The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-04-29
Frederic Haslkin's Letter
Pestering the President.

when he does not receive an imnc..
ing collection Of requests for I'M,
Autographs, invitations, p6oen.
graphs, and so on. The tide ~.
and falls to . large extent accord
ing to the president himself. III.
becomes known d Z joiner but M
much Of . giver. his mail brin,,
more Invitations to join and few,
requests for money.
President Harding We believe /,
not yet classified. He wants to h
genial and reasonable and demo.
cratic, but he 10 already, no doubt
beginning to realize that his sunni,
Of these qualities is limited. Ia
president has ever been able IA
meet more than small fraction a
the requests, and they are GROWING
each term - there are more peopls
to serve.
Thus, when the president agrees
socially to be honorable president
Of some organization which appeal,
to some hobby Of his, he risks eY.
posing himself to . deluge Of inyi.
tations to Join organizations be
never heard Of before. Such Or.
ganizations are we'll aware that ths
president could not mingle VIII
them at their Tuesday meetinss
They fully appreciate the many
demands on his time. But-they
do think he could lend his name
and drop in on state occasions, end
Il he refuses, however politely
there Is sometimes resentment
Is There . Remedy
There have been bills in con.
gfess for the relief Of every other
sort Of government ward, but thu
president has never had any assist.
ance offered him in this difficulty
He has his secretaries and aides
Many OF them, however, are politi,
cal appointees and are as new Il
the business as their chief.
It is suggested that a special sec.
rotary might help matters some.
what. He would have to stick Close
to the president on all occasions
something like the royal tasters a
the tables of the old European
kings, who protected the monarch
from poison, and his life would b
worth about az much as theirs. Hi,
duties would be to cast the decid.
inG vote in a tie as to whether thu
president should spend the evening
at q musical comedy or adorn .
benefit ball for Chinese babies.
The value of this attache would
obviously increase with his year.
of service, which means that ht
would have to be a permanent fix
ture in the presidential menage
This is admittedly serious OBJ
stacle. There have been White
house employees who spent years o
service there, but not in such posi-
lions of confidential association
with the executive.
The only suggestion so far pu
! forward is that this attache woult
have to be a man OF unbiased mint
so far as political parties are coz
cerned. Where this superman is tt
be caught is not clear. PerhapI
the best plan would be to pick
candidate out of school somewhere
and bring him up in the Whit
house atmosphere. When he wal
growing a beard and wrinkles, con
gress would have time to talk ovel
creating an Office for him.
Later, understudies could b
trained, and with an efficiency eX
pert, a presidents odd jobs could b.
reduced almost to a formula. 4
request from the town of Cobbles
Corners asking the president 1T
speak at the dedication Of foun'
tain in the public square, when hi
made his next trip west, would b
referred to the efficiency expert HI
would consult the files on fonn
tains and see what happened in in
stances when different presidents
officiated at the unwilling of foun
tains.
It would undoubtedly take tint
to develop this system, but in tn
long run, it would seem WORT
while, il it did, as the inventor
claim it would, leave the presiden
some time TO work, play, and sleep