| Show 1 7 L R N 04 am k N james A parley farley democratic chairman interesting career of the hustling new yorker who Is directing the roosevelt campaign director of a campaign which car ried new york state democratic by b for franklin D roosevelt in li 1930 2930 manager ot of a movement which resulted in delegates from thirty states state being committed to roosevelt when the chicago convention met and his gomi domination nation after a short test ol of strength james A parley farley Is now dl reeling a campaign which may result la in the election of the third democratic president since the civil war towering six feet two and a half and weighing well over farley moves mores as fast as a bantam activity Is his middle name and a wonder tal ful asset in any politician he has a photographic memory for or names and faces it works without any of the prompting secretaries or card index systems it Is just a gift in comes an obscure precinct worker who has met the chairman just onca and that tor for two minutes three years before hello harry shouts big tim jim ilow how Is everything down in southwest colorado did you stop off at denver and see jack smith on your way up checking up one will discover that the mans name Is harry that he does live in southwest colorado and that it was jack smith who introduced him so casually three years before to jim parley arid and he goes back home thinking jim parley farley Is a man of keen discernment who in some occult way lecog real ability and sterling worth despite the brevity of the former meeting farley Is just as quick to take advantage of an opening in the ene mys armor in a political fl ht as lie he Is in physical movement it was at tho the democratic national committee meeting at washington eighteen months before the democratic convention met that he so entrenched Roosevel ts strategic position tint that the allies were never able really to break through from that time on larley farley dished dashed over the country landing a leader here and a lieutenant there convincing some skeptic here that roosevelt was physically fit alt and persuading some doubting thomas that despite the name roosevelt his candidate was not secretly a republican came the convention with its hurly burly burly its rill all night battle its lights fights on platform two thirds rule and organization parley farley was in his element lie fie slept in tales dashing from one appointment to another he smoothed over prima donnas and goaded procrastinators lie he glad handed every ev cry body finally emerging from what had threatened to be as hitter a fight as madison square garden with better feeling than anyone of Roosevel ts friends had dared hope and inside the first week instead of stretching out indefinitely as madison square garden san ban francisco and baltimore had done in politics sines since boyhood james A parley farley Is a self made man ile he Is the son of irish catholic parents he was graduated from stony point high school in 1905 and a year later from the packard commercial school in new york city ile he Is an avid read er cr of biographies and a close observer of events has a phenomenal memory and possesses the rare perception to unerringly analyze people and situations at forks mrs parley farley nee elizabeth A fla fin Is a haverstraw girl the marriage occurred in 1020 there are three children elizabeth ann and james jr catch jim sr on a holl bell day with the family and you will quickly flash the gleam in his eye that mirrors his pride in these incentives to his ambitions ue ile was born in grassy point rockland county new york on may 80 30 and lived there many years before moving to haverstraw where he maintains a comfortable home to which some day it Is his intention to retire Far parleys leys interest in politics dates back to about the time lie started in to master the three Us its in school in 1800 jim was only eight years old but he tells today othla vivid recollections of the mckinley bryan campaign the torchlight torch light parades and the full dinner pall bunk that was spread even ns as far back bach as man before ren reaching ching maturity parley farley was a political worker to in the town of stony point and lie became a committeeman about the time he first voted that started him film actively in political leadership that has run the gamut of district leader town leader county leader state leader all the way into national prominence ills his first elective office was town clerk of stony point from 1912 to 1019 vacating to serve the same town ns as supervisor for the four years 1920 to 1923 1023 in 1923 1023 he was state assemblyman from rockland county in he was port warden by appointment of gov alfred 0 smith who in 1921 appointed him a member of the new york state ath athletic letle commission of which he has been chairman since 1925 from 1019 to 1029 parley was chairman of the Deme democratic cratIc county committee of rockland county from 1928 1923 to 1930 1030 he was secretary of the democratic state committee at which time he was elected chairman of that committee upon election ns state chairman of the new york state democracy in september 1030 farley took over franklin D Roosevel ts campaign for reelection election re to fo the governorship ne ile had five weeks in which to deliver it was naturally a time of confusion the depression was just being felt with its full force the coffers of the party were empty indeed there was a deficit and the republicans were waging a campaign which was intensely bitter farley quickly whipped into shape an orga organization 11 that reached into every section of the state ile he made distribution of lithographs and literature under a new plan that trebled the efficiency ency of the old ile he wrote thousands of letters ile he was on the phone for hours every day ile he sent a fleet of trucks with talkies tallies of the candidates into the smaller villages and towns ile he arranged a statewide tour for the candidates touching the principal cities throughout the state ile he put all of the principal addresses on the radio and while doing it nil all he organized the finances to cover the expense two weeks before election in buffalo