To Georgia

It is an immemorial custom each autumn when the U. S. Supreme Court assembles, for the Justices, as part of their first day's work to pay a formal call on the President. This year the Court convened on Oct. 7 but the call had to be postponed because Franklin Roosevelt, aboard the U. S. S. Houston, was then somewhere near the Cocos Islands. Month ago, when the President returned to the Capital, he was very busy and since the call had been postponed the Justices had no objection to letting it go to a time that suited the President's convenience.

Days and weeks passed and then one day the President realized that he was about to flit off again on another vacation. It would never do for him to leave without allowing the members of the Court to do themselves the honor of calling on him. After all they were venerable men, whom it would be wanton folly to offend. So only an hour or two before his train departed Franklin Roosevelt had himself rolled from his office back to the White House proper and with his wife at his side not only received the formally-dressed oldsters of the Court, but for good measure gave them tea in the Blue Room.

Twenty-four hours later President Roosevelt descended from his private car in the streets of Warm Springs, Ga. Henry N. Hooper, manager of the Warm Springs Foundation, was on hand to welcome him. A CCC band struck up a tune, and the President drove off accompanied by his personal secretaries Marguerite ("Missy") Le Hand and Grace Tully, past the Foundation where crippled children were lined up in wheelchairs to wave to him, on up the road to the Little White House on the slopes of Pine Mountain where Daisy McAffee was cooking his dinner.

In one respect Warm Springs was different from the health resort he visited in previous years: on every driveway in the Foundation grounds CCC men were posted as traffic officers, letting no car enter without a pass from Foundation headquarters, while around the Little White House was drawn a cordon of U. S. Marines, a picked detachment from Quantico. Of late the Secret Service has been obviously anxious about its charge's safety.

Within the guarded grounds Franklin Roosevelt on succeeding days drove his own special-built 1931 model Ford back & forth: down to the pools every morning for his health swim, back for lunch, out again in the afternoon. Passing the golf links he occasionally stopped to jibe at newshawks at play. Passing their cottage where a sore-muscled group was lounging on the veranda he shouted: ''How are the cripples this morning?" and drove on roaring at his own joke. Also he took the first good afternoon to drive out to his 2,500-acre farm where he learned from Manager Otis Moore that the corn crop had been 1,300 bu., the best ever, inspected a number of new sheds built of lumber grown on the place and sawed at his own mill.

For three days, until the arrival of his first official visitor, care did not catch up with him. Representative James P. Buchanan, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Director of the Budget Daniel Bell were to visit him to discuss the budget. For more than a fortnight the President had been combing the budget requests of his Cabinet officers, department by department. Word passed along that he wanted, if possible, at least $500,000,000 in cuts as a New Year's present for the country. Newshawks who reported that intention had been called in and told that they were talking through their hats, that even the President had no idea how much would be cut from the budget. By such means the President had tried to keep the U. S. from hoping for too big a budget cut, to make the real budget a happy surprise.

Mr. Buchanan arrived from his home at Brenham, Tex. a day ahead of time, went out to the Little White House for Sunday dinner, then unburdened himself to newshawks. If he and his committee were to get any credit for a budget cut, he, not the President, must spring the surprise on the public. Not yet having seen the President's figures, he announced that he was going to aim to cut the deficit for fiscal 1937 to not over $500,000,000, which would entail a budget cut of $3,000,000,000, or six times as much as the President was reported to hope for. Congressmen cannot be put in their places quite so easily as the Press. Vacationer Roosevelt could see that his budget cut was not likely to startle the U. S. C. Before going to Warm Springs President Roosevelt named, instructed and gave his parting blessing to the U. S. delegation to the Naval Limitation Conference which meets in London Dec. 6: 1) Admiral William H. Standley, Chief of Naval Operations, 2) roving Ambassador Norman H. Davis, professional conference goer, 3) Undersecretary of State William Phillips, ranking career diplomat of the State Department. Their job: to do what Washington regards as virtually impossible, namely, to persuade other nations not to increase their fleets.

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