Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-08-09
COOLIDGE FACING
HIS FIRST TEST IN
COAL NINE CRISIS
New President, Silently Pom
dering First Big Problem,
Is Watched KeenIy by
G0mpers and His Followers
BY ROBERT L. SMALL
Especial Wire Service to The Journal)
Copyright, 1929

WASHINGTON, Aug. S.-Presf-
! dent Coolidge realized today that
events over which he has no control
are carrying him forward to crisis
| in his administration.
AS the cards are laid upon the
table today, there will be cessa-
ton of work in the anthracite fields
of the country on Seutember Ia
| little more than three weeks away.
The wage agreement expires on the
night of August 81. Efforts to ne
gotiate a new agreement recently
were broken off.
( While it will not be so termed by
the mine workers, the cessation of
mining will be a strike, in effect,
in purpose and popular conception
of the man in The street.
Looked to For Relief
Calvin Coolidge is perfectly con-
scious of the fact that millions Of
the people of the United States, who
1 suffered from q coal shortage last
winter will look to him for protec.
ton from another winter of hard
| ships and unhappiness. He knows
that particularly the people Of his
| New England, who were the keenest
sufferers of last winter, will look
to him for relief.
1t will be of no avail to say thar
the powers Of a president are limited,
no matter how true that statement
may be. The people realize there are
constitutional and other legal limi-
| tations placed upon every public
Official. but they also9 believe that a
president can bring moral force and
pressure to bear to an impelling de-
gree.
President Coolidge rose to nation
al fame for the course he pursued in
the police strike at Boston while he
was governor of his state. All OF
| his friends, all of the politicians in
! Washington-and there are legiOns
of them here already--say that Mr..
| Coolidge will have his first test as
president by the course ne may pur-
sue in the threatened walkout in the
ami hrac.te fields.
| Little Time for Study
President Coolidge is bordering
| that situation above all others at the
present moment. He has tried to
close his mind to everything of a
| political or economic nature during
these days of the country's last
tribute to it's dead president, but time
is memorable and there is but a short
time to study the coal problem before
the date for closing down the mines.
There is no question but that the
country will be quick to judge the
new president by what he may or
may not do in the coal strike. No
president ever has found himself
with such a personal problem on his
hands so soon after taking up the
reins Of office-a problem SO closely
allied with his reputation and so
pregnant with possibilities as to his
political future.
Sam Gompers president of the
| American Federation of Labor is full
| ly conscious of the importance that
President Coolidge attaches to the
/ coal situation. That is why he has
called on the new president two days
IN succession; why he has felt 1t nee
/ essary to place certain matters, Ger
tain data before the new chief eXecu-
tive in the very midst of the national
mourning.
i Labor Watches Closely
Organized labor is watching the
new president with the keenness of
a hawk 1t, too, knows that Calvin
Coolidge rode to popular favor as a
strike breaker" and the right to
strike is a jealously guarded prin-
ciple among the labor leaders of the
country.
/ President Coolidge knows full we'll
that his own political fortunes are
not to be builded by what he may
/ or may not do in pressing the pro-
posal that the United States adhere
Ito the world court. That he believes
in the principle of the world court
land Of American participation in it,
lalready has been established But
whatever he may do in furthering
the ends he believes to be desirable
in that direction, will be put down
in current history at least, as but
"a carrying out of a Harding policy,
conceived and offered to the world
before there was any thought of Cal
vim Coolidge as an occupant of the
White House.
y l. ~
the few short months that lie be-
tween him and his further destiny,
The is to be judged by his own per-
sonal and executive acts. The poli-
ticians who have gathered here are
as one in saying that the country is
in mood today to hail, almost to
canonize strong man.
BoIdness Will Pay
If Calvin Coolidge is bold, he may
go a long way, they say; if he is
lover-cautious, he may be passed by.
Tho very brevity of the months of
opportunity that are before him. call
for sharp action. or they may go for
naught.
AS for the president. he is as 81
lent as ever. He neither asks nor
gives q, confidence. To most of his
callers, lie is ipscrutible. There are
no tell-tale expressions upon his
grave, unsnliling face.
It was difficult for President Har
ding to stifie an emotion; it is just
as difficult. it appears to his callers
for President Coolidge to express
one. Most Of his intervlewers are ex
tremely short, for he only listens
He does not lend any sort of impetus
or encouragement to the flow Of con
versation. He absorbs, but he does
not give out. He has no anecdotes
10 tell; nothing to prolong the stay
of his visitor hevnnd the nerind thai