Evening Star Newspaper, October 31, 1936, Page 17

Books—Art—Music WASHINGTON, D. C, FEATURES he Foening Stas, SUNDAY MORNING EDITION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1936. PAGE B—1 POLITICAL ACCIDENTS HAVE MADE SEVERAL PRESIDENTS FATE TWISTS PARTY PLANS Has Often Taken a Hand to Divert Nomination From Seemingly Logical Choice—Hoover, Coolidge and Cleveland Among Those Smiled Upon by Odd Destiny. By William C. McCloy. ERE'S no need to search' national archives to prove how often the unexpected happens in presidential campaigns. The facts are patent to present-day voters still under 40 years of age. Before the nominations of the ular” in their party devotion said they would vote for Cleveland, but shook their heads dubiously over his chance of winning. It had been a political error of the Blaine men to allow a man unknown |in national politics to poll so large a | gubernatorial vote in a pivotal State | like New York—especially a man who Harding-Coolidge and Cox-Roosevelt | had no national record to explain or combinations in 1920, Herbert Hoover | defend. But the brilliancy and popu- loomed big on the political horizon as | Jarity of Blaine were expected to make 8 potential candidate for the presi-|up for this tactical mistake. They dency. Nothing that he had dome | did not, and Cleveland was elected. politically gained that position for| him. It was due solely to the shot that was unexpectedly fired at Sara- jevo in June, 1914. Hoover's relief work in war-torn Belgium brought him into the limelight. ‘When his name was first mentioned it was not known whether he was a Republican or a Democrat, but the formation of Hoover-for-President clubs all over the country caused the President-makers to sit up and take notice. Ambitious well-wishers of Hoover indicated that he would accept either nomination if offered. A Quay or a Hanna might easily have placed him on either ticket. But it looked like & Republican year and regular party men did not take kindly to the nom- ination of a man of doubtful fealty— one who might develop queer ideas as to which men were entitled to the best jobs. In the Democratic party things were slightly different. The titular leader, Woodrow Wilson, to whom the faithful looked for guidance, seemed to be far more interested in putting over the League of Nations than in naming a successor. Some thought he dreamed of becoming the League's head and thus winning everlasting fame for himself. In their bewilderment, certain hopeful Democrats turned their eyes toward Hoover. But their hopes were rudely dispelled. Shortly before the Republican convention it was an- nounced, definitely, that Hoover was & Republican—if anything. ‘HE announcement came too late to have any effect upon the Republicans. Had Hoover's friends changed it to read: “He's a Demo- crat—if anything,” the Democrats might, at that time, have nominated him. Well—no dreams are more fridescent than the “ifs” of history. Subsequent facts show how rapidly | the political fortunes of men change in our democracy. Hoover waited | eight years for the Republican nom- ination for President and then was triumphantly elected by a plurality of | 6,375,747. Four years later he tried | again and the man who was defeated | for the vice presidency in 1920 by a [ (CLEVELAND ran for President three times, twice successfully. Tame | many fought him in 1884 and again | | in 1892, when he won. When Tam- many supported him—in 1888—he |lost. At the Democratic National Convention in 1892, many enemies in his own State. was then that Gen. Bragg of Wiscon- | sin sprang to his feet with the words: “We love him for the enemies he has | made.” No story on the accidents that have made and unmade men Presidents of the United States would be complete | without mentioning the rise of Calvin Coolidge. | The series of accidents which won the grand prize in American political life for him really began on Septem- | ber 9, 1919. On that day 1.400 Bos- ton policemen laid down their shields | and walked out on strike. Coolidge was then Governor of Massachusetts | and, like all men in public life, he | knew that a labor question had but one side for a great mass of voters. the Tammany | | leader called attention to Cleveland's | It| Politically he was thrust into a critical situation. Labor was unusu- ally strong everywhere—so strong in Boston that certain leaders hastened to demand the removal of the police commissioner, They declared they would uphold the right of policemen to strike the same as other laboring men, and warned the Governor of their power to reward their friends and punish their enemies. Coolidge replied quickly that he would not remove the commissioner, adding the memorable words: “There is no right to strike against the pub- lic