Evening star., 1938-05-01
BY II. r. BAUKHAGE.

JoSephuS Daniels. Ambassador to
Mexico, one-time Secretary of the
Navy and boss" of Franklin D. Roose-
velt turns this week from half
century of political activity to prepare
for his golden wedding anniversary.
Mum on his mission from Mexico,
where he is credited with having re-
moved some of the worst obstacles in
the way of smoothing out the recent
difficulties over the appropriation of
American oil lands. he has much to
say about the big event which is to
take place tomorrow. Then 1000
North Carolinians and others will
overflow Wakestone. the Daniels
home on the outskirts of Raleigh.
AS Ambassador Daniels sat in his
hotel room in Washington, fresh from
his airplane hop across the Rio
Grande, he commented on the Wash
it with the days when he took his
first Federal job as chief clerk of the
Interior Department on March 3,
1898. The second Cleveland admins
tration was beginning its stormy
course Before Mr.. Daniels resigned
to take up the publishing of his paper
in Raleigh the situation grew worse
presidential honeymoons don't
last so long as mine has" said the
Ambassador. with the same cock Of
the head and the same quick smile
that the newspaper men who looked
across the desk of the Secretary of the
Navy almost a quarter of a century
ago knew SO we'll
Patent Office Employe.
He is IS, but Washington has
changed a lot more than the young
North Carolina editor has since he
took his desk in the old red brick
Patent Office Building that housed
the Interior Department. The big
excitement when he took office-and
he shared in it, for he handled the
Washington end-was the opening OF
the famous Cherokee strip in Okla
homa.
Less pleasing for good Democrat
are some of the events which he can
recall: The bitter debate over the free
coinage of silver, the use of the gold
reserves, the Hawaiian revolution
which ousted Queen 'Lil' and many
other issues on which President Cleve-
land stubbornly battled with recall
citrant Congress.
Mr.. Daniels didn't stay long on that
first assignment. He was offered a
better one-secretary to the Territory
of Alaska "It was too far from
Raleigh" he explained with a smile.
He probably wouldn't have taken the
Washington job at all if it hadn't been
for the fact that journalism-Which
has been his real love since he was
18-was not paying so we'll. But
things frightened and, after he had
purchased, in 1894, a daily paper
now the Raleigh News and Observer
he went home to edit it, But he was
to return to serve another President
who, like Cleveland, was to suffer
bitter reverses before he died.
Mr. Daniels, who has been deep in
Democratic politics from his youth,
was active in the 1912 campaign.
When Woodrow Wilson was elected.
he was made Secretary of the Navy.
Hated Prospect Of War.
In those days, it was "the New Free
DOM" instead of the New Deal" for
which the administration fought, and
so fearful was the President that his
program would be nullified that he
hated to consider the prospect of a
war. Mr.. Daniels quotes the Presi-
dents words:
Every reform we have won will be
lost if we go into this war. We have
been making fight on special priv
ilege. We have got new tariff and
currency and trust legislation. We
don't know yet how they will work.
They are not thoroughly set"
At the convention which chose
Woodrow Wilson Mr.. Daniels worked
with young, red-hot Wilsonite on
the anti-Wilson, Tammany controlled
New York delegation. He liked him
then and later obtained him as his
assistant secretary. He was Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
Ambassador Daniels likes to tell
the story of prophecy concerning
his assistant secretary which he re-
peated on his golden wedding visit:
Representative Pou," he said,
came into my Office one day as he
often did. We were great friends.
Franklin Roosevelt came into the