Mr. Coolidge's Week

THE PRESIDENCY

Mr. Coolidge's Week

P: A hat, a large hat such as Mexican "greasers" wear, such as cowboys wear in the cinema--in short, a sombrero, its rim a burning red, its crown a brilliant blue, was given into the hands of Mr. Coolidge. After a short moment of admiration for so engaging a specimen of the hatters craft, Mr. Coolidge stuck his head under the hat's ample canopy--and in no time became a member of the Smoki Tribesmen of Prescott, Ariz. With the President in the rear grounds of the White House were representatives of the Prescott Chamber of Commerce, who performed the initiative ceremony, explained that the object of the Smokis was to preserve to posterity Southwestern Indian rituals.

P: It was a talkative week for Mr. Coolidge (see THE CAMPAIGN). He addressed: A large delegation of Manhattan tradesmen, who came before him on the White House lawn bearing ancient guild banners and their own goodwill; the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, before whom Mr. Coolidge went where they sat assembled in their newly dedicated home in Washington; the "Golden Rule Dinner" of the Near East Relief, at which Mr. Coolidge was guest of honor; the $100-a-plate dinner of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, the guests at which sat in Manhattan while Mr. Coolidge sat in his chair at Washington and let his voice be heard over a private telephone wire.

P: The fourth biennial convention of the United Lutheran Church in America, in Chicago assembled, had read to it a Coolidge greeting: "As I study the three great movements of humanity into the American Colonies--the Puritans into New England, the Lutherans and Quakers into Pennsylvania, and the Cavaliers into Virginia. . . ."

P: Secretary Slemp, eternally vigilant, stepped between the busy chief executive and a sheaf of letters from Washington renters at odds with their landlords. The renters, threatened with raises, applied excitedly for presidential intervention, for army "pup" tents on the White House ellipse in case the landlords remained adamant. Vigilant Slemp passed word about rent raises to the District Attorney, about "pup" tents to the War Department. Realtors offered the President their services and Mr. Slemp thanked them. Thus was the Presidential desk kept free for national business.

P: The President and Mrs. Coolidge attended a wedding--that of Miss Beatrice Beck, daughter of the Solicitor General, and one S. Pinkney Tuck.

P:The President canceled all his engagements for Oct. 27, directed the State Department to issue a proclamation of official mourning for the late Henry Cantwell Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture. With Mrs. Coolidge, the President called on Mrs. Wallace, later wrote her a letter: "His loss will be a grief to the entire nation, for his fine qualities and able, untiring services had endeared him to all the people."

Services at the White House were in the nature of a State funeral.