Evening star., 1938-01-30
By MARK SULLIVAN.


[ ers Of newspapers throughout the
Y country got from the headlines
the notion that all holding COM
panies are to be abolished, that they have
either been outlawed by the Government
or are about to be. Casual readers lex
cepting persons having direct interest) did
not inquire or think about where the dis
pensation had come from, whether from an
act passed by Congress the day before
or decision by the Supreme Court or
q formal pronouncement from President
Roosevelt or What not. In fact, the pro-
nouncement was not anything 50 formal
1t came through a remark made BY Presi-
dent Roosevelt at q press conference-a
remark that was offhand and casual.
In the commotion that followed there
was much inquiry whether Mr. Roosevelt
had intended all that he had said-whether
he meant that all holding companies should
be eliminated, in all lines Of industry and
business. or only certain types Of holding
company. One Of the newspaper men who
had been present at Mr.. Roosevelts utter.
ance. Mr.. Raymond clapper, reported that
some say Mr.. Roosevelt Just got wound
up and couldn't stop; that it vas all casual,
on-hand, and that he hasn't the faintest
idea what he intends to do about holding
companies" To the same general effect
others compared the President on this oc.
casion to the man who started his vocal
apparatus going and then went OF and
forgot 1t.
It turned out that Mr. Roosevelt, in the
informal answering Of questions. had said
or implied more than he intended. At a
later press conference he said that he
meant only limited type Of holding COM
pany. But Mr.. Roosevelt rarely does this
at his press conferences Whether the
Presidents mind is at all times deep or
thorough on all the matters he discusses
may be open to discussion. That his mind
is quick and alert there can be no question,
Calls Conferences Useful.
do not relate this incident to call at
tention to an occasion when one Of the
Presidents press conferences had a con-
f,lsing consequence. II this were true on
this occasion, 1t is rarely 30. I would
not wish to imply that the conferences, as
an institution, are other than useful On
the contrary. think they are extremely
useful-to the public, to the newspaper
men who participate and to the President.
cite the incident merely to call atten-
ton to the conferences as a comparatively
new and not yet widely understood feature
OF public life at Washington. These con-
ferences, as Mr.. Roosevelt conducts them,
have come to have an importance almost
approaching that Of the sessions Of Con-
gress and the other formal institutions of
Government. Through these conferences
the President puts out ideas, gives leader
ship and direction to public opinion. To
some extent, suppose, the ideas are put
out as balloons to see which way the
winds Of public opinion are blowing.
by means OF this informal presentation
the President is enabled to give currency
and force to his ideas without going to the
trouble of writing them out carefully and
delivering them in formal public addresses.
Although four Presidents preceding Mr..
Roosevelt beginning with Wilson, held
press conferences, none had them with so
much regularity. Nothing like the press
conferences as conducted by Mr.. Roosevelt
ever existed before. If Grover Cleveland
had wished to make a declaration Of policy
about holding companies he would have
gone through the laborious tedium of care
fully writing speech or q message to Con-
sress A device which Presidents Of
former day occasionally used was to write
letter to . carefully selected friend and
then permit the friend to make the letter
public.
Forbids Direct Quotations.
A rule Of Mr.. Roosevelts conferences Is
that he must not be quoted directly; which
Is reasonable, for II his ideas were to be
put out with the authority of his own words
IN quotation marks, he would be obliged to
give as much thought and energy to them
as he gives to his formal addresses. Occa-
sionally the rule is lifted to the extent of
permitting direct quotation Of a sentence
or two. Generally, the ideas are given to
the public in the words of the newspaper
writers. in phraseology to the effect that
the President thinks" or "the President