Mr. Smith's Week

An elegant express train rolled southward last week carrying Candidate Smith to Biltmore, social suburb of Asheville, N. C., for a week of rest mixed with golf and not voluntarily with politics.

Cities north of Washington are accustomed to elegant express trains carrying distinguished statesmen. Not until the Smith train entered Virginia did real crowds begin to appear on station platforms. At Charlottesville, though it was getting late, Candidate Smith went out on the back platform and made a bow.

"Come on down here, Governor, and put your foot on Virginia soil," cried a man. The candidate descended and let a flagman shine a lantern in his face so that the Virginians could see what he looked like. The light gleamed on his gold fillings. The Virginians cheered.

The next appearance was at Old Fort, N. C., where it looked as though Candidate Smith might make a speech. But George W. Sandlin, the local orator, got into action first, with a historical sketch of Old Fort. Then a conductor called "All aboard."

At Biltmore, the Candidate stood up in an automobile and said he was glad to be there. He told his five thousand or so welcomers how busy he had been, governing New York--an amiable, spontaneous yet perfunctory speech until the last sentence. Then, slily combining his oldtime East Side accent with the local vernacular, he said: "I hope to meet yez-all personally before I leave." The North Carolinans cheered.

Sedulously dodging large functions, sticking closely to the golf course, the Candidate did find time to drop in at the local firehouse. "Hello, boys. What's the chance of a fire?" he said, and told them he was a volunteer fireman himself, at home. He also entered a bakery to pay compliments on a cake. The local press did not overlook these matters.

The outstanding property of the Smith trip was a brown derby hat. That is the Smith insignium. Asheville haberdashers caught the idea quickly and their windows were soon filled with what one correspondent referred to as "copper war helmets." In Manhattan, seeking to find out where the original Brown Derby was bought, newsgatherers found no less than three hatters claiming the honor--Knox, Young and Truly Warner. The Knox company said that Candidate Smith purchased four or five of its hats per annum. All hatters look forward to a boom year, not even counting election bets.

P: From Spokane came unexpected news that the Washington Democrats, in state convention, had instructed their Houston delegation to cast all 14 votes for Candidate Smith. Senator Dill, previously opposed to Candidate Smith, remained silent during the session.

P: From Iowa came news that Candidate Meredith, whom Candidate Smith was reported to have trounced at county conventions last fortnight, disputed the Smith victory and scented a "plot." In the U. S. Senate up stood James Thomas ("Tom Tom") Heflin, who mortally hates and fears the Roman Pope, and denounced the Smith campaign fund as the "most corrupt ever used in a Presidential campaign." Senator Heflin wanted the Senate to investigate. He said: "I want to get Jimmy Walker first. He is the slickest eel in the pond." Mayor Walker of New York ignored Senator Heflin. From Iowa came the Smith men's report of expenses: about $1 per precinct.

P: Senator Heflin tried to obtain the Forsyth County Court House at Winston-Salem, N. C., to hold an anti-Smith demonstration. But the County Commissioners refused to allow it. Senator Heflin, blatant bigot, would injure Winston-Salem's reputation and lower the prestige of North Carolina Democrats, they said.

P: Candidate Smith was praised on the East coast by President John Grier Hibben of Princeton University, who called him a "high type." Candidate Smith was praised on the West coast by Novelist Gertrude Atherton, great grandniece of Benjamin Franklin, who, addressing her fellow Californians before the crucial May Day primary, said: "Smith is the only man who has any human appeal. . . . He is a man. He is open-minded and openhanded. He stirs the affections. He is honest and direct. He is no humbug professing all things and practicing nothing. Vote the humbugs down. Women want real men to represent them in public office."*

* Much of Novelist Atherton's fame rests on The Conqueror, her romantic biography of Alexander Hamilton, published in 1902. Of late years, her books have been increasingly occupied with It, hormones, endocrines.