Foreign Minister

On an errand "purely sociable," small James John Walker, Mayor of New York and foreign minister of Tammany Hall, proceeded last week into, through, and roundabout the Southwest and California. He caught a black bass at Fort Worth, Tex.; posed with sombrero and steer horns; crossed the Mexican border to see the hard-boiled racing town of Juarez; received the Mayor of Colton, Calif., in pajamas; arrived in Los Angeles "not feeling very well." Two hours late for a luncheon, he told Los Angeles that California was going to go Democratic, that there was to be a national Smith landslide. He went to Hollywood and lay abed late.

Then Mayor Walker did something that surprised and puzzled. He went to visit William Randolph Hearst on the enormous Hearst estate near San Luis Obispo. What did that portend, treachery or missionary work?

Nominee Smith, as everyone knows, has repeatedly expressed his unmitigated contempt for Publisher Hearst ever since the latter's newspapers mendaciously blamed Smith for a bad milk situation in Manhattan. In 1922, Smith refused to lead his State ticket until Hearst was withdrawn as candidate for the U. S. Senate. In 1926, when Hearst supported Ogden L. Mills against Smith for the New York governorship, Smith characterized it as "the kiss of death" for Mills. Mills was badly beaten. This year, Hearst has signed editorials praising Hoover and sneering at Smith.

Following the Walker visit to San Luis Obispo, observers watched the Hearst press to see if they could detect a change of policy. Perhaps Smith, eager to win, could now tolerate Hearst, at a distance and through an emissary, in return for an "even break" in the Hearst press. Perhaps Smith's friends, without consulting him, were trying to patch up a working agreement, putting it on a party instead of a personal basis. Or perhaps Publisher Hearst, lonely in his demesne, merely wanted to be amused and informed by the knowing japes of Manhattan's official comedian.

Four years ago, Publisher Hearst entertained another Mayor of New York, his stout friend John F. Hylan. When he got home, Mayor Hylan described the wonders of Hearstland to the peepul of New York, as follows:

". . . We proceeded by train ... to San Luis Obispo and then by motor over 50 mi. along the ocean into the mountains of the Pacific Coast to an altitude of about 2,000 ft. to the Hearst Castle, La Cuesta Encantada, meaning the enchanted hill.

"The hilltop of one of the many hills on the ranch, where they live, is crowned by beautiful buildings of Spanish architecture surrounded by beautiful gardens of ever-blooming, gorgeous flowers and orchards of orange, peach and cherry trees. The interior of these houses, one of which presents the aspect of an old cathedral in Southern Spain, and the other three--guest houses*--are furnished and finished to harmonize with the exterior of these beautiful buildings. Old doors and door frames, mantels, beds, tables, cabinets, priceless wood carvings, paintings, tapestries from famous places in Italy, Spain and France of the 13th and 16th centuries are a part of the finish and furniture. . .

"With this ranch and his Mexican ranch with 40,000 head of cattle, his 24 newspapers, 9 magazines (2 of which are in England) along with his moving picture industry, all of which he keeps personally in touch with, he is very busy; and if anyone thinks Mr. Hearst has much time for play or vacation he is very much mistaken. . . ."

*One of these houses is usually reserved for Cinemactress Marion Davies.