safety by anybody, anywhere, any time. As Governor he brusquely thrust aside the warnings of political friends that an adverse action would ruin his | party and himself, and declared his intention of defending the authority and jurisdiction of Massachusetts over her public officers, as set down in the constitution. A weaker man would have talked of arbitration, of sitting around a table to discuss differences, | of a committee of eminent citizens to study the problem—thus prolonging | the trouble for weeks. As it was, the direct method of Gov. Coolidge cleared up the trouble in less than a week. JOTHING that the Governor had said or done led to the strike. | For him it was an accident in his ad- ministration—unforeseen, unexpected. | But the best people in Boston—in | Massachusetts—including many sin- | cere friends of labor, appalled at the police officers suddenly placing the city in the hands of the criminal | classes, rallied to his support. His THE old quip that no man is a may judge by the opinion of For 22 years Brooks has served on Washington and Atlanta, Ga., and Roosevelt was Governor of New York plurality of 7,004,847—Franklin D. Roosevelt—replaced Hoover as Presi- By Lucy Salamanca. hero to his valet does not ap- | ply to serving-men, if one John Brooks, colored Pullman car waiter, to President Roosevelt. that line of the Southern Railroad which makes regular runs between ‘Washington and Spartanburg, S. C. Moreover, ever since Franklin D. | State it has been Brooks' pride and | pleasaure to “wait upon” him in his dent by a plurality of 7,080,016 in the | drawing room. He knows the Presi- popular vote. idem's likes and dislikes with regard The vagaries of our presidential | to food; he 1s familiar with his hours campaigns exceed the most intricate | of eating, waking and retiring; he detective stories—and they are far | can teli you certain idiosyncrasies that more fascinating to follow. The spec- ] distinguish the President’s personal- tacular rise of Grover Cleveland, now | ity while traveling, and he will sum | a marble saint in the Democratic Hall | it all up with a gentle, appreciative of Fame, is an outstanding example. | smile and say in his slow, Southern Few now remember the bitter invec- | drawl, “Mr. President surely is one | tives, the cynical criticisms that|fine man, yessir, he surely is about | accompanied the rapid changes in his | the nicest man I ever waited on, an’ political fortunes from his election as ' I've known him from 'way back!" | mayor of Buffalo in 1881 to his elec- In the tidy little parlor of his mod- tion to the presidency three years est Washington home in M street, later, in 1884. | where he is recovering from a railway | An army of men were more promi- | accident, John Brooks reminisced. nent in his party than Cleveland in| “You know, I waited on Mr. Roose- 1881. Indeed, he was scarcely known | velt many times during the campaign, | outside his own home town, and and one time when we was all return- there, chiefly, because he insisted in |ing from somewheres in Virginia, performing the unpleasant sworn | where he'd been making a speech, he | duties of his office as sherift (prior |called me into his drawing room and to his becoming mayor). He appeared | he said, ‘You know, John, you've to be nothing more than a plodding, | treated me awfully nice on this trip, painstaking lawyer, scrupulously hon- |and if I'm fortunate enough to be | est. There were thousands such all | elected President, I want you to come over the country. and call on me at the White House.’ But that particular era was marked | Yes, ma'am, Mr. Roosevelt invited me with political corruption in high |to the White House, just like that.” places. Cleveland's commonplace vir- | Brooks' face beamed with pleasure. | tues stood out in sharp contrast. His | “I went, too,” he added simply. | record as mayor, brief though it was,| “Did you see the President?” procured for him, a year later, the | wanted to know. | nomination for Governor of New York. “No'm, I didn't see him. He was Quite frankly, and characteristically, | busy with some important people that | he said he doubted his capability or | day, but I saw McDuffey. McDuffey’s | his knowledge to fill so important a | his valet, you know, and I saw him post as Governor of the Empire State. | without no trouble at all. I just went I nds?)