Evening star., 1924-01-30

After paying tribute to those pres
ent who came from Ohio, President
calvin Coolidge, in an address before
the Ohio Society of the District of CO.
lumbia. meeting at Rauscher's last
night to celebrate the birthday ami
versary of William Mckinley, declared
that no matter what the perpleXities
may be in the future the fate of the
nation will be safe in the hands of the
youth OF. America.
The, President said that the people of
this Country are too prone to look on
the dark side of things; too prone to be
a. little pessimistic about our affairs,
about people and about our country
and its opportunities. But, whatever
may be the perpleXities of the day.
whatever may be the perpleXitieS of to-
morrow, there is coming on in the youth
of your state and my state, and of the
nation, character and ability to meet
them and to solve them all for the well
fare of humanity
Taft Presiding Officer.
William Howard Taft, Chief JUS
tice of the United States Supreme
Court, president of this society, pre-
sided at this gathering. in which there
Were more than 500 men and women,
who greeted President Coolidge in
highly enthusiastic manner and who
gave evidence of being deeply i'm
pressed by his speech. Mr.. Taft. in
introducing the President to the So
cIety, said that inaSmuch as fate de-
creed that Warren Harding should be
taken away while in the White House,
it was most fortunate for the nation
that man of the character and abil-.
ity and preparedness of Calvin Cool
idge was Vice President
Mr.. Taft, in his Introductory re-
marks spoke with pride of the Ohio
Society and paid a tribute to the late
William r. Day. former justice of
the Supreme Court, who was his
predecessor as president of the soci-
ETY.. He also spoke feelingly and eu-
logiStically of Presidents Mckinley,
Harding and Garfield.
The large ballroom, in which the
was held, was attractively
decorated Besides orchestral music,
Miss Gretchen Hood sang. Following
the meeting a buffet supper was
served and the. celebration was con-
cluded with dancing. President and
Mrs Coolidge left shortly after he
delivered his address.
President Coolidge's address in full
follows:
Text of Presidents Address
IF / had been a native son myself
You could not have given ME a more
cordial reception. Since i have been
in Washington, for the past three
years-almost three years now-ru-
morS have come to me that there
were here in public service repre-
sentatives of your great state. but
until | came here this evening i did
not realize how really numerous you
were. You come here because of
You We're born there and reared
there, most of you; perhaps some
other tie binds you closely to her
soil, and as you think of that state
your minds go back to your child
hood; to the first realization you had
of home. Perhaps it includes with
it the childhood education, always
an interesting memory; boys and
girls with whom you were associated.
your friends, your relatives. the
schoolhouse, large and small, where
you first began to gather in the
knowledge of the world and it's way
that have brought YOU to your pres
ent positions, and You think of the
state from that point of view, cher
sh it in that way
Another state holds that place in
my affection. We on the outside of
Ohio think of it in another and
different way. We think of it especi-
ally as represented by long line of
men. ! am not willing yet
TO admit that l am old. My recollec-
ton does not go back quite SO far even
as that of Judge Taft. but it goes back
d considerable distance, and L re-
member my early schoolhood days
and one of the exercises that was
given to us. which We repeated al
most daily at the end of what seemed
to me very tiresome day of six
hours always, was the Presidents of
the United States; of course the gov
ernor of our own state. sometimes
some members of the cabinet.
Recalls Rutherford b. Hayes.
81 recollect that the first President
whose name | recall was that of
B. Hayes. 1t was the first
name that attracted me rather than
his last name, and as l came to know
of him later, l learned that he was
man Of ability, who discharged
But. unfortunately, circumstances
made it inexpedient to renominate
him, but that was not to detract ,
from the acclaims of the state of .
Ohio. so that when the convention
came around they nominated another
man.
That is the first Presidential
of which I have any recol-
lection-the campaign that resulted
in the election of James A. Garfield of
Ohio to be President of the United
States. There is little incident con-
nected with that. which 1 have told
before in private rather than in pub
lie. Perhaps l may be pardoned for !
relating it here because 1t made a
very deep impression upon me and
fixed certain fundamentals of what l
believed to be sound political econ
omy firmly in my mind. 1t was dur ,
ing that campaign that /, as small
boy, approached my father, who was a
very good business man, with the
that he should furnish
me with penny with which to buy
some candy. He told me that we
were in the midst of a political cam
paign and that there was a probabili-
ty, possibility, at least. that we were
going to elect democrat for presi-
dent. Suoh an action. he said. would ,
be followed by hard |
times, and therefore it was necessary .
to economize.
THAT was good. sound doctrine.
think; anyhow it had to do for me.
But l recall that the next morning
after the election-that was as soon
as the news reached our town.
learned that James A. GarieH had
been chosen President, l went tc my
father and told him that the result
indicated we We're to continue a re-
publican administration, and with
that prospect in view. 1 was able to
secure the advance of, 1 think, the
sum | had asked. But the lesson
was that under republican adminis-
tration we might expect good times
and under democratic administers
tion there was danger of hard times
"a lesson that l have seen borne ont
more or less in my experience.
Studied Campaign Book.
"Of course. I was interested also in
that campaign by reason of the fact
that when the campaign book came
Il. ound my father said he would buv
had forgotten about the hard
times then. l think the campaign booI,
was something like SO, and he said he
would buy it If l would read it, | agreed
to that, and he bought the book and