| Show Round Merry-Go-Round By DREW PEARSON nd and ROBERT ALLEN Trade Trad Mark WASHINGTON The WASHINGTON The problem of being a presidents president's son under the best of circumstances is to tough gh The Hoover boys found that out also John Coolidge They were rather modest retiring indi indi- But when you have inherited the characteristics characteristics characteristics char char- of the most active woman in America an and ana of a father full of restless driving energy then it must be doubly tough Jimmy Roosevelt 28 eldest son of ot the president president pres pres- ident hasn't fully realized this yet yet though though he should For him life is still just a bowl of cherries There have been infrequent times of course when the exuberant Jimmy thought life was a little hard One of these was when he was just out ut of Harvard newly married and anxious to tomake tomake tomake make a living His father was then governor of New York and offers from New York business houses literally were thrown at Jimmys Jimmy's head He could have had a a salary of for the asking But the governor put his foot down Salaries of that figure were not paid to a year old boy for nothing Insurance Fortune So Jimmy studied law and simultaneously launched hims himself in the insurance game About midsummer of f 1932 as it became in increasingly increasingly increasingly in- in certain that his father would be elected president Jimmy suddenly woke up to the fact that the old adage All that glitters is not gold was not in his case true at all His first discovery of this came when he sold a l life e insurance policy to George Washington Hill president of the American Tobacco company After that all kinds of f in insurance insurance insurance in- in came his way No great salesmanship I was necessary It was only natural that when rates are standardized as in insurance people should buy where they thought it might get them some political advantage Jimmy got into all sorts of deals in those days He was made a director of the Boston Metropolitan Building corpor corporation tion He sold in insurance insurance insurance in- in to National Distillers and the New England Pow Power r company and he even acted as asan asan asan an agent for Schenley's when the first shipment shipment shipment ship ship- ment of liquor was wa made into this country after repeal For a youngster in his twenties Jimmy became became became be be- came extremely wealthy Political Czar Simultaneously Jimmy went even deeper into politics His father and Jim Farley did not like Senator Walsh and Governor Ely of Massachusetts Massachusetts Massa Massa- who had backed Al AI Smith and al although although although al- al though they wanted to work with Mayor Curley they did not particularly trust him So they made Jimmy then only 25 patronage czar of Massachusetts He was very young lacked judgment was flush with the newness of power He came out emphatically against against- the constitutional amendment amendment amendment amend amend- ment on child labor even refusing to alter his stand at the request of his mother In fact there seemed to be nothing which the exuberant Jimmy would not tackle Patient Papa When it comes to his family the president is a very patient man too man too patient some of his friends think But finally he decided to get his eldest son out of Boston Word leaked out that Jimmy would be added to the White House staff serving without salary But when it appeared appeared appeared ap ap- ap- ap in the press the reaction was bad So at atthe atthe atthe the next press conference the president issued a terse announcement to the effect that Jimmy was to be placed in charge of the cow 12 dairy and the forestry preserve on the Hyde Park estate Jimmy Roosevelt read the announcement that afternoon in the papers It was the first he had heard about it The president on occasion has served notice notice notice no no- tice of resignation or transfer on high officers in his administration merely through announcements announcements announcements announce announce- ments to the press and in this case he was equally hard-boiled hard with a member of his own family Chip Off Old Block Jimmy is an extremely like likeable ble person and will doubtless grow grew up The president likes to have Jimmy at his side whenever possible Roosevelt doubtless sees in his eldest son a character not so very unlike the irrepressible over bubbling-over injudicious Franklin D. D when he himself was young Copyright 1936 by United Features Syndicate Inc |