—worked | right ’round to the kitchen and I T SR s O s oarty. i |declare I had a chat there for about | wer both in the State and Nation, | half an hour right there in that White | :'Zs engaged in a bitter fight for con- | House kitchen and it sure is a mighty trol of its fortunes in New York State. | fine kitchen, too. President Arthur, who had called to his cabinet a judge of the Court of Appeals to be Secretary of the Treas- ury, later forced this man’s nomina- tion for Governor on the New York Republicans. The followers of James G. Blaine, outstanding Republican candidate for the presidential nomination, revolted ROOKS is 49 years old, but his thin, agile figure and unlined face | give him the appearance of a man of | 35. His accent is that of a Virginia colored man—gentle, considerately attentive in its pauses, gracious, friendly and respectful. He is mark- edly courteous in manner and there is decided evidence of his long associa- up to the White House and said I'd | "ACCIDENT—(or was it the divinity | like to see McDuffey and they took me | JOHN BROOKS. “. .. Sometimes Mr. Roosevelt wants something particular and he says: ‘John, how about fizing that up for me?’ And I say: ‘Yes, sir, Mr. President, right away, sir, and we get it ready just like he asks.” when he was traveling. Mr. Hoover never handled any money, either. His secretary took care of all that and the tipping was done by the sec- retary, too. “But Mr. Roosevelt, he sure likes to tip people. Once I had just brought him his luncheon in his drawing room—he never came into the public dining car No. 3161, my car—and as I was going out he said, ‘John, just hand me those trousers hanging up | there, I must have some money about | me somewhere” And I handed him his trousers that was hanging there on a hook and he put his hand in the pocket of them and gave me a $2 tip for that luncheon.” AF'I'ER a moment’s consideration, Brooks went on: “Mr. Roosevelt don't eat much breakfast. As far as | T can remember, he never ordered & hearty breakfast once all the time I knew him. Now you take first thing in more'n anything in the world is & large glass of orange juice. Jus’ a | large glass of orange juice. An’ he | always reminds me to make it a big one. “Lunch time, though, he’s usually | ready to eat a hearty meal. I always | brought him a pretty good luncheon and he ate all of it.” Brooks explained the manner in which the railroad takes care of all the morning, what he wants| silently against President Arthur’s in- terference in the politics of the State. Thousands of them refrained from taking part in the gubernatorial elec- tion—with the result that the com- paratively unknown Mayor of Buffalo was elected by an unprecedented plurality. He was at once hailed as the Moses who would lead the Demo- cratic party out of the wilderness, where there were no public offices, to the land where honors and jobs grew ‘upon every bush. Still, the victory was%hore of a lett- handed one for Blaine than a direct triumph for Cleveland. A year and a half later, when the national Demo- crats nominated Cleveland as their presidential candidate, with Blaine as the Republican nominee, all chances pointed to the election of Blaine, one of the most brilliant statesmen of his time. Cleveland’s nomination for President was chiefly geographical—it expressed the forlorn hope that through him the Democrats might carry New York and 30 win. The defeat of the Arthur faction still rankled among regular Republi- cans, but this was offset by a feud in the Democratic party where objec- tions to Cleveland as the regular nominee were many and outspoken. tion with important personages. Not | 3 ’ | presidential requests, so far as food once, in an hour's cun{erntlcn with | is concerned, or likely Tequests, which him, was his volce lifted above the iy gniicipates. Due to the fact that tone of a well-trained servitor’s, even | 41 o special car Ploneer, which is when his dark eyes lit and animation | ¢;;neq gyer by the Pullman company :;Dtk:e‘mg:_n?“ Spmnch = apeakmgi for the use of Presidents of the € | United States when they travel, has He was dressed very neatly and in|no kitchen, meals are served to the excellent taste in a dark, well-pressed business suit and a dark tie, with well- polished black shoes. He was freshly shaven in anticipation of my visit. “I waited on Mr. Roosevelt two years ago when he went to Virginia, and also when he went to Warm Springs, Ga., on his last trip there. I received a mighty nice letter from the White House, too, after we got back from that trip. Not many Presidents take the trouble to notice when a colored man tries to please in everything and serve him well O’ course,” he interrupted himself gently, “not all Presidents, like not all men, are alike.” He leaned forward, his hands folded: “Now you take Mr. Hoover, 1 waited on him, too. I remember once in particular when he and Mrs. Hoover went to Asheville when their on was sick. Mr. Hoover never said word the whole trip. Course, not all men are alike and Mr. Hoover was Men who made a fetish of being “reg- just like that, not noticing .K one Chief Executive and his family from the regular dining