Evening star., 1940-02-04
By Marqnis ". ChiIds.


lection as Mayor OF NeD York.
pelling milk wagon horses to wear rubber
shoes-he has made this city better
place to live in.
OF course, there were fortunate COIN
cidences. Samuel Seabury had instituted
a realistic and hard-boiled investigation
into vice and corruption that gave Mayor
La Guardia running head start. Mr..
Dewey as district attorney of New York
County "a governmental unit covering
the same geographical area as the bor-
ough of Manhattan) has played St.
George to keep down racketeering and
crime.
The biggest and happiest coincidence
has been the presence in Washington of
Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.
New York City has got well over 81 ,0O0,-
100000 in New Deal funds. To match
this Federal spending the city itself has
put up close TO s900,o0o,0o0 which in
!. cludes the cost OF local relief at the rate
of around 500 100000 year.
Out Of this astronomical spending
have come many permanent improve
ments, some of them self -liquidating
such as the Tri-Borough Bridge the
Lincoln Tunnel and the Thirty-eighth
Street Tunnel now under construction.
Hardly day goes by that the Mayor
does not make visit to one of the nu-
merous building enterprises the city has
started. In fact, typical day in the
life of this dynamic individual is likely
to begin with an inspection trip.
1t starts. at his apartment on upper
Fifth avenue, at 109th street, too far up
to be fashionable. This is the apartment
he lived in with his wife and their two
adopted children long before he was
Mayor. Only by the policeman on duty
in the downstairs hall would you know
that this was his excellencys residence.
In the elevator are women in stocking
caps and shawls. Mr.. La Guardia began
his political career in the semi-slum area
near the lower East Side.
/. Radio Telephone in Car.
Joining him in his official car, which
is equipped with radio telephone, folding
desk and a diverse assortment of the
Mayors pipes, are his park commits
sioner, Robert Moses, and the Manhat-
tan Borough president, Stanley Isaacs.
Unescorted, the car moves swiftly over
the East River, where dredges and
large force Of workmen are making land
for a new highway. Getting out at each
STOP the Mayor strides-he never walks
over the site, Mr.. Moses and Mr. Isaacs
following with maps and explanations.
There is hardly a traffic stop where
the Mayor is not recognized and greeted
in his big car. "Hiya, Butch!" they
call out to him from the sidewalks
of his New York. Plainly they like this
dramatic little man in the black, West
ern-style Stetson. His boyhood was spent
in Arizona, the hat recalls. When he
recognizes these greetings, it is with
a barely perceptible nod, the somber,
brooding expression of his face un-
changed.
Down at City Hail. in his big Office
with the delicate Adam doorways and
fireplace, he tackles his days work with
a snarling toughness. Three stenog-
AdpAAC1o dAC COIlctdllGly OlI JuA1APs
Commissioners and secretaries come and
go. 1t is here, as he struggles with
the infinitely varied problems of the
metropolis, that all his dramatic in
stincts, his histrionism, come into play.
A Desk Founder.
In whisper he pleads, please, please,
hurry up with that" Next his voice
is rasping and harsh. He is pounding
on the desk. Bring EN- in, let 'em
come in" It is never fast enough, the
flow Of letters, memoranda, reports, Wis
itors.
With his acting commissioner of cor
rection, David Marcus, he discusses the
disciplining of a policeman through
whose carelessness some youthful GRIM
inals escaped. IF you suspend him for
30 days you penalize his family and put
him under economic pressure" the
Mayor says. land then If he's crooked it's
on our conscience" The policeman, it is
decided, shall be deprived of four Sun
day leaves.
So the day goes with scarcely 10 min
utes out for sandwich and cup Of
coffee on tray at noon. The appoint
ments frequently overlap, one set Of
visitors hearing the Mayors last words
oc opothar cat Yrenares tn cet his at.