Lkfl. 1938
THE REGISTER-GUARD. EUGENE, OREGON
Text of Historic White House Interviews
Released By Roosevelt for Public to See
w IXVB C. WILSON
TV, staff Correspondent
2stTriV March 21. OliO
Indent Roosevelt snapped an
wt "that is silly" to a question
, printing P: '
i suggested that another ques-
W"5 ,j ..1, ,hthr ha
Cramped UckUng his grand-
afidrati'al 'cold was attrib
ute talking too much. . . .
iii,i with worry, Mr.
Iiwsevelt sat tense in his office
Lt the charge that it had taken
iom" hi-lt to a "horse
od buggy" interpretation of the
Ijoanition.
"(pin gravely serious the pres
atsaid the government no
rfl. ,ih afford to aid tot-
bl banks and that they would
ijn to go through the wringer
gf insolvency. ...
The sdministration is like a
football team, he explained. . . .
Hose are random excerpts
i (ho text of hitherto un-
I Quoted press conference material
I glased by tne wniie nouse vo
in hnw newspaper readers
I nf the most important
I -ews of government is made.
Papers Released
tahoA hv the Vhite house.
... a oM words of textual ma
larial comprises excerpts from
I conferences selected from imore
than 300 held during the first
four years of the Roosevelt ad-
Iinistration.
The material was distributed
V MwsDaoer publication in con-
liormity with a promise made
!cag ago by the president to
ihite bouse reporters that If his
press conference transcripts ever
wre made public they would
I hive first rights to them. Half
if the press conference notes was
-ImvH to morninff naners and
I lie remainder to evening papers
It! today.
Outstanding in the selected con
tonHMt is the famous "horse-
iid-buggy" utterance of May 31,
IMS when Mr. Roosevelt replied
to the supreme court decision in
validating the national Industrial
recovery act. It is typical, too,
if (he informality of the Roose
velt press conference technique.
"What thr nnui!" Mr.
I Boosevelt smilingly inquired on
I tut occasion wnen upwards ox
MO reporters crowded into his
c3ict
That's what we want." one of
his audience replied.
mere was brief give-and-take
until Francis M. Stephenson, one
of the reporters regularly assign
ed to the White House, said:
"Do you care to comment any
on the NRA?"
"Well, Steve," replied Mr.
Roosevelt, "if you insist. That's
an awful thing to put up to a
fellow at this hour of the morn
ing, just out of bed "
And with that introduction, Mr.
Roosevelt ripped into the su
preme court's decision, asserting
uiai ii naa sinppea the federal
government of national authority
in both economic and social fields,
that it had deprived a closelv
integrated, industrial nation of
tne advantage of federal control
over such activities as agriculture,
mining, manufacturing and con
struction. He spoke for an hour
and a half, warning the nation
through its newspapers that the
issue raised was one that had to
be settled and that five or ten
years might be required to ad
just it.
"Then, the second thing, is 'off
the record' information which
means, of course, confidential in
formation which is given only to
those who attend the conference.
I want to ask you not to repeat
this 'off the record' confidential
information either to your own
editors or to your associates who
are not here; because there is al
ways danger x x x the other party
may use it In a story. In other
words, it is only for those present."
The president: "I will tell you
off the record about the problem.
It is an old story. So much of the
legislation we have had this spring
is of a deflationary character, in
the sense that it locks up money,
prevents the flow of money, that
we are faced with the problem of
off-setting that in some way. I
would not say 'inflation of the
currency,' because that is not the
necessary meaning. You see, upon
the closing of the banks we put
away somewhere around four bil
lion dollars. It was probably lock
ed up before, but people did not
know it. Now it is locked up, and
people know it. That is deflation
ary. The effect of cutting very
nearly a billion dollars off the
government payroll including the
veterans' cuts, cutting down of de
partments and cutting off IS per
cent of employees' pay it would
probably run to perhaps not quite
a billion dollars but very near that
means that much loss in the flow
of money. That is deflationary.
Now on the other side of the pic
ture we have CCC giving employ
ment to about 250,000 people in the
forests on works of various kinds.
That Is only S250.000.000 as an
FLAPPER FANNY
By Sylvia
' COP. 19M BY MCA MftVICC. WC T. M. ICO. U. . MT. erf. i
'
don't care if it IS contempt o1 court! I'm not gonna ttm
days and wash the disiiea. too.
