Pioneer Goes West (Cont'd)

Last week the West was showered with speeches, smiles and sociability as Franklin Delano Roosevelt pressed his Presidential campaign into historically Republican ground.

His private car Pioneer, hitched to a special train, zig-zagged through ten States on its vote-seeking way to the coast. At Topeka Governor Roosevelt delivered a full-length address on agriculture. At Salt Lake City he delivered another on railroads. At Denver he was photographed giving a dirt farmer a high Harvard handshake. Prairie towns along the track turned out good crowds to greet him. They were not so large or so noisy as those that appeared in the same area four years ago for Al Smith but they seemed more likely to vote for the party's 1932 candidate. In his shirt-sleeves Governor Roosevelt appeared repeatedly on the observation platform of the Pioneer. Supporting himself on the upright bars used for loud speaker apparatus,* he was cheery and chatty with all-comers. He found he could always get a laugh by introducing his six-foot-three son as "My little boy Jimmy."

At Topeka. The Governor's Topeka speech drew a crowd estimated at twice the size of the one that turned out last month to hear Charles Curtis accept the Vice-Presidential nomination in his hometown. Speaker Garner joined his teammate at the State Capitol. Said he: "I've come here to show you that I wear neither horns nor hoofs though I come from Texas."

"There is no single remedy," Governor Roosevelt began, "that will by itself bring immediate prosperity to the agricultural population of the United States. . . . Our economic life today is a seamless web. . . . This nation cannot endure if it is half 'boom' and half 'broke.' "

For permanent farm relief Governor Roosevelt suggested a Department of Agriculture reorganized for national planning; use of surplus land for forestation; reduced taxes. As "quick-acting remedies" he proposed:

1) Federal credits to private loan institutions only on condition they help the debt-ridden farmer prevent foreclosure on his mortgage.

2) A tariff readjustment to effect "a substantial reduction in the difference between the prices of the things the farmer sells and the things he buys."

How this latter object was to be attained Governor Roosevelt did not attempt to explain. Said he: "In determining the details it goes without saying that many minds must meet and many persons must work together. . . . Many plans have been advanced. . . . The circumstances are so complex that no man can say with assurance that one particular plan is applicable to all crops. ... It will be my purpose to compose the conflicting elements of these various plans. . . ."

Governor Roosevelt did specify that the plan, when found, must: 1) "provide a tariff benefit over world prices equivalent to the benefit given by the tariff to industrial products"; 2) "finance itself"; 3) "not make use of any mechanism which would cause our European customers to retaliate on the ground of dumping"; 4) "be decentralized in its administration"; 5) "operate on a co-operative basis"; 6) "be voluntary."

Onions & Demagogs. Republicans quickly hopped on the Topeka speech because Governor Roosevelt had offered no specific plan of relief. He was charged with being deliberately vague and misleading. Representative Snell pointed to the fact that Democrats from Speaker Garner down had pressed the Farm Board to undertake stabilization operations. Secretary of Agriculture Hyde observed: "My admiration for Al Smith rises higher with each new Roosevelt speech. Al not only knows his onions but his demagogs as well."

Many a Kansas farmer, however, was favorably impressed by what Governor Roosevelt said. He might not know the specific solution of the farm problem but his heart appeared to be in the right place.

At Salt Lake. In the Mormon Tabernacle* at Salt Lake City 8,000 persons rose and roared when Governor Roosevelt entered to speak. Behind him on the platform were ranged the seats of the twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Apostle Reed Smoot, Republican Senator from Utah, was conspicuously absent. The famed organ pealed and the tabernacle choir sang ''Let the Mountains Shout for Joy."

Governor Roosevelt had put much thought and effort into his railroad speech. Its preparation began weeks ago in Albany. Baltimore & Ohio's Daniel Willard, Union Pacific's Carl Gray and William Averell Harriman had conferred with him on the subject. American Car & Foundry's William Woodin had contributed ideas as had Bernard Baruch, Wall Street's "White Eagle." Columbia's Professor Raymond Moley of the Roosevelt ''brain trust" had done his share of advising and researching. Circulated in advance among railroad men and bankers interested in rail securities, an early draft had received wide if silent commendation. The final address represented the composite thought of financiers, managers, employes and investors.

R. R. Plan. "The railways as a whole are in serious difficulty," declared Governor Roosevelt in his bland, cultured voice. "Our job is neither to howl about a calamity nor to gloss over the trouble. There is no danger of the railroads going out of business. Why, then, the difficulty?"

Blamed for the carriers' troubles were the competition of motor trucks and busses, the compulsory operation of unprofitable trackage, the unnecessary duplication of plant facilities, the lack of a national plan for transportation development. Emphasizing the country's cash stake in its railroads Governor Roosevelt approved the policy of R. F. C. loans to keep them afloat but only as an emergency measure.

The Democratic Nominee thereupon gave a plan of his own:

1) Federal loans for a definite period on condition that individual roads scale down top-heavy capital.

2) An overhauling of Federal laws on railroad receiverships to eliminate multiple court actions and abundant legal fees.

3) Regulation of competing motor carriers by the Interstate Commerce Commission, with permission for railroads to supply supplementary truck and bus service.

4) Relaxed competition between lines where traffic is too thin to support more than one road; abandonment of non-paying mileage where transportation needs can be otherwise met.

5) More and swifter consolidations to cut out plant duplication.

6) I. C. C. control of railroad holding companies to prevent "screens of corporate complexities" from blocking fundamental policies.

Few Republicans could take serious issue with Governor Roosevelt's rail plan because too many of its features were good G. O. P. doctrine which had been allowed to languish in a Washington preoccupied for three years with more immediate problems.

Unstubbed Toe. Still having a "glorious time," Governor Roosevelt moved off into the Northwest where he promised, if elected, to call a conference to stabilize silver prices. Another week of Democratic campaigning ended without serious mistakes. The G. O. P. had hoped to tag their opponent as a radical on the strength of his western speeches but so far he had said nothing wild or woolly. Democrats who had tried to dissuade him from swinging around the circle lest he stub his toe last week privately admitted that to date their fears were groundless. Their candidate was "getting away with it in fine style."

*New York's Doctor-Senator Copeland last week told the American Hospital Association in Detroit: "During his four years at Albany, Governor Roosevelt has gained physically, shaking off every important vestige of his serious illness. His lameness never has borne any possible relationship to his mental welfare. It is no more than a trifling physical handicap. His expectancy of life is greater than President Hoover's."

*Frequently and erroneously reported in the Press as the Mormon Temple into which no non-Mormon is ever admitted.

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