develop in the future.
In the light of the Arnold philoso-
ply and its frank avowal of oppor-
tunism as the antidote for all our
Ills, 1t seems to me manifestly unfair
for any one to assume that Mr.. Roose-
welt meant any more when he first
announced his aloofness from party
primaries than what was in his mind
at that particular hour or that minute
Many persons, from time to time,
including recently my old acquaint-
ance. Senator Guffey Of PENNSYLVANIA
have written asking me why do not
write kind word now and then about
the President. In defending Mr..
Roosevelt, therefore, against these at
tacks on his reliability it would appear
that this correspondent has fulfilled
his mission and promises ever to be
on the alert to protect from misguided
criticism our beloved President, who
has developed such great genius for
hexibility and so splendid a mastery
Of the Machiavellian school of thought.
namely, that the end always justifies
the means.
Copyright. 1881