Roanoke Rapids herald., 1923-09-28
9sokos J. ~ s 6y h1f<~1shorT

Vermont is my birthplace Here one gets close
waters Of which hurry to the sea: in the lakes
shining like silver in tn cir green setting; in the
s1a 9aad '"s
'heir income, and fear
New England, of course, believes implicitly in
the New England type 1t also halls the President
as Il fine sample of the type The Boston Post, a
Democratic newspaper speaks for New England
when 1t says:
Calvin Coolidge cannot fail He embodies not
alone all the hopes of New England but her very
and all the magniacence of service that New Eng
land has given to America.
So New England elects to stand or fall with
Calvin Coolidge a cautious, discreet. thrifty,
tght-mouthed, God-fear Ing efficient Down East
Yankee.
The Cooidses certainly go back to the beginning
of things in New England. The first American
Coolidge came about 1880 In the first flight
of the Purtans and settled In Watertown, Mass
In $780, John Coolidge the Presidents great-great
grandfather, after service in the Revolution
moved to Plymouth, VT. He hired out occasion
ally to his nelghbors-and he left farm to each
of his five children.
Each succeeding generation Of these Plymouth
Yankee farmers seems to have run true to ty1,e
Calvin Coodges grandfather was justice of the
peace, constable seectman and town agent and
attended all the political state and county conven
tions. John Calvin Coolidge, the Presidents ia
ther, hale and hearty at seventy e ght-the Pres
dent says he has been the most formative lntlu
ence in his fe-owns the farm where his great
grandfather settled He was tax collector and
constable for thirty-eight years. He was justice
of the peace. He served five sessions In the legis
ature, two in the senate He kept store ran the
shop when the blacksmith left town. could null
tooth, road commissioner settled estates
taught in the Sunday school and usually looks
after the seating of the people at funerals The
Presidents great grandfather was without school
ing; his grandfather went to the district school;
his father went to the academy at Ludlow; the
President himself is a lawyer and college grad
uate
Coolidge luck" has become proverbia He
started out by being born on the Fourth of July
He has been in public office almost continuously
since 1899. He has never met defeat at the polls
He won n wife who is a genuine hepmeet He
has two fine sons A police strike In 1919 made
him famous night There ambitious poll
ticians who would give millions for the popular
appe, of the setting in which he took the oath Of
ofce-the parlor of the old homestead; the old
fashioned kerosene lamp; the gathered neighbors
outside in the darkness; the father. notary pub
lic reading the constitutional oath to the son the
son, with raised hand repeating the oath and add
ing so help me God!"
Several things evidently must be taken into con-
sideration in connection with the Coolidge luck"
and the Presidents political career to date. Poll
tics with Calvin Coolidge has been profession.
Here is his creed, stated publicly:
Politics is not end. but a It is not a
product but a process. 1t is the of govern
ment Like other values 1t has its counterfets
1t is the process Of action In public affairs
Calvin Coolidge knows politics more thoroughly
than the average knows the multiplication
table; he has learned the game from the bottom
up He has nsen ably tutored. His opponents
say that when the occasion demands expert
chauffeuring Of the steam roller" Coolidge is
good man at the wheel. He has had powerful and
devoted friends back of him. And the record