The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1923-11-21
AN EASY WAY TO HELP PRESIDENTS
From The Dearborn Mich.), Independent.

NN|' F~
Perhaps one way to tighten the load of our presidents is to
prohibit them from making those trivial addresses by wire and cor
respOndence with which they greet the Amalgamated Society of
Sausage Makers and other worthy groups in convention assembled.
Mr.. CooHdges experience along this line has been singuarly I'M
fortunate from the beginning, and reports of several such greet
mgs a day ill consorts with the character for taciturnity behind
which it had been hoped to build up a reputation for wisdom. That
is not to say, of course, that the president is not tactiurn; it may
be that most of these reported greetings are prepared by a depart
ment of his office set apart for that purpose. But the two go
i'll together.
It is easily understood how sometimes a president is verbally
~bludgeoned into doing things he would much rather not do, Mr..
Coolidge can scarcely be made to say anything he does not mean,
but there are signs that he can be made to talk when he would
rather not say anything. On such occasions what he says is likely
to be meaningless. It would be interesting to know the circum-
stances attending the statement issued to the American Jewish
congress at New York 1t was not so much a statement by Presi-
dent Coolidge as by Rabbi Stephen Wise. 1t contains the most
general of generalities, the most platitudinous of p%latitdues. 1t is
plain that the president could not refuse to say something, and
just as plain that he was not willing to be made an adjunct of the
American Jewish Committee as other presidents have been. The
report read to the congress says, when told that it is felt in Jew
ish circles that the immigration restrictions bear especially hard
cpOn the Jew" (Which every fact contradicts, the Jew being the
only possessor of SUPERFICIAL power in migrating anywhere) the
president stated: This administration will continue to refuse,
sanction or tolerate any a~ntiJewsh discrimination in the matter
of immigration, or in any other matter"
The story of the composition of that paragraph would be
vorth having. Is it Calvin CoOidge's paragraph, or is it the am
putated limb of a longer and stronger declaration proposed by
Rabbi Wise? And what does it mean? Does it mean anything?
Has any recent administration shown anti-Jewish discrimination
AS for the Coolidge administration it has had nothing to do with
the question as yet. What does the declaration mean, anyway? 1t
means just this-that something hadt to be said to satisfy the i'm
portunity of the Jews, and Coolidge said as little as he possibly
could, without giving offense.
Taking the literal meaning that the Coolidge administration
will not sanction any discrimination at all in the even-handed serv
ice it will render the people, the statement could just as well have
kcen put in this fashion: "The president stated: This administra-
ton will continue to refuse, sanction or tolerate any proJewish
discrimination in the mater Of immigration, or in any other
matter"
The pledge of e~ven-handed service would have been exactly
the same, but would the president have said it? Would the Jewish
cOnqroiIfaa have accounted i2 No Whv9 RncauSo in tho latter
form, the pledge would have had a meaning. There is ~pro-Jewish
discrimination. In the present form, however, the statement has
no meaning, because in this country there is no anti-Jewish dis
elimination.
The best way out Of the whole silly business is to occupy the
presidents energies with more important matters.
Little Rock Gazette-Half of the world is said to be engaged
in agriculture. That's how the other half lives.