Evening star., 1943-03-04

has been Of Mr.. @ @$=
Roosevelt's arti-
ficially engin- David Lawrence.
eered draft" in July, 1910, the fact
remains that the American people
had a chance to disapprove Of his
candidacy in November, 1910, but
instead elected him by substantial
majority. This is the democratic
process and the argument Of crisis
and emergency will again be used to
draft" Mr.. Roosevelt for fourth
term.
This does not mean that . million
of American citizens have In any
way altered their view about presi-
Dental tenure. Many Americans
still feel 1t is q travesty on our
claims to progress In education and
leadership that out Of 10000, 900
persons only one man could be
found by the Democratic party to
lead the Nation. Likewise, 1t is q
unique commentary on the whole
situation that, theoretically, in the
event of the death or disability Of
Mr.. Roosevelt, the Democratic party
offers Henry Wallace as the only
second man able to carry on the
formers responsibilities Of the ONCE
NJ Chief ExAc1ltive
Tide Running Out.
Mr.. Roosevelt possesses extraor-
dinary political sagacity and un-
paralleled powers Of political leader
ship. No man in recent history can
match him in maintaining q ma
tority on vital issues.
Either the fatigue of his job or
preoccupation with war matters has
caused the President recently to lose
touch with the people on political
trends. and the 1912 election was a
plain mark of disapproval Of the
Roosevelt administration by the
people. It will be interesting to
observe whether Mr.. Roosevelt will
be able to get rid of some of his pet
administrators who are incompetent
and put himself right with the
people by 1914. But for the moment
the tide is running against him be-
cause he stubbornly clings to incom-
petent administrators and ignores
the peoples protests.
Mr.. Roosevelt's lengthy tenure is
the product of two major crises
the economic depression of 1929
1882 ard the World War crisis be-
ginning in September, 1899 In
broad leadership. Mr.. Roosevelt
secured a high degree of popular
support on the main issues of both
crises. His administrative ability
in both cases, however, has been
lamentably deficient. Wastefulress
and extravaganza marred his nam
ding of the economic depression and
bungling mismanagement has char
acterized his handling of the war
production program, thus unduly
prolonging the war.
Curious Mixture.
The Roosevelt regime has been
q curious mixture of liberalism and
reactionaryism. While sponsoring
liberal objectives and long-delayed
social legislation, the enforcement
Of that legislation has been fraught
with special privilege and bureau-
cratic lawlessness which has up
rooted American institutions. The
President, for instance, has openly
repudiated the constitutional method
Of amending the Constitution, de-
claring 1t is too cumbersome, and
has insisted on changing the
Judges of the Supreme Court 50 as
to make the judiciary conform to
the executive policies-a precedent
far more devastating than a third
or fourth term. Only this week
Mr.. Roosevelt, in the Judge Alfred
nomination, has given another ex-
ample of how he has made the
judiciary the football of politics.
Twisting the language of the
statutes to issue regulations and
orders with penalties that the
Congress never imposed Is much
more a totalitarian concept of ex-
ecutive power than democratic. but
It is ingrained in the New Deal ad-
ministration.
Mr.. Roosevelt has done many fine
things which required political
courage to do. He mobilized public
opinion behind our pro-allied policy
beginning in September, 1899, and
he has worked out with Prime Min
lister Churchill a global strategy that
will earn them both high places in
history. On the domestic side, Mr.
Roosevelt. however, will be classed
as an opportunist who picked ard
retained incompetent men and who,
like Andrew jackson, left his many
admirers regretful for decades after
ward that he allowed the selfishness
of politics to influence him on too
many matters Of vital Importance.
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