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To Washington late this month goes Alfred E. Smith to address the American Liberty League in a speech that will presumably belabor the New Deal. To Mr. Smith last week went an invitation from Mrs. Roosevelt to spend the night at the White House when he is in town. Mr. Smith, a good tactician, politely excused himself. When the Press noted this byplay, a spokesman for the President announced: "This is not the first time that Mr. Smith had been invited to be an overnight guest at the White House. At least once a year, Mr. Smith has been invited to pass either a night or a week-end there. But he never saw fit to accept even one of these invitations."
Mr. Smith rapped back: "This statement is false. Since the inauguration of President Roosevelt I received one invitation. . . . That invitation was to tea . . . and that invitation I accepted. It is the only one I ever received up to the one that came last week from Mrs. Roosevelt which was promptly acknowledged. We might just as well have the record straight."
The President squiggled his signature on an executive order and NRA at last folded its moulting blue wings and sank to ashes. Of its remaining 2,000 employes, 600 were ordered fired, about 30 were transferred to the Department of Labor, the rest to the Department of Commerce where they will finish their work by April 1 and quit.
Governor Earle of Pennsylvania hired Robert Livingston Johnson, advertising vice president of TIME Inc., to be State Relief Administrator for 1935. His year up, Mr. Johnson, on Governor Earle's recommendation, was last week appointed by President Roosevelt to investigate relief administrations in England, France, Scandinavia at his own expense.
Wrote Mr. Johnson to the President: "With the great prestige that I would enjoy as your personal representative, I believe I can get this material very quickly."