"Fellow Amateurs"

Early last week Wendell Willkie, setting out on his second foray in search of farm votes, drove deep into the enemy territory of Des Moines, home town of Democrat Henry Wallace. In the office of Iowa's bush-browed Governor George Wilson (where four years ago Candidates Franklin Roosevelt and Alf Landon conferred about the drought), Willkie sat down to hear about farm problems from four farm-belt Governors, some 60 big & little officials, farm-organization leaders, farmers. That meeting was followed by two smart Willkie moves.

Appearing before 5,000 Iowans massed in front of the Capitol steps, he referred to Henry Wallace as "a very eminent public servant." To a soft moan of boos from his audience he quickly put a stop: "I mean that quite seriously . . . I recognize Mr. Wallace as a fine gentleman and as a scholar. . . ." Appearing at a lunch of Oren Root's Independent Willkie Clubs, he addressed them with two words which may well become the catch phrase of the campaign--"Fellow Amateurs." Next morning Republican papers howled with glee as they slapped it on their front pages.

Leaving Des Moines next morning, he returned to Colorado Springs to complete the first draft of his acceptance speech, knead together and throw in his Iowa farm findings & conclusions, which, like his opinion on other major issues, remained Wendell Willkie's secret.

Between meals, his daily swim and a few unavoidable chats with unavoidable visitors, he fed the hungry press three more crackling front-page stories.

First, he picked up a week-old suggestion of Roosevelt-baiting Columnist Westbrook Pegler, announced that he favored two amendments to the Hatch Act: 1) he would require the President, Cabinet members, heads of chief regulatory bodies to file statements of their assets upon assuming and leaving office (adding that he would require all members of his family to do the same); 2) he would prohibit members of the President's family or the families of other Government officials from receiving compensation for services performed for any person or corporation doing business with any Government department or agency.

Next, he jumped with both feet on Democratic Chairman Edward Flynn's campaign books (see above). Onetime Lawyer Willkie warned that "such contributions are a direct violation both of the Federal Corrupt Practice Act and the second Hatch Act. . . . If I am elected President of the U. S., all violations will be relentlessly prosecuted."

Third, in the midst of a press-attended conference with Herbert Hoover in his sixth-floor suite at The Broadmoor, he learned that Elliott Roosevelt had just registered at the hotel. While Hoover squirmed, frowned, tapped his foot restlessly, Willkie phoned the President's second son, invited him up for a drink.

As he packed his bags for the trip back to his home town of Elwood, Ind., where he will make his acceptance speech on Aug. 17, politicians were still puzzled about Wendell Willkie. Polished politicos began to think him a very professional amateur.

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