In the midst of all his other troubles, unhappy Herbert Hoover's White House offices caught fire four Christmases ago. President Roosevelt had better luck last week when a blaze in the wastepaper storage room of the Executive Offices was promptly discovered and extinguished by an alert guard.
Day before Christmas Eve the President gave a holiday to his clerical staff. To each clerk and stenographer he presented a book, with his autograph on the flyleaf. Next day he entertained, first, the families of his chauffeurs and mechanics, then the families of the White...