Evening star., 1944-09-26

ten by Mr.. Lowell Mellett.
Walker, author of an earlier biog.
raphy, Mrs. Astor's Horse" A friene
brought me a copy of the new book
already open at page 146, and there
I found a couple of paragraph!
about myself. These paragraph!
purported to relate what 1 had writ.
ten about the candidate after see.
ing him in action at the Hershey
(PaD conference of Governors.
"Mellett assigned himself to ex.
plain Gov. Dewey's popularity, ano
posed many tentative answers, none
of which seemed to satisfy him,
says the author. After some more
along that line, he concludes: Mr.
Mellett's bewilderment, even so, is
understandable. A great many per.
sons have tried to put their fingers
on the precise reasons for the Dewey
popularity not only among the
shrewd, vote-counting politicians
but among the ordinary inarticulate
voters as we'll"
Now, doggone it. no book writer
oughtsto do thing like that What
l actually wrote, had to do, not with
Gov. DeWeys popularity" but with
his unpopularity-his unpopularity
with the Governors. Notice thai
"un." This unpopularity was some
thing quite tangible. something al
Of us at Hershey observed.
Books, particularly books intended
to sell for $3.50, should not contain
misstatements like that, and Mr.
Walker can only be excused on the
around that he has fallen into bac
company. This offers no hope, how
ever, for correction in later edi-
tions of the book, since Mr.. Walkers
hero, Gov. Dewey, does not bother
TO correct mistakes. In fact, he
sometimes repeats them after the
truth has been brought to his at
tention. In his talks out West, fol
example. he has continued to mis-
represent the Army's plan for de-
moblllzlng troops and If he has cor
rected his misrepresentation of the
Smith -Connally Act, his misrepre-
sentation of the Jackson Hole land
seizure or any other misrepresenta-
ton, the correction hasn't appeared
in the newspapers.
There is one correction he should
make, however, no matter how much
it hurts. He should correct the i'm
preston he has given concerning the
plight OF his own children From
Sheridan, Wyo.. the telegraph wires
flashed the dire news that Gov.
DeWey's two sons are in need of
sweaters.
Il haven't been able to buy wool
sweaters for my boys for a year.
the candidate was quoted as saying
Mrs. Dewey is quite disturbed about
it
That moved soft hearted Army
sergeant here in Washington-you
know. one of those tough-talking
fellows, as ge2tle as a kitten, really
to go out and do something about
II. He is frankly opposed to the
Governors ambition, but he cannot
bear to see children suffer. He went
right out and bought two 100 per
cent wool sweaters at the first store
ne came to. apparently you can
buv sweaters anyWhere.) The SER
geant plunked down four bucks of
his hard-earned Army pay, went
sack to his barracks, wrapped up
the sweaters and sent them by par
"el post to the Governors mansion
y Albany.
Along with the garments the SER
"cant sent a friendly note, telling
the Governor that he was doing this
because he feared the Governor
might never get to Washington him.
elf.
There is no telling how many
other sentimental sergeants have
taken similar action or how many
sympathetic old ladies have leaped
to their knitting needles and that
doesn't seem quite right. There is
enough grief in the world without
our having to suffer, by mistake.
over the Dewey children. The Gov
ernor should be big enough to admit
his error In this instance and cor
rect it.
I'll set him an example. I find,
on further reading of the book, that
I've done Mr. Walker an injustice
in the matter of that word "popu-
larity.' On page 2o4 appears this
rto oS~{1