Roosevelt Week

Completing what he called "the toughest week" since March 4, President Roosevelt returned from Washington to Hyde Park to continue his vacation. He again commented on the height of the corn as he drove in the gate, said it had grown considerably during his absence. Like his corn, his Recovery Program was last week rapidly approaching full growth. He had signed the oil, steel and lumber codes, thereby bringing three of the nation's largest basic industries under the Blue Eagle in a single week. He was not surprised to hear that Administrator Johnson hoped to round out the Herculean task of setting U.S. industry on its feet by mid-November. With the cotton, oil, steel and lumber codes completed and the coal and automobile codes on the threshold, the outlook was hopeful.

P: Between discussions of codes and recovery, the President found time to complete the reorganization of his Latin American diplomatic corps. As Minister to Paraguay he appointed Indiana's Author Meredith Nicholson, 67. Member of the Hoosier State's famed literary group (George Ade, Booth Tarkington, the late George Barr McCutcheon, the late James Whitcomb Riley), Author Nicholson (The House of a Thousand Candles, The Port of Missing Men) began in politics by fighting the Ku Klux Klan. He was elected Indianapolis city councilman, worked hard for a city manager plan. Though passionately fond of oratory, he has been not an outdoor but an indoor politician. He stage-managed Governor Paul V. McNutt's inaugural last January, is a good friend of Secretary of State Hull. He refused to comment on his appointment last week. "I must begin by being diplomatic," said he.

The President likewise appointed the following diplomats:

Henry H. ("Hal") Sevier, Corpus Christi, Tex. newspaperman, to be Ambassador to Chile. His wife is Democratic National Committeewoman from Texas.

Leo R. Sack, Scripps-Howard Washington correspondent, native of Mississippi, to be Minister to Costa Rica.

Fay Desportes, South Carolina State Senator, cousin of Bernard Mannes Baruch, to be Minister to Bolivia.

P: President Roosevelt decided to send Assistant Secretary of State Jefferson Caffery to negotiate the U.S.-Cuban commercial treaty. Ambassador Sumner Welles will return to Washington about Sept. 15.

P: To a plea for inflation presented by

South Carolina's Senator Smith and Texas' Representative Jones, chairmen of the Senate and House Agricultural committees, the President listened patiently. They wanted him to issue non-interest bearing Treasury notes to meet Governmental obligations, thought that $2,000,000,000 would be enough to raise commodity prices. The President smiled, refused to commit himself. After the meeting Senator Smith exclaimed: "He made me feel powerful good by the way he smiled." Governor Eugene R. Black of the Federal Reserve Board announced next day that there was $500,000,000 more currency in circulation last month than at any time during 1927, 1928 or 1929.

P: In addition, the President: Considered ways & means of reducing the number of Army posts.

Decided to maintain the Civilian Conservation Corps (forest camps) throughout the winter.

Appointed Edward F. McGrady, 59, deputy national recovery administrator for Labor, onetime Washington representative of the A. F. of L., to be Assistant Secretary of Labor.

Advised Secretary of the Treasury Woodin, who was forced to leave Washington early this summer with throat trouble, to extend his vacation until Sept. 1. Said Secretary Woodin: "There is nothing wrong with my throat. I've had it tested for everything from cancer to leprosy, but the doctors tell me it's nothing more than the climate. . . . The boss keeps after me to take it easy. He is very sympathetic and understanding."

Told Administrator Johnson, drawn and puffy-eyed from overwork, that if he did not take a vacation he would be fired.

P: On his return to Hyde Park the President began sitting for his official portrait. The artist: Ellen G. Emmet Rand of Salisbury, Conn, whose portraits of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the late Storekeeper Benjamin Altman hang in the Metropolitan Museum.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.