Evening star., 1939-11-26

Lieutenants of Federal Security Ad-
, ministrator Paul v. McNutt are so busily
spreading reports, sometimes conflicting
that President Roosevelt has already
decided to make him the Democratic
nominee for the presidency that the
comparatively young and definitely am
bilious Indianian is being referred to as
the heir presumptuous."
The epithet fits. Although Mr.. Nc
Mutt has made great political progress
since his gaudy cocktail party at local
hotel in February last year, when he
was United States High Commissioner
to the Philippines, he cannot yet be
dubbed the heir-apparent. But he is de-
cidedly a candidate "on the make" and
he will be force to reckon with at the
1910 Democratic national convention,
whether Mr.. Roosevelt actively or pas
sively seeks the nomination for himself
or is content merely to exercise his
power of selection as head of the party.
If Mr.. McNutt can't get the top place
on the ticket, he will still be available
for the vice presidential nomination, an
honor not to be cavalierly rejected.
The McNutt henchmen can give no
factual basis for their predictions that
within few weeks, or a few months, or
some time, Mr.. Roosevelt will announce
that he is not candidate for a third
term and that he must be succeeded by a
New Dealer of the type of his old friend,
Paul McNutt. These reports smack
heavily of wishful thinking; they dove
tail too neatly into Mr.. McNutts often
repeated announcement that he will not
be candidate if Mr.. Roosevelt asserts
prior claim. They permit Mr. McNutt s
campaign manager, the gigantic Frank
McHale, to scour the country in search
of McNutt delegates, to be delivered only
in case Mr.. Roosevelt doesn't want them
Unique Temerity.
Mr.. Roosevelt may or may not take
himself out of the 1910 race. The Gar
ner crowd is insisting that eventually he
WILL the Hull, Farley and Wheeler ad-
vocates are keeping quiet on this score
Only the McNutt supporters have the
temerity to claim that their candi-
date will get the White House anoint-
ment. The point emphasized here is
that the President, in the opinion of
impartial observers, has given no serious
indication of what he intends to do.
The McNutt argument is that the
President impliedly indorsed the In
dianian when he made him Security
administrator and invited him, to-
gether with Loan Administrator Jesse
H. Jones and Works Administrator John
M. Carmody, to attend cabinet sessions
Without his present important job within
the administration, the theory goes, Mr.
McNutt would have been just an unem-
ployed candidate, perhaps looking for
an imposing title with a university or
legal firm. Under the present arrange
ment he can prove his political philos-
ophy by the conduct of his far-reach-
ing Federal agency and at the same time
tour the country to expound his views,
always assured of receptive audiences,
meetings with influential Democrats and
fair press. The job also gives him a
Washington headquarters where he can
keep an eye on the other candidates.
More realistic is the appraisal of Mr.
McNutt's present status in the admin
istration by those close observers of the
President, in and out of the administra-
ton, who frankly confess that they don't
know whether or not Mr.. Roosevelt will