22 OCTOBER 1932, Page 2

Governor Roosevelt's Chances On the evidence now available, a fortnight

before polling-day, it will be surprising indeed if Governor Roosevelt of New York is not the next President of the United States. His wide circuit of the West has been a great success ; a number of powerful single influences (among them Mr. Walter Lippmann) have swung to his support, and the well-known signs of popular readiness to " get on to the band-wagon " are multiplying. Mr. Hoover would have been better advised if he had followed the proper Presidential course of conducting a restrained campaign from the White House, for it is clear that his platform speeches, beginning with the rather sensational utterance at Des Moines, have not so far helped him. The portents of winter. distress are exceedingly dark, and there is an ominous sound for the President in the accu- sation that he sanctioned- the grant of large sums from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for public works in California and another Western State in order to counteract the growing Roosevelt opinion. On the face of it a charge of this kind would seem absurd ; but the important point is that it is taken seriously in reputable papers, and made public at the most critical stage of the campaign.