Evening star., 1922-07-12
\ WENTY-EIGHT men have held
the once Of President Of the
United States since the begin

tn0 oLlC0 OF fxOQQenI OF tno
United States since the begin
ming Of tho government. includ-
ing President Harding. OF these twenty-
eight men. eight Of them served rs Vice
President before entering the White
House a. chief executive. Three Of the
eight, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson
and Martin Van Buren. were elected to
the Presidency after they had served as
Vice President. Theodore Roosevelt sue
ceeded to the Presidency on the death Of
President Mckinley. but when the Nc
Kinley term was ended Roosevelt was
elected to tho Presidency. Tyler, FIJI
more, johnson and Arthur succeeded to
the Presidency after the death OF their
chiefs.
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That eight Vice Presidents should
have become Presidents. is such q high
average as to make the old saying that
a public man was buried when he be-
came Vice President appear unfounded
in fact II a man has it in him." 1t Is
not likely that four. years spent in the
Office Of Vice President will kill his
chances for the highest honor in the
land. True. the Office Of Vice President
does not lend itself to spectacular
achievements, such as focus public
attention. A Vice President who at.
tempted constantly. to draw the lime
light upon himself, to pose as leader
in the administration or party, would
find himself decidedly unpopular with
the chief executive, in all probabil-
Da,A tot NJ
legislative matters. obtained as pre-
siding officer of the Senate should
be invaluable to any man who later
becomes President.
For something over year now
nearly a year and a half-Calvin
Coolidge of Massachusetts has been
Vice President. Opportunity has been
given him to take a more active part
in the work of the administration
probably than any other Vice Presi-
dent. This is In conformity with the
prediction announcement Of Presi-
dent Harding that 1t was his pur-
pose, II elected, to give the Vice
whan sRs ssaent and 90
assembled to take counsel. 1t Is in
direct contrast to what happened in
the Wilson administration. For when
President Wilson spent months in
Europe at the peace conference and,
later, when he was too Ill to take
part in the government, no attempt
whatever was made to have Vice
President Marshall handle affairs in
the place Of the President, or even
to advise with the members Of the
Presidents official family.
TT
Vice President Coolidge takes his
attendance upon the cabinet meetings
seriously. He is present at all these
gatherings when he is in the city.
which is practically all the time. The
cabinet meetings are behind closed
doors and more strictly private than
any other meetings of public officials
held in Washington. But in a gen.
eral way it is known that the pro-
ceedfngs are somewhat as follows:
The President lays before the cab
met any matters upon which he may
wish to have its advice, and the opin-
ions Of the members, including the
Vice President. are given Then the
relating to his department that the
Secretary OF State desires to discuss.
and so on down the line through all
tho executive departments whose
heads are present. Finally, he turns
to the Vice President. and asks If
thspe is anythnE msshnEE from fSe his dsDaEt
branch, and particularly the Senate,
for consideration.
Mr.. Coolidge sometimes gives the
President and his cabinet officers a
closeup of the legislative situation
as it exists at that particular date.
This discussion Of the legislative sit
uation is helpful naturally. to the
executive branch. which has had
Congress on its hands" practically