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Chairman Farley was also concerned over what he thought was a united effort by Republican industrialists to "intimidate" their workers into voting the Hoover ticket. Last week he loudly flayed this "appeal to fear" (see p. 9). Meanwhile the Hoover campaign had grown more aggressive, producing an indefinite groundswell among doubtful voters in the President's direction (see p. 10). Al Smith, troubled with a sore throat, was slow getting into his old-time action. An historic fact: there are 7,000,000 more Republicans than Democrats in the U. S.
Farley Forecasts. But this is the cheering season for national campaign managers and Chairman Farley likes to cheer. He refused to concede a single State to the G. O. P. Other predictions: "Governor Roosevelt will positively carry New York. Only the Lord himself can change that prospect."
Elk on Tour Jim Farley became a Roosevelt-for-President man the day after his man had been re-elected Governor of New York in 1930 by a record-breaking majority. He was then chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, a position into which he had been eased because he was "everybody's friend" rather than because he had shown any aptitude for party management. He is a Red Man, an Eagle, a Knight of Columbus. More important, he is an Elk. As the Bull Moose symbolized the insurgency of the late great Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, so might the Elk become the emblem of the fifth cousin's candidacy in 1932.
One early summer evening in 1931 Jim Farley dined with "Frank" Roosevelt in Manhattan, told him he was leaving next day for an Elk's convention at Seattle, that he was going to sound out the country on New York's presidential possibilities. Those were the days when people were pondering Owen D. Young and a re-run for Al Smith. Governor Roosevelt agreed to abide by Farley's soundings. In 19 days Jim Farley covered 20 States. He offered all-comers three candidates— Smith, Young, Roosevelt. Everyone, it seemed, favored Roosevelt. When this fact was reported to the intensely ambitious Governor, the White House drive began in earnest. Jim Farley became a Roosevelt salesman, selling his candidacv just as he had sold gypsum for 15 years. He covered 30,000 miles. Says he: "My line seemed to go over pretty well, if I do say it myself. People seemed to think I meant every word I said. Such sleep as I got was snatched on trains. When I got back I wrote to some man in every town I had visited and asked him to send me a complete list of every man and woman I had met. There were some six or seven thousand names on the list. I sat down and wrote [dictated]; a personal letter to every one of them."
"Hello Jim!" The Farley correspondence, signed in green ink, is fabulous. At headquarters he turns out an average of 100 letters per day. Most of them are political sales screeds each with a personal flavor. No one is obscure enough for Jim Farley to ignore by mail.