The Roosevelt Week

"The President has signed Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio primary petitions. This means he enters the primaries of these three states as a candidate for re-election."

These words on a mimeographed sheet passed out last week to White House newshawks were the sole formal announcement of what no one needed to be told. P:At Norris, Tenn. a siren shrieked, eight sluice gates slipped shut, a lake began to form inch by inch behind the dam. In Washington 500 miles away, Franklin Roosevelt sat with his finger on the siren button, saying, "Norris Dam is a practical symbol of better life. . . ." P:Two and a half years ago Federal Coordinator of Transportation Joseph Eastman was given the job of working out means by which railroads could cooperate to save themselves and the public money. Before his job expires next June, he is anxious to accomplish an annual saving of $18,000,000 by consolidating railway terminals in eleven cities. Alarmed that men might be thrown out of work, Labor objected, argued for two months with the roads, got a bill introduced in Congress to prevent the discharge of trainmen and place other restrictions on the consolidations which would prevent savings. Eager to save Coordinator Eastman's work from becoming a complete waste, President Roosevelt wrote two identical letters, one to President John Jeremiah Pelley of the Association of American Railroads, the other to Vice Chairman J. A. Phillips of the Railway Labor Executives' Association. Excerpt:

"A critical situation prompts this letter. ... In the long run the employes will surely gain from maximum efficiency and economy in railroad operation. . . . Given sufficient time, the managements and the men ought to be able to agree in their common interests upon a reasonable plan of protection. If they do not agree, and legislation is sought as the only solution, I fear harm to the railroad industry. . . . May I suggest that, before you permit such an effort to fail, you confer jointly with me?"

P: In pre-New Deal days every member of the Cabinet entertained the President once a year at dinner. To save himself from putting on evening dress nine unnecessary times, Franklin Roosevelt inaugurated the custom of letting the Cabinet give him one big joint dinner. One evening last week the Cabinet solemnly assembled at the Mayflower Hotel to dine their chief. At the appointed time he did not appear. They waited and waited. At the White House Valet Irvin McDuffy was desperately turning the Presidential wardrobe inside out: the President's white pearl vest buttons could not be found. Having stewed for nearly half an hour, the Cabinet finally had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Roosevelt arrive accompanied by her husband with a row of black buttons down his white vest. P:To mark the fact that he last week completed three years in office, Franklin Roosevelt on Sunday took Mrs. Roosevelt, his aides in full uniform, Vice President Garner, six members of his Cabinet to National (Episcopal) Cathedral, heard Bishop James Edward Freeman sermonize for their benefit on the text, "I am the Way and the Truth."

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