Show t 0 0 national topics interpreted william bruckart washington observers of aff affairs airs in the national capital frequently get a different or dr high slant on state predicts Pred lct ments by close advisers of the president or activities of those on the inside than persons living at distances from washington they are less likely to be misled in their conclusions as to the meaning ol of such statements or actions come as they may from high so sources than others not closely in touch but even this close contact by observers here does not always produce tor for them a definite finality on their conclusions because some things are simply impossible ol of proof the above statements are by way of directing attention to the inability of the corps of correspondents here to tell whether dr stanley high was speaking with the approval or even the acquiescence of president roosevelt when dr high voiced the opinions in liberty magazine recently to the tha th a effect that mr roosevelt is in a mood to discipline the newspapers of the country dr high to summarize summarize many words in his magazine article rather forecast mr roosebelt Roose in his new term of office will not abandon his liberal policies but probably will chastise his enemies less than occurred during his first term except the press certainly dr high gave us all reason to believe that mr roosevelt is pretty much disgusted with certain types of newspapers in this country and that he may be expected to crack down on them the consensus among the writing fraternity in washington is that dr high has an opportunity at least to know the presidential mind he has virtually lived with it during the last six months and there can be no doubt that he had opportunities during that time of talking formally and informally with the chief executive in a manner not permitted more than a few persons on this basis if on no other one would be led to believe that dr high was writing in a sense a reflection of mr Roosevel ts thoughts yet as I 1 said at the beginning none of us can be sure while dr high definitely is in a position as an adviser to the president to know the trend of mr Roosevel ts mind he was delightfully general in the discussion of the presidents future program except as to the press again it may be much ado about nothing so many of the presidential advisers and insiders have been writing and talking and acting in the last three years that it is difficult to tell which is the real story it may be therefore and I 1 believe this is the best answer that dr high has turned loose a toy balloon if this balloon is blown the wrong way by comments men ts from the nation you probably will hear no more about a discipline for the press pres S if the comments men ts are driendl friendly Y another story may be expected and its nature is not now to be forecast assuming now that dr high has faithfully presented t the he presidents thoughts on the hit unfair enfa ir newspapers of the journalism country it seems entirely p proper r a p e r that the suggestion be examined from the viewpoint of national welfare dr high to be sure made clear in his article that the presidents efforts to reform the p press re ss will wil I 1 be addressed only to those newspapers which engage in misrepresentation color their news or are guilty of unfair journalism I 1 be believe lie v that the vast majority of our newspapers properly are jealous of the inte integrity 9 of their policies I 1 believe th that at the vast majority of our editors regard the responsibility of leadership as something quite sacred and not to be tainted in the same breath hat cihat we mention the presidents purported thoughts and the attitude it f most newspapers one cannot help but recall that at least three fourths of all newspaper circulation in the recent presidential campaign was opposed to president Roosevel ts reelection election re thus and in view of these circumstances cum stances it may be disconcerting to a good ma many ny people to read the strong language that dr high has used in reflecting the implications of the presidential mind to that school of thought the doctors language if it means anything means that mr roosevelt 1 oo sevelt proposes to take steps dl directly r estly or indirectly to make the entire press pres s of 0 f america conform to his ide ideas as of what constitutes fair journalism in other words if their interpretation of the high article is correct there can be intimidation of the press from the white house the intimidation 1 30 could come from preside Pr presidential pra bial n tongue lashing of newspapers or any one individual newspaper which the president believed was guilty of unfair air journalism p the me net result 0 of f such a course naturally y would b be e a fearful press and a fearful press obviously never has W presented and never will sent its im pren arual judgment it will never answer back and it probably will never fight out the issues in which it believes and to which it may have been committed theretofore I 1 do not defend unfair newspapers and I 1 do not believe anyone else can defend them newspapers because of their position as leaders must conform to the maximum of honesty I 1 think however that the number of unfair journals is declining because public sentiment gradually drives them out of business if mr roosevelt actually has in mind the things presented by dr high then a wave wave of resentment is likely to arise and that wave of resentment in itself will not help in the movement to drive out unfair newspapers at least that is the conviction that seems to prevail among the several hundred capable observers here in washington only a few as a s far as I 1 can discern believe that the president can get away with the program which dr high outlined in his behalf colonel edwin A halsey secretary of the senate recently has had compiled s some a in e stow slow to facts and figures change on proposals for conati t u t i a 0 n a I 1 amendments that are strikingly interesting te first the fact that there have been proposals for constitutional amendments in the nations history and only 21 of them succeeded and became a part of the constitution is to me most significant it shows very definitely I 1 believe that our people are slow to make changes in the fundamental da darn law of our country and that they do not make these changes until there is something approximating unanimity of belief that they are necessary colonel halseys Hal compilation disclosed the further interesting inter esting fact that economic conditions have a direct link with and reflect rather accurately cura tely the desires of the people to alter or revise the constitution it seems that when there is plenty of work and plenty of profit and the nation is going along happily even few of the demagogues have thought about amending the constitution ution but let hard times de upon us let there be millions of unemployed and hundreds of thousands of persons destitute and forward comes a perfect deluge of proposals to change the constitution very accurate proof of the above statement is given in the records I 1 for the last ten years that is from 1926 to 1936 the most important political question agitating the congress during the first part of this decade was the proposal to change the date upon which the president and vice president and congress take office latterly and after the prosperity prosper ity bubble burst the depression brought its own flock of proposals for changing the constitution colonel halsey disclosed that there had been 20 proposals which would authorize congress to deal with working hours and wages 7 which would have given congress authority over agricultural production and 9 limiting the power and authority of the supreme court to declare acts of congress unconstitutional or otherwise modify court jurisdiction there were two suggested amendments that would have placed in the hands of congress virtual power to control the general welfare a re of the nation the halsey document also reflects reflect s maneuvers of various blocs and schools of thought and likewise tells a very clear story of our nations sashay sa S hay into the field of national prohibition p national prohibition was a long time in in coming and there are many who believe that it was forced upon the country too soon that is to say it was made operative before a sufficient sufficiently cien aly large majority of the doeple were in favor of it this seems to be sub substantiated by the figures which show that during the last decade there were proposals for repeal of the esth amendment out of a total of resolutions for constitutional amendment in other words had a d there been anything like t the he necessary popular majority in favor of prohibition hibi tion we would have seen very few attempts in congress to repeal the liquor control amendment D western newspaper union |