The Wilmington morning star., 1940-08-03
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2.-Answering the mail
orders:
j. L. r., Columbus, Ohio-You are a little
mixed on your dates. Henry A. Wallace voted
for AL Smith in 1928 and for President Roose-
welt in 1880 but it was not until 1896 that he be-
came a registered Democrat. 1 don't know
why some writer's refer to him as a Republi-
can until 1882, unless because it was not until
the birth of the New Deal that he stepped into
the national political picture. If that's the
reason, the date should be 1888, for not until
then did he come to Washington.
Mrs. r. M, Reading, Pa.-Yes, I did notice
at the Chicago convention that a lot of delegates
cast their votes for Franklin D. RUSE-velt. l
noticed also that most of those who used that
pronunciation were from down east. 1t was
probably the Dutch touch. Then there were
those several exuberant delegates who Shout
ed their votes for Franklin DELAYING Roose-
welt. I'll bet the DEL-uh-no family, which is
quite prominent in its own right, got bored with
that. Maybe the real reason FDR wants a
third term is that he feels he'd better stick in
the White House until the country learns to
pronounce his name.
M. L.. B., Cincinnati, Ohio-You are dead
right. The vote franchise) for the District Of
Columbia is up against a lot of trouble. When l
reported recently that something probably
would be done about it, I merely meant that
one thing was coming to a head. From this dis
lance, there's no telling what may happen, al
though some house and senate leaders have
announced for it. The matter has been up be-
fore and defeated. If you must have the
truth. one of the biggest bones of contention is
the big negro vote here (about 40 per cent?.
G. X. D., Evanston, Hl.-Probably before
this can get into type, there will be an answer
to your question and someone will have been
named to the position of James A. Farley. But
here and now I can tell you there is a lot OF
talk that Paul V. McNutt not only will become
national chairman of the Democratic party but
Postmaster General as we'll. About the only
question is whether FDR has this or something
better in mind for McNutt. The point is-what
does McNutt want? At this reporting, he has
refused to say.
]. F. X, Breckenridge, Tex.-You got me
all wrong. Mr.. K. but the fault is mine, and l
hope to write soon explaining what has been
done about the compulsory military training
bill. Very likely the bill will come out in en-
trey different form than the one being shaped
up in committee. l would be surprised if it
didn't result in the biggest floor fight during the
national defense drive.
o. G., Pawnee, Okla.-I trust by now you
have your book on letter writing. By the way,
Mr.. James F. Grady's campaign Gf you could
call it that to make the government depart
ments letter-writing conscious has gained such
impetus that the poor man is sort of quadruple-
drafted for a third term. In other words, the
various federal agencies have discovered that
there are few things more important than say
ing it right when you say it in print some
thing that we writing Johnnies have told them
a long time ago. Often, there is no more than
an adjective between a libel suit and friendly
relations.