Evening star., 1938-04-01

OF Prof. Felix Frankfurter's Harvard
Law School and former secretary of
the late Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Tommy the Cork, as the President
christened him, functions not only as the
favorite White House wordsmith and
phraSemonger, but as contact man on
major legislative occasions like the
utility holding company fight. Not the
least OF young Mr.. Corcoran's attractions
is his talent as an entertainer at the
piano and a warbler of amusing songs.
Most popular explanation of the Presi-
dents oratorical, epistolary and press
conference ebullitionS, especially at Warm
Springs, is that he is baffled by the busi-
ness depression, and disturbed to the boil
ing point by the Governments apparent
inability to check it. Daily reminders,
reflected by the stock market slump and
other indiceS, are believed to account
for Mr.. Roosevelt's irritability and his
rising resentment of opposition and
criticism. The Washington correspond
ents' group has probably experienced the
executive Ire at closer range than any
other element of the national community.
fraternity have been a crescendo of
evasion negativeneSS and touchineSs.
The other day-by way of example, Mr..
Roosevelt cut short a legitimate re-
portorial question by saying: I'm not
a clairvoyant." In the same conference
Tin Georgia. when asked what reaction
in Dixie was to the Gainesville taunt
about low wages and long hours in that
onin %H4 -
only "Southerner" from whom he'd
heard was one of the Negroes employed
on the Warm Springs estate.
&*
To current NeWsWeek "a of the Ma
tion'S outstanding economists, whose
business it is to study and analyze trade
trends. contribute symposium Of pre-
dictions Of what lies ahead during the
next three months-particularly whether
they will bring new tailspins doomed to
return us to the depths of the Hoover
depression" or whether we are about to
experience sudden upsurge. The con-
sensus Is that neither alarmist nor un-
usually optimistic forecasts are now
justified. Rather, American business
faces period Of at least 80 days during
which conditions will improve-but only
very slightly. As measured by industrial
production, conditions in May and June
viii probably be just about per cent
better than in February. Among the
soothsayers are Col. Leonard P. Ayres
Of Cleveland, and six or seven present or
former New Dealers-Mordecai Ezekiel
and Louis H. Bean OF the Department
Of Agriculture, David Cushman Coyle,
David Friday, Leon Henderson, Isador
Lubin, Oliver o. M. w. Sprague, Willard
Thorp and Rex G. Tugwell.
\ X
John w. Davis of New York was a
visitor to his old-time haunts in the
House Of Representatives this week,
during visit to Washington on Supreme
Court business. He was the object Of
particularly cordial attention from the
West Virginia delegation, which he once
adorned. Representative Jennings RAN
dolph of the second district, remarked
that the 1924 Democratic presidential
candidate, though hell be IS this month,
is as youthful looking and apparently as
vigorous as when he entered Congress
n years ago.
Secretary Hull acquires another expert
on Russia with the transfer Of 10y w.
Henderson to the State Department after
four years of service in the Embassy at
Moscow. For the better part of the past
year. during Ambassador Joe Davies
periodical vacations from his post, Mr..
Henderson, foreign service career man