he predicted Roosevel ts election by and people laughed at him roosevelt was elected by nearly three quarters of a million votes and car hed the whole state ticket with him immediately after election chairman farley began working to make the entire state militantly democratic ile he visited every county in the state during the year he fie counselled counseller coun selled weak county organizations to reorganize and luct younger blood into their committees ile he saw many changes in chairmanships ile he promoted meetings dinners social gatherings everywhere with the result that in the 1031 campaign he wu waa able to hold the democratic lines in the assern assembly bly that came in with the roosevelt landslide of the year previous and to see many republican counties elect boards of supervisors county off leers and town officers from democratic ranks captured erie county N notable 0 babl I 1 of his accomplishments was the s settlement e tt lement of the trouble in erie county turmoil had existed there for years F parley arley stepped in and directed a reorganization which stood the test of a bitter primary battle and then emerged from the election with control of the county board the auf falo city council the district some jud and numerous minor lie he had done what was considered impossible brought erie and buffalo back democrats on january 23 governor roosevelt announced his candidacy for the presidency by allowing his name to go before the democratic primary in north dakota it marked the culmination of a years work by the governors close personal friend james A F parley arley without the aid of the usual large organization without the fanfare of trumpets quietly unobtrusively but pe personally ally parley and others have promoted roosevelt to the country their job was easier because their candidate was outstanding but even then leaders in other states had t to be consulted informed and ent enthused busey A cross continent trip a few shorter journeys innumerable telephone conversations and plenty of letters did the trick parley was the genius that carried the burden of personal communication muni cation in this quiet personal effort on be half of a friend parley farley has paralleled a statewide acquaintance with a nationwide tIon wIde one prom from a state leader he be has emerged a national figure it Is a long trip from grassy point on the hudson to front page headlines across the length and breadth of the united states jim has made it in forty four years he Is still young still energetic still ambitious where the journey will lead in the future only time can tell but it will still be upwards that Is jims way keeping up a vigorous letter writing campaign Is one of jims real attainments tain ments and he has long been known as jim the penman he likes to keep in close touch with those associated with him no matter whether it Is in business politics or social pursuits and he has found the best way to do this Is by means of the post anyone who has ever had dealings w with jib this human dynamo Is of course familiar with his bla famous signature always in green ink when he signs his name it Is to a letter dictated by himself and reread by himself it Is a personal message in the truest sense writes many letters A hundred letters a day daly read and answered multiply tilts by tho the days daya in the year for lie works every day and you will get a grand total of over personally signed epistles add to this a hundred thousand bulletins sent to organization workers a few thousand telegrams not to mention greeting cards and radiograms radio grams and you will realize why his huge organization Is always informed of what Is a going on and its members are always working strenuously and intelligently A reply to every letter la Is the first rule of jim Far parleys leys lexicon of politics it probably makes votes it certainly makes him friends thirty thousand miles are a lot of miles A alve hundred mlle mile trip on a fast railroad train will take a long n night that would mean sp spending en dang every night tor for two months on a sleeper but thirty thousand miles Is what jim parley farley traveled in his first year as state chairman using every form of transportation excepting airplane jim still keeps on the ground he wooed sleep to the tune of the car wheels ile he sped over concrete highways in high powered cars he be experienced perien Perlen ced the thrills of boa boating ting in ila powered skiffs and large liners he even enjoyed the novelty of horse and buggy arid and all the time he was personally acquainting himself with the problems of rural communities and urban centers of sections that depended c on in agriculture for their substance and 0 on n 1301 eions that depended on mining or oil or lumber or industries in the course of a year jim parley farley will make speeches at almost a hundred banquets and luncheons in 1931 he did this very thing of eating and speaking in every one of the slaty sixty two counties in new york state it was a lesson in real democracy for all real democrats love to eat and also love to speak some weeks he would visit eight elpha counties speaking nt at four midday mid day luncheons and four evening dinners always he would shake hands and talk with those present and one day well would id hardly be finished before the comm committee attee arrived to start the next days activities graduated from a commercial school in 1005 1003 parley farley started out to make his way in the business world ills his early training had made him unafraid of hard work and his employers soon discovered hint the young man from up the hudson had that rare fac faculty tilty so necessary to salesmanship the ability to sell himself ile he was quickly sent into the field onto the firing firlow line ain out where the customers were As a distributor of building mats mat rials parley farley Is noted for having a clear knowledge of the business a willingness to give customers perfect service and a deep understanding of construction problems of every nature ills experienced viewpoint has haa made him invaluable not only to hla his own company but also to the industrial national bank of which he li Is A director |