car. Special menus are printed for the consideration of the executive party, and provision is made to take care of any culinary request that may be made. “Our agent don’t miss a single thing,” said Brooks. “Everything the President could possibly want or be likely to order is on that train. And there's nothing but the best of every- thing, fresh from the markets the very day we leave Washington. Ordi- narily there might be fruit or vege- tables or other food that, while per- fectly fresh, still had been carried on the train for one or two days. But not for the President. Everything served to him comes direct from the market to the train just a little while before we pull out. I can't think of anything in the world he might want to order that we wouldn’t have for him or couldn’t make for him. “Mr, Roosevelt chooses, t00 « o « | timid politicians feared. It made | him—for the citizens of Massachu- | setts insisted that his name should | be presented to the impending na- | tional convention of Republicans as the Bay State’s candidate for Presi- dent. That convention chose Warren G. | Harding as its standard bearer, but named Coolidge for the vice presi- dency. Then the accidental death of Harding made Coolidge President, and in 1924 the Nation on his own account gave him a plurality of 7,339,430 over | the Democratic nominee. | opyright. 1936, by the North American | Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) THE PRESIDENT'S WAITER On Southern Trips John Brooks of Washington Fills the Job, and He Is Proud of Mr. Roosevelt’s Kindly Friendship and Pleased With His Generous Tips. | vessir, he's pretty choosy about his food, but he never makes no fuss about nothing at all. Sometimes he wants something particular and he says, ‘John, how about fixing that up | for me?’ An’ I say, ‘Yessir, Mr. Presi- dent, right away, sir/ and we get it lrendy just like he asks. “I got two letters from the White | House. Once, when I got kind of tired of waiting on table for 22 years, going on the road every other day and all, I wrote a letter to Mr. Roosevelt because I remembered he said any- thing he could do for me, to write and let him know. And I got an | answer back saying if I could locate any other job I would like, or had | any in mind, to let him know and he would see that I got that job. That sure was mighty nice, because when I wrote that letter I didn't hardly expect Mr. Roosevelt would find time to answer me.” Naively he added, “I | know how busy he is all the time.” IN ANOTHER moment he was smil- ing at a fresh remembrance. “I declare, Mr. Roosevelt used to sit right down in that drawing room and talk to you, just as if you were good as anybody.” The kindly face took on a ruminative light and Brooks gave ex- pression to a bit of philosophy: *“You | know, the longer I go out on the road |and see all these big people whose | names are known everywhere, the | more I find that the bigger they are | the more they're like Mr. Roosevelt.” Brooks went on to speak of Senator Carter Glass. “I've waited on Senator Glass, too. |and some folks think he's kind of | grouchy. But it’s not that he’s really | grouchy . . . it's just his way. You | have to understand him. Sometimes | he speaks up awful sharp, but he’s always kindly again, and he tips most generous.” Brooks is known to his colleagues of car No, 3161 as the “baby waiter.” | “That,” he explains, “is because the steward always seems to give me ladies | four or five children with her. I took care of all of them at the table and of the road 1 could come and work for her. A man who lives in Philadelphia offered me a job, too. He said, ‘John, any day you want to come to Phila- delphia, there’s a job waiting for you." But, even though I appreciate such kindness, I have to explain that I got my home in Washington and my family lives here, and of course I don’t want to leave them.” Brooks has four children and his street. He leaves home to report for work at 12 noon of one day and returns the next night at 7:25. The next day is a “lay-off,” and the day fol- lowing that he resumes his schedule. He is paid twice a month and de- pends mostly upon his tips for the major part of his earnings, although the railroad company has doubled his income since he went to work for them 22 years ago On September 18 of this year, while in the yards at Spartanburg, the car on which he was working was cut off. In the middle of the night he and his crew, asleep in their compartment, were awakened by a switchman who said: “Boys, you bet- ter get up and dress. The car'’s run- ning wild. The brakes won’t hold and we can’t stop her.” “I asked him,” said Brooks, “what must we do? And he said we might all have.to jump if the car continued to pick up speed because anything was likely to