Evening star., 1923-08-09
CAPITAL. KEYNOTES
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

There is one feature of the tragedy
of President Harding's death which
softens the blow. 1t is not a case of
assa Ssination.
No hate. no fury of an outraged
public is aroused, therefore. against
any person or class. as it would have
been If. the alleged assassins who
were reputed TO be following him to
Alaska with the avowed purpose of
murder had succeeded in their foul
design. In the tragedies of Lincoln.
Garfield and Mckinley there was in
tense grief and love, combined with
equally intense horror of the mur-
dererS.
The world realizes that President
Harding gave of his strength. his de-
votion and his vitality to great
cause. and that he died because his
single purpose had taken complete
possession of him. Differences of
opinion as to the effectiveness Of
this or that policy, therefore, are COM
pletely forgotten, in national and
patriotic admiration of the character
Of the mantle martyr.
Has there ever been grief SO un-
alloyed in the history of the United
States-or any other country? 1t has
brought men together. Men have not
been ashamed to weep for the friend
who has passed. A strong man in
Chicago undertook to deliver
, eulogy into radio, but was unable
to proceed on account of emotion.
The Governor of Alaska did the same.
and broke down sobbing When men,
unaceustoned to show their feelings.
are overcome in public, there must be
great wave of grief affecting all
society, such as has hardly yet been
comprehended
What will be the lasting effect?
Will IL make opposition less bitter?
| VIII 1t make men more charita BILE
toward others? Will it develop real
sympathy between classes? If SO.
what crown of glory rests upon the
! head of the man who thus shows his
than the official rank which made
him in life the most powerful indi-
vidual in the world.
mo post the man
Ennobles-man the post"
\ y x
Il want to make good, like dad"
! That is the sentiment that inspires
fourteen-year-old Calvin Coolidge,
| working on a New England farm.
| stripping tobacco leaves.
His employer addressed him on the
| morning when President Coolidge was
| starting to Washington to assume his
! duty as Chief Magistrate, and the
| farmer thought to bring out some ex-
| preston of the boys feelings.
/ Well. SO your father is now Presi-
| dent of the United States"
! "Yes, that's so, Mr.. -. Which shed
| do lou want me to tackle next?"
Compare that spirit with that of
! the eleven-year-old boy who on the
same day ran away from his wash
| for his distracted mother:
Mamma, I'm tired of your spank
| ings."
It is an easy guess that that run
away boy Is not Boy Scout. for if SO.
! he could not have been SO selfish and
inconsiderate of his anguished mother.
X X X X
President George D. Olds of Am
| herst College says that President
Coolidge was the "humorist" of his
class, all through his course, and
| that ne delivered a very humorous
/ speech on graduation day. That may
| all be true. but his present job is no
| joke.
| What a prisoner Of officialdom is a
| President of the United States! On
| his second morning as President, Mr..
| Coolidge found the air in the hotel
so sitting that he strolled up r street.
A week earlier he would simply have
| walked alone wherever he pleased,
| but as President It was necessary to
J notify his secret service guard SO that