The White House Week
The White House Week
The President signed the Tax Reduction Bill. (See TAXATION).
President Coolidge declared that he thought the tax reduction of $387,000,000 carried in the bill was dangerously large, and Congress would have to be very economical in its appropriations in order to prevent a deficit.
Charles Hoff and Helmer H. Bryn, both of Norway, one an extraordinary pole-vaulter, the other Minister to the U. S., called at the White House and shook the President's hand. Other callers on the same day were members of the swimming team of the Brooklyn Central Y. M. C. A.
Ambassador Prince Antoine Bibesco called upon the President to pay a parting visit, for he has been recalled to Roumania. His recall is supposed to have been occasioned by a quarrel with M. Titulesco, who headed the Roumanian debt mission to this country in the fall.
President Coolidge having practically recovered from his recent cold (TIME, March 1), Mrs. Coolidge caught it. She was not seriously ill, but on physicians' advice stayed in bed for a day in order to make quick recovery. It so happened that that was the day that Attorney General and Mrs. Sargent were giving a dinner for the President and his lady. Since Mrs. Coolidge could not go, Mrs. William M. Jardine, wife of the Secretary of Agriculture, was invited to accompany the President. In recent years no President has ever escorted a lady other than his wife. Proper procedure had to be looked to. It was found that President McKinley, whose wife was frequently ill, had escorted other ladies. So precedent was followed. A White House car with one of the President's aides went to the Jardine home and called for Mrs. Jardine. The car then stopped at the White House, the President entered and they drove to the Willard Hotel, where the banquet and 40 New England guests were waiting. Mrs. Jardine was seated at the right of the Attorney General.
After the dinner the car drove the President and Mrs. Jardine to the White House, the President got out and an aide took Mrs. Jardine home. "Secretary's wife pinch-hits for Mrs. Coolidge," said the vulgar Chicago Tribune.
Senator McKinley of Illinois called on the President. He stands for renomination on April 13 and is understood to have told the President that inasmuch as Senators Borah and Reed, irreconcilables, had been making speeches against the World Court in Illinois he was anxious that he be given Administration support on the Court issue, for he voted for the Court and has a constituency none too favorable to him on that account.
In the regular conference with reporters the President intimated that he thought Congress had made an enviable record for despatch so far this session, and might look forward to an early adjournment. With the tax bill out of the way, the only important measures which he believed need delay Congress were: 1) The regular appropriation bills for running the Government. 2) Ratification by the Senate of the foreign debt settlements now pending. 3) Farm legislation. 4) The bill for settling railroad labor disputes. 5) Measures dealing with aviation. He declared that he did not believe in a great air force, believing that it may lead to a new kind of jingoism, and would not favor any legislation going beyond the recommendations of the Morrow Air Board.
In the annual boxing tournament at Amherst College, John Coolidge was eliminated in a three round bout by Matthew Silverman of Brooklyn. The winner exclaimed: "Johnny Coolidge put up a great battle. He is one of the gamest boxers I ever faced." Critical opinion agreed that Silverman was too speedy for his adversary.*
A deputation of Aguadyh Israel called at the White House and presented the felicitations of the world's orthodox Jewry.
Although her cold had improved, Mrs. Coolidge was unable to accompany the President one evening when he attended a reception given him by the Congressional Women's Club.
The Mind of the President, a collection of the President's expressed opinions edited with comment by C. Bascom Slemp, his former Secretary, issued last week from the presses of Doubleday, Page and Co. Mr. Slemp declared therein that the President had reversed the traditional policy of the Republican party by becoming a champion of state rights. He said also: "One cannot see, touch or hear a political tide, but it can be felt. The man in public life who fails to create a tide or sense an adverse tide will soon be politically lost. Coolidge, with the single exception of Roosevelt, has possessed this intuition in the most marked degree of all our recent Presidents, Taft, perhaps, the least. Wilson developed it; Harrison was cold intellect; Cleveland, rugged force. Neither had this psychic sense. All were great Presidents."
A terse foreword by the President himself has a rather unusual temper: "For the comments of Mr. Slemp on me and upon my public utterances, I take no responsibility. The relative weight he has given to the various subjects treated is due alone to his judgment. But in my opinion his method of grouping related quotations will be found an interesting and convenient arrangement which will greatly facilitate efforts to find out what statements I have made concerning particular subjects."
*The victor's sister Florence, aged 16, and young brother Sylvan, were prevailed upon by the photographer of a Manhattan gum-chewers' sheetlet, to pose, in bellicose attitude, Florence wearing boxing gloves. Young Silverman's father said: "Somebody had to lick the President's son, I guess. I'm pleased to have the honor to be the father of the boy who did it,, but other boys in the United States could do the same." A promoter in Manhattan offered young Silverman $5,000 for three matches in Manhattan. Two days later, one William Hughes of Waterbury, Conn., drubbed Silverman in the final bout of the tournament.