The Coolidge Week

P:Considerably annoyed by the Senate's transparently political refusal to confirm his reappointment of John Jacob Esch to the Interstate Commerce Commission,President Coolidge made no haste to select a substitute for Mr. Esch. Reports got about that the President's annoyance had carried him so far that he would override the Senate's vote and give Mr. Esch a recess appointment. Experts pondered the legality of such a move. The I. C. C., perhaps at the President's suggestion, retained Mr. Esch in a private capacity, to advise with it on unfinished business with which he is familiar.

P: Appointments which President Coolidge did make during the week and sent to the Senate for confirmation included:

Frank Clark of Miami, Fla., for the vacancy left by Edward Prentiss Costigan, resigned, on the Federal Tariff Commission ;

Edwin B. Parker of Texas, to succeed himself on the Mixed Claims Commission;

Dr. Ralph Gregg, to be assistant chief of the U. S. Public Health Service.

P: The Senate having voted for Federal operation of Muscle Shoals, and the House having scrapped in Committee all bills providing alternative treatment, President Coolidge let it be known that he was a bitter-end proponent of the plan to lease Muscle Shoals for operation by private interests. . . . More visibly due for a veto was any revenue act providing a tax cut greater than $225,000,000. A direct message from the President to Congress urged favorable action on Secretary MelIon's plan for helping Austria to raise a $100,000,000 rehabilitation loan by subordinating liens taken by the U. S. for prior Austrian loans. . . . The President also urged Congress to vote $200,000 for submarine safety research, and to authorize the beginning of work on the two dirigibles already planned for the Navy.

P: "The number of children who have been injured and killed by automobiles is deplorable," said President Coolidge, contributing his voice to a crusade by Washington newspapers for "sane" driving in the Capital. The American Road Builders Association last week reported that automobiles killed 26,618 persons in 1927; maimed 798,700.

P: John Coolidge, home from Amherst for Easter, entertained his college-mates Jack Hills and Edward Young in a manner they will not soon forget, as White House guests. . . . Mrs. Coolidge left Washington to go to Northampton, Mass., where her 78-year-old mother, Mrs. Lemira Goodhue long ill, was reported to be "in a critical condition."