Evening star., 1938-01-30
Roosevelt Press Parleys
Declared of Great Value
Permit President to Disseminate and Give Force to
Ideas Without Labor of Writing Them,
Observer Says.
BY Sudduth

said that. On some occasions what the
President says at his press conferences Is
accompanied by warning that this part Of
the conference Is . strictly of the record"
The President explains something for the
beneft and guidance Of the Newspaper
men. which 1t y not prudent TO make
public.
can best give an idea Of the Presidsnts
press conferences BY roughly describing one
this was on January a. It began with
the President saying he had no particular
news to give out. This u frequent intro
duction but We have learned that question:
ing Will often bring out something impor-
tant or interesting. Occasionally the
President begins by saying he has some
thing for the newspaper men, and these are
the occasions when - . rule, ths confer
ences are most portentous.
At the conference I am describing the
first question was local to Warrington,
something about the proposed Warrington
Airport and the Jefferson Memorial. Then
some one asked . question about an action
Of the Interstate Commerce Commission
Will AcpPCSt W Ill0 1llC 1tdL1UAU MI
Roosevelt's reply was that this was In the
hands Of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission.
Question on Labor Unions.
Tho next question called the Presidents
attention to the fact that he had said
something about the desirabilty Of the
heads Of labor unions giving to the public
al o$a$ngeAu$s ~ hal~ A~a Al
ationS. Mr.. Roosevelt was told by his news
paper questioner that the labor leaders pro-
fessed not to know what the President
meant, and Mr.. Roosevelt was asked II
he would elaborate on that" Mr.. Roose.
velt was in . cautious mood and merely
said he thought 1t would be worth while
to study the system practiced in Great
Britain. An astute questioner asked the
President II he felt that American labor
unions ought to model their operations
after the British system. Another called
his attention to the fact that the British
law forbids contributions to political par
ties and asked Mr.. Roosevelt how he felt
about that. But to everything that was
asked about the labor unions Mr.. Roose-
welt was discreet: he mrely repeated that
the British system Is worth studying.
He was asked whether he favored the
Reconstruction Finance Corp making loans
to railroads. He replied, with q touch Of
pungency that Is frequent with him, that
this depends on whether Jesse Jones (head
OF r. F. Co. is getting adequate security.
Some one asked II the President had any
thing to say about the suggestion Of Gov.
Earle Of Pennsylvania that the anthra-
cite coal fields be taken over by the Gov
ernment. Mr.. Roosevelt replied that he
was not sufficiently familiar with that sub
Ject to discuss 1t. Some one asked 4 CUES
ton about Mexico's recent elevation of its
tarih rates; again the President said he
did not know enough about that to com.
ment.
He was asked concerning the conferences
which he was about to hold with automo-
bile manufscturers-what would he sue-
gest to them? He replied that he would
see what they had to say. He was asked
whether it would be possible or desirable for
the T. v. A. to buy out the Southern
public utilities. He replied that he had
nothing to say about that. He was asked
whether he regarded the banning by some
cities Of the March Of Time" motion ric
ture Of NaN activities as consistent with
democracy. To that Mr.. Roosevelt's warv
and smiling reply was that he hadn't seen
the picture. When asked If he expecte-
to see 1t, he replied. again smiling, tina
he did not.
Business Parleys Discussed.
To some questions about his conferences
with business leaders he expanded q little.
He said that the purpose Of these con
ferences WAS to clear the atmosphere, and
that he thought they were succeeding. He
said that the effort Is to see things from
national point Of view, ana In this re-
spect he thought progress was being made.
To specific question about the setting up
OF some kind Of economic group for plan
ming, he said that an effort might be
made to set up such . body But he
rather emphatically made it clear that the
body would be informal; If set up at all It
would be done without legislation, and the
function Of the body would not go much
beyond recommendation. His conferences
with the business men, he said, were
clearing up incorrect Impressions, which
business had got from incomplete nevs-
paper accounts Of the administration's &C.
tivities and attitudes.
In speaking Of incorrect impressions that
are current, and criticisms based on them,
he explained why in his view there Is no
real Inconsistency between curtailing acre
ages Of crops, and at the same time de.
veloping new acreage by conservation prof.
ects He said also that there was no real
Inconsistency between his urging higher
prices in 1888 and his complaint in the
spring Of 1887 that some prices were too
high. Some prices. he said, had advanced
too much. He corrected the impression
that he was opposed to all holding COM
panies Some holding companies. he said,
are integrated operating units and are
quite proper. He said specifically he u
opposed to holding companies in the bank.
ing field. but intimated that he b not op.
posed to branch banking. which u Q dN.
tsssut thing.