Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-22
SAY PRESIDENT
CHANGED MAN
Mr.. Coolidge Not Living up
to Reputation in Many
Ways, it is Shown
BY GEORGE H. MANNING
washington Correspondent OF The
Perth Amboy Evening News.)

; WASHINGTON, Aug. %. = The
most striking fact about President
Calvin Coolidge's first three weeks
of administration has been the man
ner in which he has failed in almost
every respect to bear out the thou
sands and thousands of words which
were published about him in every
corner of the land when he was sud
denly called to the White House.
In all the mass of character
sketches and personal des-
criptions of the new President which
appeared in the days Immediately
following the death of his predeces-
lsor the index to the man was given
as silence. The portrait was that of
a veritable Sphinx-speaking seldom,
and then only in monosyllables;
smiling rarely. and never heartily;
cold and aloof in manner; totally
lacking in any Human warmth in
his personal contacts.
That legend has been abandoned.
True, President Coolidge cannot be
called verbose; he does not waste
words; but when he has anything to
say he says it, clearly convincingly,
straightforwardly with no need for
prompting. In his first formal meet
ing with the Washington newspaper
correspondents he gave a universally
favorable impression. Under the
concerted gaze of a hundred pairs
of eyes, critically searching every ex-
preston, every movement he show
ed not the slightest sign of nervous
ness. He took up one by one the
questions which had been submitted
to him, and dealt with them simp-
ly freely. More than nee his eyes
twinked as he uttered some shrewd
witticism; at the conclusion of the
meeting with the Washington news
paper correspondents he gave a uni
versally favorable impression.
According to advance prognostin-
atoms, the President was not a pol
itician. He was too superior, too
filled with intellectual dignity, to
concern himself with politics.
And yet almost the first move OF
the new President was the appoint
ment of former Representative Bas-
com Slemp, of Virginia, as his sec
rotary. Which, say what one will
as to the personal merits of Mr..
Slemp and his fitness for the posi-
ton, is generally admitted to have
been one of the shrewdest political
III hAAACAl 0SSA q 49,
several administrations
Predictions were by no means
scarce that Mr.. Coolidge would
merely fill the position as chief ex-
ecutive as a stop-gap, and would be
quietly allowed to retire into obli-
Won at the end of his term.
But not ever the most p~rejudiced
observer can now help admitting
that Mr.. Coolidge looms as the most
prominent figure on the political
horizon of the next few years.
And as for being merely a routine
omce-holder, following in the we'll
wor paths made by former presi-
dents, in the first three weeks of
his administration President Cool
idge has done the unprecedented
thing of calling off two out of three
regularly scheduled cabinet meet
ings giving as a reason that there
was nothing of sufficient Importance
to be discussed to warrant a meet
ing of the Cabinet! What a shock
to the vicarious politicians of the
country store stove.
1t was said, finally, that President
Coolidge would soon show himself
to be rock-ribbed conservative, and
void be made the target for vicious
onslaughts by all the progressive
elements or the party.
So far, no M has been able to
point to anything the President has
DOM said or implied which makes
it possible to set him down definitely
n finally as either a conservative
or a radical. He has announced his
intention to carry out the Harding
policies, so no supporters of the old
administration can have any quar-
rel with him; but he has left him.
self free rein in modifying those
policies to meet changing conditions,
and to date has not been forced to
commit himself on any matter in
such a way as to give opening for
attacks by the progressives. Fur
Their h general acclaim which has
greeted the give him a chance" at
titude has bound the hands of his
would-be critics by putting any UNI
toward criticism of the President in
the light of being a breach of good
taste.
In his handling of the coal situa-
ton the President has nothing to
fear from its final Interpretation as
conservative or radical. The sole
issue so far as the public is con-
cerned is whether or not there will
be coal. If there is no coal shortage
this winter, no group can afford to
attack the methods taken by the
President in bringing about the de-
sired end; If there is a strike, and
a scarcity of coal, no attack will
be necessary.
1t is this refusal of the President
to commit himself in such a way as
to warrant criticism on any grounds
that is giving most concern to those
who would like to see him defeated
in 1924, either in his own party or
in the opposition. With no opening
offered them thus far, they have been
Tuning impotently and foaming at
the mouth; until gradually they are
beginning to put their heads to-
gether to plan a method of attack
whereby they can smoke the Presi-
dent out into the open where they
can get at him.
For this reason, the first message
Of President Coolidge to the sixty
eighth congress when it conVenes in
December will be awaited with ill
suppressed anxiety. BY thai time,
it is hoped by the anti-Coolidge
factions, they will have been able
to force the President .nto indicating
his attitude on several vital issues,
notably farmers legislation, taxa
ton, the tariff, and the railroads,
and will then be in a position to
capitalize what appears to them to
be the shortcomings in his policy
and begin their campaign against
him through the country.