Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington president Roosevel ts departure from froin the white house for a rest and a fishing presidency cruise calls attena heavy load tion again to the tremendous strain to which a president c ff cf f the united states Is subjected anyone holding that office has to undergo it and despite attempts to make the job easier none he has come forward with a workable P plan ian to tighten lighten the burden presidents have been criticized in communities away from the national capital many times in the past because they took a week or a month off in other years it has been common to hear bear political attacks on the president then occupying the white house on account of vacations or recreational methods that caused their absence from the executive mansion observers here however can in no wise agree that such criticism Is justified on the contrary I 1 believe the agreement would be on a premise that were the president unable to get away from his job periodically he would be a broken man physically it if not mentally in a short time the president of the united states has at his beck and call all of the advisers all of the expert assistance everything that Is required to enable him to do the job yet with all of this he cannot dodge the responsibility of leadership and that Is the crux of the problem he must lead in the right direction and that necessitates familiarity with every problem to be solved by his administration lie ile receives advice and assistance from all shades of opinion because it Is human for men and women to have varying views so the president has to sort them out and arrive at his own conclusions and those conclusions either make or break the administration tra tion in order to illustrate the truth of the statement that the job of president of the united states Is a mankiller man killer let us review what has happened since franklin D roosevelt took office ite he entered the white house with the most acute banking crisis ever known staring him in the face he assumed the presidency when the count rys agriculture ri was in the throes of destitution if not actual starvation he took over the job at a time when were without work and whose resources were gone and with the industries of the nation unable to operate as a whole at more than 50 per cent of normal activity the president of course knew how desperate the conditions were and he immediately called congress into extraordinary tra session he closed the banks for a holiday so they could get started fresh after they had had time to determine whether they were solvent and he began grinding out a program for legislation by congress designed to restore order out of chaos these things were done within a period of ten days and it was thought the strain would lessen after the banks bank were again operating but the days and nights between march 4 and march 15 the period of the banking holiday were only the beginning others presenting just as much of a burden have occurred until the current question Is how did the president stand it it may sound simple that the president called congress into extra session that he closed strenuous the banks and that days davs he did 1 or of the other things mentioned above unfortunately it Is not so simple as it sounds for example mr roosevelt was inaugurated at noon march 4 he had luncheon with a few friends and went to work with the new members of ills cabinet A steady stream of men hied in and out of the presidents office as the new chief executive sought to map plans this continued into the night after the president had gone to the white house itself and long after midnight he was working on a program for handling the banking situation awakened at seven the circumstances of the preceding afternoon and night were repented repeated although it was sunday then the banking holiday proclamation was ready but the banks having been closed must needs be reopened emergency legislation was required it had to PC e drafted quickly and it had bad to be but bul let proof bankers and experts in finance and in legislation were summoned others were called by long distance telephone and their views and suggestions ascertained and members of the senate and the house had to be consulted that any slip might be avoided that was just one problem there were numerous others perhaps not quite as acute at that time but nevertheless vital to the country as a whole in order to save proc loii moments moment the president was eating his noonday meal on his desk in the executive office perhaps he be had had a group of legislators or advisors with him at breakfast ile he seldom was able to dine alone in the evening because there were questions to be decided it at once and people whom he had called to consult were awaiting the moment they were to have with him it would naturally seem that the strain would subside after the first few weeks of a new administration but such was not the case care for president roosevelt he told the country during his campaign that he would like to have a honeymoon 7 in office tor for awhile he wanted to start off his administration without having congress in session and with some time to map plans but that was not to be the honeymoon if such guch it can be called has been delayed until now and even now he Is not safe from th the worries of his job nor from the pestering of office seeking politicians the newspaper correspondents ot of washington are in a peculiar position to judge the load the president carries those who are detailed to report white house activities are thankful when the president tends sends out word that there will be a brief respite it means a moment in which those writers can safely leave their job and eat a meal without fearing that the president has sent another special message to congress or has determined to call a world conference or has suddenly decided on some less consequential thing like appointment of a collector of internal revenue or a united states attorney somewhere from froia the outlines given it Is obvious there was constant activity but the activity itself would not have proved unbearable it was the mental strain of reasoning out the problems and their solutions and the determine determination of which course should b be e pursued since always there are two sides to the question frankly it has always been amazing to me how bow presidents have been able to survive the ordeal of their office sir mr roosevelt Is taking the trial cruise se in order to recuperate and re revitalize vitall z e himself he enjoys the welcome outdoors just as vacation president hoover enjoyed outdoors and president coolidge enjoyed fishing and as president Ident harding and president wilson enjoyed golf and as president tatt taft enjoyed walking and president theodore roosevelt enjoyed horseback riding mr hoover it will be recalled used to spend weekends week ends at it a mountain camp on the rapidan river in virginia where he could rough it and fish and he be fished in the potomac river too when he had time to make a river trip president harding would rather play a game of golf as a member of a foursome with cronies than do anything else thoroughly enjoying companionship president coolidge cooledge seemed to enjoy solitude on a yacht although usually he had a couple of intimate friends aboard when he be went on cruises actually the purpose of these outings Is to get away from all of the demands coming upon the office of president he must and should have some freedom ills his physical lg Is nt at stake at all times for unless he be Is physically fit he becomes incapable of dealing with the tasks 0 0 0 presidents can receive whomsoever they desire to receive in their of offices flees but the list of visit lawmakers Law makert mahers ors has to be culled hide out closely cos ln in order not mt to overcrowd the chief executives time some of the senators and representatives however have adopted another method of saving time for themselves in order to got get work done they go into hiding otherwise folks from the home state would occupy so much of their time they would not be able to study the problems of legislation they have before them few of the legislators have the courage however that has been shown by senator tydings of 0 maryland his home state being within street car distance the maryland senator has plenty of visitors he has solved his problem by posting a notice on his office door it says his big office hours are from morning until noon when the senate convenes after that time no amount of knocking on the door will cause it to be opened it seems to me that it has required A considerable determination to take such a course but senator tydings did and thus thug far has not caused any real howl from his constituents senator ben bennett et champ dark clark of n Is causing just a little bit of disturbance around the white house houm although the senator Is still a freshman so to speak because this Is his first full term he hos has demonstrated already that he fie Is like his big father the late speaker champ dark clark who came so near being the democratic presidential nominee over woodrow wilson the late speaker dark clark was a thorn tn in the lesh flesh of president wilson willoa senator dark clark Is proving he Is a chip olt off the he old block by being a thorn in the side of the present president lie ile broke with the president on the so called economy bill and he refused to stand bitched batched to several other measures including the industrial recovery public construction measure the missouri senator always has been regarded as a democrat through anil and through but he appears to dislike portions of the new deal because of their unorthodox character 0 1933 wiltern newspaper paper union |