Evening star., 1923-08-07
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

The President Of the United States
is often likened to a king, because
of his very great and even more than
royal power But no modern king
carries the personal load that is put
upon United States chief magistrate,
for the American President. unlike
king. not only names his premier
and the entire cabinet. but he directs
the governmental policies, a task
carried on by the premier in coun-
tries OF kings.
X
History indicates that the founders
of the country had no such conception
of the presidency as has developed
in the last century. The strain has
been cumulative. and more than one
senator now intimates that the prob
be given serious consideration. Sem
ator Edge of New Jersey says: 1T
is criminal for the public to exact
such a toll"
The cables tell of the daily round
of King George and Queen Mary,
which often includes visits to the
poorer homes, and friendly but
nevertheless condescending interest
in the small affairs of those homes
and their occupants. Only last week.
the story of the cables related how
the king patted the baby on the head.
I which 50 overjoyed the proud parents
that they renamed the baby George"
after his royal highness.
The queen was. so interested that
she insisted on remaining in the
humble home of the poverty-stricken en-
family while she Inspected every
thing" This royal interest in com
mon life is most praiseworthy. 1t is
not of the same character as the
baby kissing" of an American poll
tician. 1t is distinctively English.
The difference is that the king looks
down to level wholly unfamiliar to
him. except as he comes in contact
through such personal visits. The
daily round for the king has not
much that is more nerve-tapping than
that. Compare such a life with that
equal to the responsibilities and
strain of both king and premier com
/ bined.
A President does not spend much
time visiting the poor, for he is too
, busy with the problems of state, and
he has no need for such means of
sympathetic knowledge of the humble
walks of life, since most Presidents
! came from such. When President
| Coolidge left his fathers farm last
week, for the Capital. as chief magis-
| trate. with more than royal power
he left unfinished the gouging out of
| a rotting tree which he had begun,
! and which he intended to fill with
cement. There was no pose in that.
He saw that the tree needed it, and
1t was "up to him" to attend to it,
as soon as he had finished pitching
hay.
Like father. like son, The manly
independence of the sons of Presi-
! dent Coolidge, as the one continues
| to work as farmland doing the
| heaviest kind of work.. indicates
| more than mere assertion what have
! been the principles of that sturdy
| New England family. The chance to
loaf in the White House has no ap-
peal whatever for. those fourteen and
| explained that he wants to make
good. himself. like dad" That is the
| spirit that will surely make good.
And where, but in America, could
\ such a spirit have opportunity for
| such self-expression? Could a royal
| prince of England continue to work
very long, in overalls and wornout
shoes. as farmland. for current
wages? Not even the popular "regu-
! lar Yellow" the Prince of Wales,
would dare try 1t. nor be permitted to
| carry on" like that. ION his own"
\
| What President has come to the
| White House from the lap Of luxury?
| Washington was reputed wealthy,
but he had tramped as engineer and
fought the Indians. The great o1