Evening star., 1924-10-08
COOLIDGE IGNORES
:'PERS0NAL ATTACKS
'W1l Pay No Attention to 0p-
position Assaults on Po-
IiticaI Record.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE


President Coolidge is not going to
pay any attention to personal at
tacks on him from Democratic or
Progressive quarters. Such on
slaughts as Senator Wheeler's charge
at Seattle on Saturday that Mr.. Cool
idge, while Governor of Massachusetts,,
ordered the State treasurer to de-
posit State funds in bank that was
on the verge of failure. as a favor to
a political friend, will be ignored.
The White House has been aware for
some time that the closing weeks of
the campaign would find the Presi-
dent subjected to fire of this kind.
Mr.. Coolidge and his managers have
decided that they will gain more than
they will lose if they let the enemy
blaze away without any attempt either
to parry or answer the attacks.
While this latest evidence of what
the Democrats call the Coolidge pol
icy of silence reflects the Presidents
belief that his hold on public conf
dence is unbreakable, il is also in
line with Coolidge's long practiced
campaign tactics. When he was rum
ming for reelection as Governor of
MASSACHUSETTS, in 1919. his opponents
used as their heaviest ammunition
his role in the Boston police strike.
Coolidge allowed the deadliest shots
hurled by the Democratic nominee,
Richard H. Long, and his supporters,
TO pass over and by him unnoticed
until almost the eieventh-hour be-
fore election day. Then, in a final
campaign speech at Faneul Hall.
Boston, the Governor struck back. Il
am responsible for what 1 do" he
said. Il am responsible for what I
ought to do. But l am not RESPONSE
BILE for the lies that are told about
me" One of the Presidents closest
counselors in Washington. recalling
that incident to this writer, declared
that it undoubtedly typifies the atti-
tude to which Coolidge will adhere,
if the wind-up of the presidential
Campaign is marked by a fusillade
of mud Singing.
Heavy BarraEe Seen.
The Cosmopolitan Bank episode.
discussed by Senator Wheeler. is un-
derstood TO be only the first projec-
tile in q broadside of Coolidge rec
ord incidents which are to enliven
the campaign during the next four
weeks. 4 particularly heavy barrage
Is TO be let down in connection with
the Boston police strike. Delving in
TO the Presidents political past prior
to his Eovernorship of Massachusetts,,
the opposition is going to make pub
lie some aspects of Mr.. Coolidge's ca
reer in both branches of the Bay
State legislature. He is to be de-
picted as a satellite of the late W.
Murray Crane in New England poll
tics and a legislator who never re-
vealed aggressive sympathy on be-
half of the working classes. One
will
handling of his gubernatorial ex-
pense account, known as the gov
ernor's contingent fund"
Then the "dossier' will narrate
Coolidges vice-presidential life, en-
phasizing his failure to take high
moral ground on the Newberry issue
or to acquaint himself, as an ex-of-
ncio member of the Harding cabinet,
with the oil-lease affairs.
SIemp Choice to He Hit.
Coming down to Mr.. Coolidge's
presidential record. the opposition is
going to seize upon his appointment
OF c. Bascom Slemp as the most vul-
nerable point in his armor since Au-
gust, 1923. The well known. charges
that the Presidents secretary sold"
Virginia post office appointments,
which were made while Slemp was
member of the House of Representa-
tives, will be revived and exploited
to the Presidents diScredit.
Opinions differ among politicians as
to the practical value of personal at
tacks on presidential candidates. Many
old hands think they are more likely to
prove boomerangs than anything else.
Their argument is that any man big
enough to be nominated for President by
q major American political party ought
to be immune from mud singing that
seeks to besmirch his individual honor.
The theory is, too that the shrewd men.
bosses and others, who really dictate
presidential nominations. never commit
the fundamental error of putting on the
ticket any man open to personal attack.
The records of men of genuine presiden-
tial stature are always carefully ex-
plored in advance There is no instance
of any great party choosing as its ma
tional standard bearer a politician with
d shady past or a skeleton of destruc-
tive character in his political closet.
Coolidge, Davis and La Toilette, by
virtually unanimous consent, measure
up in personal integrity to the highest
presidential standards, whatever their
shortcomings as statesmen may be. No
body seriously believes that any one of
them is not d model of political probity
The Democrats seem conscious that the
Coolidge myth must be punctured.
somehow, sometime, if the President Is
to be overthrown. 1t will be interesting
to observe whether the tactics to which
Wheeler has been the first to resort can
do the trick.
Copyright. 1924