SIDE GLANCES
TimI i , . ... i t M,trr hour
offset. Then there is $500,000,000
as an offset on direct relief to the
states. That means we have not
yet caught up with the deflation
we already have caused. There
fore, of course, we are going to
talk about methods to give people
work or to raise commodity prices
which would "
Question Not Solved
"It is not right or left it is a
question for national decision on a
ve.-y important problem of gov
ernment We are the only nation
in the world that has not solved
that problem. We thought we were
solving it, and now It has been
thrown right back in our faces. We
have been relegated to the horse-and-buggy
definition of the inter
state commerce."
But press conferences usually
are in an easier, less strained vein.
Here is the first few minutes of
the conference on April 7, 1933:
The president: (as reporters en
tered his office) I understand that
in some mysterious and subter
ranean way you got the suggestion
that Frank Murphy is going as
governor to the Philippines. I
guess you are right.
Question: Frank Murphy of De
troit? The president: "Yes, mayor of
Detroit."
Q. "When will he go?"
The president: "I don't think I
have sent the nomination yet It
will go up Monday."
Q. "Have you been able to cash
that first pay check?"
The president: "Yes. I cashed it
and I am sending back my 15 per
cent."
Q. "What was that?"
The president: "Dollars $843.
75. And I also am sending my dues
to the national press chib."
Q. "That is your first month's
pay, is it?"
The president: "Up to the first
of April."
Q. "Would you like to make
some comment on the effect on
employment by reason of the pro
duction of beer?"
The president: "Nothing. Maybe
later on this evening, I may."
Q. "How many cases have you
gotten thus far?"
The president: "I can't say any
thing on the record, except entire
ly off the record. But all reports
we are getting in is that the actual
employment that has resulted
from the manufacture of beer is
bigger than the estimate "
Q. "I want to thank you for
sending the beer to the press club."
The president: "It got here all
right? Fine."
From there the conference went
to currency matters.
Q. "Might we have an expres'
sion from you that thera is no diS'
position on the part of the admin'
istration to inflate the currency it
self. I mean to print currency in a
manner other than has been
done?"
The president: "What do you
mean, start the printing presses?"
Q. "Yes."
The president: "Off the record
we sre not going to start the print-
in nresses. that Is silly.
Mr. Roosevelt inaugurated his
press conference on March 8, 1933
with announcement that he had
abolished the Harding, Coolidge
and Hoover administrations rules
that written questions must be
submitted tn advance.
"I am told that what I am going
to do will become impossible," Mr.
Roosevelt said, "but I'm going to
try it."
And he still is going strong en
that particular policy, meeting
newspaper reporters in his office
twice weekly with a standing invi
tation that they may fire questions
at will. But Mr. Roosevelt imposed
some rules. He said on March 8
that he would not answer -it
questions.
Newspaoer reporters who at
tend conferences are familiar now
with his instant reply, "that Is
iffy," to a question which Is predi
cated on some future development.
He explained in that first press
conference that there would be
many questions he could not an
swer for lack of knowledge. AU
quoted material would be fur
nished by the White House in
written form. The inrormauon,
unless restricted could be attrib
uted to the president although he
was not to be direetly quoted.
"Then there are two other mat
ters we will talk about" he con
tinued. "The first is 'background
information,' which means mater
ial whirh ran be used by all of
vou on your own authority and re-
J l .Hnhllf
sponsiDiuty. noi -
. (, white House, because I
don't want to revive the Ananias
club." ,
Q. "The farm oiu woura uo ...
m.. i,iMn,t' "Tha farm bill
would do it, of course, because it
will raise commodity prices. The
farm mortgage bill and the home
credit bill will help because they
will cut down the debt obligations
of the small, individual family man
the home man."
Q. "Lower rentals -
The President: "But the ques
tion is whether all those things
are really inflationary. They are
But'lKr. Roosevelt could Joke
about inflation, too. as he proved
in a later press conference that
ir- v..
The jresiaem: -
news?" . . ..
a -TV,.r. has been seme tau
again about Inflation. I don't
know ,
The President: "How da you de
fine inflation?"
Q. "I don't know what it Is."
The President: "Neither do I. I
have gotten to the point where
even a cigarette tastes bad."
a "That ii a ii an of a cold."
