The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-05-01
THE GREAT
GAME OF
POLITICS >.
Copyright by The Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by per-
mission.
By FRANK r. KENT
Mental Strain"

washington, April 70.
One of Mr. Roosevelt's journalistic
admirers made a highly emotional
plea the other day for sympathy for
the President because of the great
mental strain" under which he now
labors. The argument was that the
burdens he bears are so great that
they must tax his strength to the ut
most; that he is entitled to under
standing and support in his effort to
win the war by aiding the British and
erecting here an impregnable defense.
Of course he is. But certainly the
understanding ought to be clear and
the support should not be along lines
calculated to diminish the effective
ness of his effort and Illustrate his
own purpose. Many who are in COM
plete accord with the Roosevelt
foreign policy but not at all in accord
with his domestic policies are deeply
worried, from the standpoint of the
national interests, about the mental
strain" to which he is subjected and
appreciate fully the pressure upon his
time. For both these, as we'll as his
"all-out" followers, the most effective
form of sympathy and support would
seem to be in trying to lessen the
Presidents mental strain" and to
conserve his time.
To that end, for many weeks it has
been pointed out that a lot of his
mental strain" is unnecessary; that
it is due, first, to his refusal to desig-
nate a head for his defense organiza-
tions; second, to his personal absorp-
ton in details; third, to his failure to
select competent aides or, having
selected them, to delegate power to
them. Instead, disregarding the expe-
rience of the past and the counsel of
his wisest friends, he has chosen to
hold all the power in his own hands
and delegate none. This means that he
is forced to handle many details and
make many decisions which could be
handled better by others, and would
be if they were given the chance. The
other duties of the President literally
make it impossible for him compel
emily to cope with defense details and
at the same time concentrate on the
great questions of policy, the deci-
sions on which must be his.
i =
The attempt to do both is clearly
bad. The result not only is more
mental strain" than Mr.. Roosevelt
ought to have but vastly more con-
fusion in the whole organization than
should exist. Not only is the program
impeded because it is incompetently
directed but the President himself is
carrying utterly unnecessary burdens
This is so clear that no informed man
in Washington would dispute it. Yet
no amount of advice or pressure has
been able to induce Mr. Roosevelt to
yield any part of his burden to any
one else.
Il #
The way he is doing this job just
does not make sense. 1t not only i'm
pairs his own personal efficiency in
handling the larger questions of
policy but it muddles up and slows
down the whole defense effort, be-
cause no one save himself is given
power to decide anything The case
of Mr.. Hopkins is an illustration. A
short time ago it was announced that
Mr.. Hopkins would be in charge of
the lease-lend operations. All the Ad-
ministration journalists played him up
as being the special representative of
the President with power to act.
There was some resentment over the
selection of physically weak, gen.
orally incompetent and politically
minded man for so great a task, but
the fact that he was to have a great
deal of power was accepted.
But now that seems to be all
wrong. The President himself has said
that newspaper reports of the i'm
portance of Mr.. Hopkins new position
have been "greatly exaggerated"
They are, he irritably told friends,
Gust not true" Harry isn't" he ex-
planned, "going to make the decisions.
Pm going to make the decisions. All
Harry's going to do is keep the
books" There you are. He isn't going
to trust even his blossom friend" to
relieve him of any mental strain"
Apparently the chief purpose of the
Hopkins appointment was to give the
Presidents friend $4,000 job,
which, considering that he lives free
at the White House, is not bad-for
Mr.. Hopkins.
Under the circumstances, it seems a
little bit ridiculous to take people to
task for not sympathizing with Mr..
Roosevelt's mental strain" when so
much of it is his own fault. Nor is it
aacU RI ha nopnarpad about tho nun.