The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-02
PRESS ON PINcHoT's TASK

and making him on occasion the spokesman of the chief executive, so President Coolidge has given the of flee of governor of sovereign state added importance through entrusting to MT. Pinchot the task of settling the anthracite difficulties, 8 question of national and not of state significance.
 All this opens up fertile field of
 thought with respect to the potential
 interrelationships between the presi- dent of the United States and the gov ernors of the several states. There is
 in the policy deep and unmeasured
 possibilities of both good and of polit- ical influence. It appears that both material results and political prestige will flow from the Pinchot appoint ment: whether towards Pinchot or Coolidge does not yet appear.
 However, there is a specific reason for the selection of Pinchot for this particular task, in the opinion of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat: "The ad- vantage of state action lies largely in the fact that virtually all anthracite production is within Pennsylvania and virtually the whole industry is subject to state laws and state authorities, There is, however, no law in Pennsyl- yania under which miners can be pre- vented from striking, and Governor Pinchot perhaps can do no more than attempt to bring the parties into agree ment by pointing out to them the rights and interests of the public and the certain disaster to both sides if the strike takes place" The impress sion made upon the public by the gov ernor's first statement after accept ing the charge is indicated blythe At lanta Constitution: "Under the cir cumstances, and with the authority vested by the president, and the strategy of his position, if the govN ernor of Pennsylvania cannot stop tho strike, no ono else can do so, except by rigid legal methods. Governor Pinchot's address to the assembled representatives of both sides was masterly appeal, firm and yet not of- fensive; and his determination to get down to the more practical ends os reaching an agreement by conferring separately with the contending groups is the most forceful way out of the difficulty. if it is possible for such way to be opened"
 Similar cordial approval of the reference of the dispute to the good offices of the governor is given by tho Detroit Free Press: President Cool idge did an exceedingly good thing when he asked Governor Clifford Pir- chot to take hold of the anthracite situation for the federal government as we'll as for Pennsylvania. He will have at his command all the authority there Is in the premises and he can invoke either federal or state law or both in any measure he considers proper. We do not believe, and we do not think the vast majority of the people of America believe that either MT. Coolidge or MT. Pinchot Is thinking about politics at this partic- ular moment. Their conduct indicates that they are fully engaged in an ef- fort to fulfill what they conceive to be their duty toward the nation, and that they are not concerning them selves with anything beyond this, least of all with some petty calculation re- garding what the Republican national convention may do some ten months hence, if this or that thing happens or does not happen. As a matter of fact alsa, MT. Coolidge has not shifted any final responsibility that rests upon him with regard to the anthracite coal situation. He has simply chosen representative in the field, for whose actions he makes himself accountable to the nation. He has possessed such representative in the person of John Hays Hammond. Now MT. Hammond is superseded by MT. Pinchot, not be- cause of any failure on his part, but because MT. Pinchot as governor of Pennsylvania has peculiar facilities for action at this point which nobody else in the United States possesses" Nevertheless, it must be point, or there wiuld be no need to defend against it.
 That there are some who take the opposite view is shown by the follow ing from the News-Tribune of Rome, Georgia: President Calvin Coolidge's presidential boom is likely to go into eclipse if Governor Pinchot succeeds in bringing peace to the contending anthracite miners and operators. In his address to the opposing forces call ing upon them to avert strike, Gov