The President. "Yes, It cextainljr
LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE
Fighting Word
By HAROLD GRAY1.
Whi ANSWER TO THE CROWD.?
bEMAKD TO KNCW THE IDENTITY
OF THE RESCUER OF LUCY BELLE.
CUDGE SNEER1HGLY ANNOUNCEO
HE WAS JUST A TRAMP
Hj LET ME GO! TCH TCH.1 T BESIDES, SHERIFF- OH. MY 1 JJiTBeV-ORH THAT BUS V
ft LET ME AT HIM 1 REMEMBER- I I YOU WOULDNT WANT I DARLING I CAME ALONG YOU STOPPED ffcS;?r$
Li AGAIN- I'LL KILL fl PLEASANT fl I LUCY BELLE TO HAVE I BABY GIRL- fit I ME-REMEMBER? SAID YOU rHk.
W HIM- I'LL FINISH ) WORK LIKE I A KILLER FOR A i TO THINK I pii I WANTED TO TALK TO ME -'
I, Bbl BE SHARED, a I HER TO GROW UP TO tl LOST YOU" L t I WHATS ON VPS-BirrU
Vtir .o evci 'aflra V, Sr.- MVFR.END-J 6E PROUD OF YOU-I MIND. SHERIFF? srtf THAT
III A TRAMP. HE SAYS ! T"f .V U 9Z&i U fr f UTX,Fsts lw SiAn-J SEEMfi I
En THE MSNWHO SAVED MY 71 B&L' &?MS77? U E-S YSjJnr 7 H; Vr) lKA SO LONG
POPEYE Now Showing "THAT'S WHO WEARS THE PANTS"!Tomorrow "A WOODEN KIMONO?" By E. C. SEGAR
POPPA.VAWAS S A MEAN AN' I COMEDW I WAS 13 f SO I L-(f HE PUT MEI KvA AIM'T VER H 1 AW, PULL OP 1 BE LIKE I BE AM' I BEEkJ
THEY THREW VA ' TO SHARK MAKIM' SMACKED) OM A RAFT CHANGEDJMEAklECN VEK PAMTSV ,-JvBEIN' IT NINETV-NIME
OUTA PRlSIMG?rr- ISLAK1D POBJWOOPSIE the AM' HERE'S A BIT. X-.EVER r i6rV-CT. VEARS AMI LIKE
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SECRET AGENT X-9 The G-Man At the Svvitch " By ALEX RAYMOND
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BOOTS AND HER BUDDIES
Taking All the Blame
By martin :
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Scram!
By V. T. HAMLIN
EENV, SOF-STVLED DICTATOR
I Cf MOO, WAS SEARCHING
I THE JUNGLES POROOOLA-ANP
HAD THE MISPORTUWE TO
FIND MEI5--AMD DINNY
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n vi V0 vou- u little Jiy vV with EENV! w.riLCTSJty aJtmPi I S. wuoa.' r
OUR BOARDING HOUSE - with MAJOR HOOPLE
--W ACT6B 5CBAPIWC1
y V.'ELL. LADS, AT LAST Tw ' CI4A3ET TA-;
TALEUTS HAVE BE EM U CFP My- ikjCCME
'if XSCOauiZSD AS A PEPLTTY h. 1h' AiuaaET
J' IWSPECTOt 1 WILL IklVCST- yl WS SO ALL
-' ' taATE FBAuPULEslT CLAIMS 1 PLUaOEtJ A
OM iWcrOE PETUBWS WO L, OLA WITH
C HAvf "V DOUBT 1 SMALL HAVE M ' ?
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liOJ'VB GOT
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MACCR
OUT OUR WAY
By WILLIAMS
(fi'lllllil' I ' 'II i'WM I LI9TE4, WORV WART, 3UI2E --
! iPPfi Y ',' V I PID YOU LICK ALL TW' I BECAUSE'
IUiMr''J'l-'l!' I CANDY COATIW'OFFA I I WHEN I'M I
I I'; , I THESE MEDICINE I 'CK X DON'T I
I !i"'M ' -fl TABLETS? yf. EM JOY IT
CTiLViMk
Mlr MlMyl,tNC "
ft., .i-iji iraves me room warn ut huw -
on his Mn" woo l stand 1L"
ninmrr"