Term IV & Jim Farley

"President Roosevelt must run for a fourth term. It is the President's duty to make himself available for continued service whether he likes or dislikes the idea. ... As a matter of fact, the fourth term should not be an issue. The issue should, and I believe will, be: Is the President the best qualified man to do the job?"

Thus spoke Illinois's stanchly New Deal Representative Adolph J. Sabath last week, in an interview with the Chicago Sun.

There had long been signs and portents that a Fourth Term movement was in the works; here was the first acknowledgment from a 100% New Dealer. Adolph Sabath, who plumped for Term III as far back as 1938, takes it for granted that Franklin Roosevelt is the best qualified man, and that he can be nominated and elected.

One Against. The line that Congressman Sabath was taking was too similar to that which preceded Term III to be overlooked. But if Franklin Roosevelt runs again, his opposition will be stronger than in 1940. One who has been laboring for months to block any attempt at Term IV is the man who twice put F.D.R. in the White House--James Aloysius Farley. Last week Jim Farley, who is both New York State Democratic Chairman and board chairman of Coca-Cola Export Corp., returned to Manhattan from a five-week "business trip." Along the way Jim Farley had a lot of talks with Southern Democratic politicians--John Nance Garner, Alabama's ex-Governor Frank M. Dixon, Georgia's Governor Ellis Arnall--which were not about Coca-Cola.

Jim Farley, who can talk out on occasion, was mum about his trip. But along the way he had dropped some significant remarks. To the Texas Legislature: "I sincerely hope and trust by the time another Presidential election rolls around we'll have this war behind us so we will be able to decide the Presidency on domestic issues. . . ." To newsmen in Dallas: "I hope the voters pick the Democrats in 1944--but if they don't, it's all right with me."

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