happen at the other switch. “We, dressed and went out to the rear of the car. The car had been left on an incline in the yards and the brakes wouldn't hold on the grade. We didnt have any engine, (Continued on Page B-2.) wife living in the little house on M | prompt action did not ruin him, as ¢ HUMAN PRESIDENTS springs: wden. | | By Carl Schurz Lo (43 AMES had mutton -chop | J whiskers like that,” mused | an old lady as she sat in an | easy chair at Krum Elbow, | on the Hudson, and peered curiously | at the approaching figure on the walk. “I'd say my husband had come back to me, but he’s been gone all of 36| years now. It just can't be he.” Who was the mysterious stranger | that revived memories of a long-dead mate? He was an angler returning | home after a leisurely fishing sojourn | in the Atlantic off the coast of New | | Brunswick. He had let his wiskers | | grow while away from officialdom and | | had returned with a beard to play this | well-designed prank. | | “Franklin always did have a de- | lightful sense of humor,” the old lady | said afterward when she told the | story of her distinguished son’s cave- | | man act. | Yes, you have guessed it. The gray- haired widow was Franklin D. Roose- velt's mother, and the bearded stranger | | was the President himself. | | Can you imagine George Wnshmg-i ton or Franklin Pierce or Rutherford B. Hayes or the fastidious Coolidge | indulging in such horse-play? They | were too prim for practical jokes. | Still, did you know that Coolidge ikxcked or bucked or protested in any | | way. It could not object because it | basement and used as a time-saving | exerciser. Through the years we have kept our | Presidents on the high pedestal of pro- | found dignity. Back of the public scene, however, several of them be- haved like human beings; but they All Save a Few Chief Executives Have Been " Distinctly That: Garfield Turned Hand- Roosevelt Grew Beard. mounted the pedestal again if any re- porters appeared. We should be more open-minded and less exacting. Surely if a President can unbend once in a while he will live longer. J & little more than six months after his inauguration. However, his brief serv- AMES A. GARFIELD did unbend, jce did not follow because he once! threw off the artificial restraints of being the President of the United States. “Dad, don’t you wish you could do that?” young Harry Garfield dared his once at least, and yet he lived only | < [ (1) President Roosevelt and Vice President Garner acknowledging the cheers of the crowd in Philadelphia after their renomination. (A.P.). (2) Gov. Woodrow Wilson (center) surrounded by part of the National Democrnm; Committee at his New Jersey home to con- gratulate him on his nomination. (Underwood & Under- wood). X (3) Gov. Wilson casting his vote at Princeton, N. J,, during the 1912 campaign. (4) President Hoover and ex-President Coolidge at the White House on the day of Hoover's inauguration. (A.P.). of fighting cocks. The Adamses,| father and son, violated the custom of a President attending his successor’s | inauguration. Tyler's marriages and Jackson's stirred the hot breath of gossip and near-scandal. Grover | Cleveland dared to fish on Sunday, thereby further defying his vociferous critics. When not asleep or eating, | Grant was either smoking or drinking. GRANT. though elected to the pres- idential pinnacle by the Repub- licans, was not one. He never cast a | Republican ballot until he had been | for eight years a Republican Presi= father after turning & handspring in | the White Houe study. “I think I can,” the Chief Executive answered. He removed his coat and did the stunt. The nimbleness of his early years was gone, but from that moment the boy must have admired his father more for his prompt ac- ceptance of the challenge and his ability to turn the handspring, al- though a bit rusty from lack of prac- tice. All of the earlier Chief Executives ate with table knives and spoons and | had little or no use for forks. They also cooled their tea or coffee by pouring it from the cup into the saucer. If you commit social errors, dispel your worries about being barred traveling with babies. I like to wait | Yode a horse in the White House? He | thereby from living in the White on them and I take as good care of | did, not once or a few times, but every | House. Among the Presidents you them as I can. Once there was a lady | morning. “Silent Cal” must have been | can find a precedent or two for almost traveling to Cleveland and she had |2 good rider, too, for the horse never | anything. Overeatingand indiscreeteating have | been American sins for many years. | after she got back to Cleveland she | happened to be a mechanical contrap- | Old Zachary Taylor, master of the | wrote me and said any time I got