The White House Week

The White House Week

P: The President set aside 7,100 acres in Emery County, Utah, as "Helium Reserve No. 1," for the purpose of preserving the gas for the nation's lighter than-air craft.

P:President Coolidge nominated Professor Alfred J. Pearson (modern languages) of Drake University, la., to be the Minister to Poland succeeding Hugh Gibson.

P:Asa M. Wallace, editor of The Herald of Sauk Center, Minn., the town which furnished the original for Gopher Prairie in Sinclair Lewis' novel, Main Street, called on Mr. Coolidge. Speaking to reporters, Editor Wallace said: "Main Street may be slow and has its prejudices, but it's strong for a square deal. . . . New York is the biggest small town in the country."

P:President Coolidge named a special commission to study the best means of preserving the nation's oil reserves. The commission consists of Dr. G. O. Smith, Director of the Geological Survey, Admiral H. P. Jones, former commander of the U. S. Fleet, R. D. Bush of the California State Bureau of Minerology. Said the President: "The purpose for which the naval oil lands were set aside was to provide reserves for the future. In order to do this in the best manner the oil should be, wherever possible, retained in the ground. Where this is not possible, however, it should be retained in tankage above ground."

P:Tige, executive tomcat, lost, advertised for by radio, found in the Navy Building, now to be decorated with collar inscribed with return address, was received by President Coolidge; the Amherst Glee Club gave a musicale in the East Room of the White House, with Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge and a few guests in attendance; Princeton University offered Mr. Coolidge an honorary LL.D., to be conferred at Princeton on Oct. 4, on the occasion of a Princeton-Amherst football game; the Town Council of West Hoboken invited the President to attend a performance of Veronica's Veil, a "noted, instructive and sacred drama" given only at West Hoboken.

P:Mr. Coolidge sent a message to the Army Aviators about to leave Seattle on their world flight: "More than 400 years ago men first circumnavigated the world. . . . You are going to demonstrate the practicability of making such a voyage by air. Before another 400 years this may be the safest and most comfortable way."

P:John Coolidge and Calvin Coolidge, Jr., applied for enrollment in the Citizens Training Camp to be held at Camp Devens, Mass., in August; felicitations went from the White House to John C. Coolidge in Vermont who celebrated his 79th birthday. (No presents are sent by the Coolidges on birthdays, but the White House cook baked a cake for the elder Coolidge.)