tired | tion of metal and wood, stabled in the | White House for 16 months, might have served his full term if he had been judicious about his eating. He drank ice water freely at a Fourth of July celebration, then ate heartily of | cherries and topped them off with iced milk. Andrew Jackson's idea of high-powered sports was a main go President James A. 8pring in his study in the White House. [ dent. Even his name was not the name given him at birth. He had been | christened Hiram Ulysses, but later Garfield demonstrated to his young son Harry that he changed it to Ulysses Simpson. Do you own a large nose? Do not worry about it, as you may be Presi- dent nevertheless. Look at a Harding | picture. Washington had a large but | well-shaped nose, Jackson had al hooked nose with plenty of size and John Tyler's nasal organ is said to have been the most voluminous of all Chief Executives. If you have a bathtub in your home, be grateful to Millard Fillmore. The bathtub might have died aborning if the Vice President had not come to Cincinnati to see a tub of which he had heard. Millard reveled in the hot and cold water. When he became President, after Tyler's death, he in- sisted upon having a bathtub installed in the Executive Mansion. Though called an apostle of luxury, Fillmore's sponsorship undoubtedly did much to popularize the device. When fiery Andrew Jackson was in | the White House he issued a threat to separate some of the Senators from their ears because they opposed his measures. His rather high-handed policies caused him to be dubbed “An- drew the First,” while his principal assistants were nicknamed the “kitchen cabinet.” He had fought the | son had never been an orator. could turn a hand- A Indians so frequently that they knew him as “Pointed Arrow” and “Long Knife.” HE “O. K.” symbol has been ate tributed to this fighting President from Tennesee. Andrew never could spell well. Consequently, it is said, he scrawled “O. K.” on the first page of documents in the belief that they were the initial letters of “all correct,” which he misspelled “oll korrect.” Construction of the Treasury Build- ing began during the second of the Jackson terms. Its unfortunate locae tion forced Pennsylvania avenue to bend around it, and according to the story. Andrew was the man responsible for that blunder. It seems that the surveyors could not agree on the locae tion. Andrew settled the matter by marking on the grass with his cane. Then he pointed to the crude outline and ordered the men to “put her there.” Undoubtedly Jackson possessed the hottest temper among all the Chief Executives. He was one of two rede heads to achieve this highest hohor, Grant was the other. Ulysses S. once found himself in a delicate position when Congress passed a measure which would cut his $50,000 salary in half. ‘What would you have done under the circumstances? Grant vetoed the bill. It is a curious fact that the two Adamses, probably the most aristoe cratic or blue-bloded, were both fole lowed by Presidents who did not hesi= tate to rub shoulders with the people. The conservatives Adamses disliked all liberals and resented the fact of their defeat by plebeians, so they refused to extend the usual courtesies to their suceessors. Washington and John Adams ade dressed Congress in person. Jeffer= He could not make a speech, but he could write a good one; so he wrote his | speech out and sent it in the form of a | message to Congress. Adams said that he considered a personal speech “more manly.” The message to Congress became a fixture until Woodrow Wil- son broke the rules. DD vou know that George Washe ington never lived in the White House? It was not completed before he retired to Mount Vernon. Really only a few of our Presidents lived in the White House, for it did not receive that name until the time of Theodore Roosevelt. It was officially known as the Executive Mansion, but John Quincy Adams changed it to the Presidential Mansion, while the news- paper correspondents frequently used the form President’s House. The peo= | ple welcomed the change of name by .. The younger Adams read his Bible, attended church services and devoutly prayed, but he could shoot a mean game of billiards on the ornate table he had installed in the Presidential Mansion. He had a full array of chess- men, too. Many persons worried a bit about John Quincy's peculiar ideas of piety. Did you know that Jefferson was an inventor He made a contrivance like & turnstile for hanging up his jackets and breeches, but he did something far more serviceable for the tired business man, probably less worn out or frazzled in those old days than now. If a swivel chair is a better desk chair than one that does not whirl and bend, thank the third President. He invented it. A