The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-05-29
HARD ANSWERS
WHITE HOUSE
RIDDLES
Writer Finds President Gets
Work Done Easily With
Few Words Wasted
(continued from First Page)

(Continued from First Page.)
watches his lips at the White House
newspaper conferences.
He parts his lips just as little as
possible. Also, as he. speaks, he
barely moves his lips. He seldom
shows his teeth. At any rate, no
seldom shows more than a passing
tiny CLEAN of them. He talks
almost like a ventriloquist. HIS
words come out from a slit. He
seems almost like statue in a
park pool, with a slight trickle
of words coming mechanically from
narrow aperture in a rnotionless
stone mouth.
Such a man has to be analysed
not by his words but by his acts.
Coolidge's principal acts at present
are those which he performs as ma
tional administrator and then those
which he performs as the maker of
policies for his party and for the
country.
This article will deal with his
acts as national administrator.
He divides all the administrative
| duties of Washington into two
| classes. The first class consists OF
those duties which others can per-
form. The second class consists of
those duties which only he can
perform. He does the latter. He
leaves the former strictly alone.
Succeeds in Purpose.
We never have had a President
in our day who accomplished this
discrimination 30 successfully as
Coolidge.
II Congress sends him an ordinary
bill. involving no question of major
policy, he simply signs it. He let's
Congress attend to its own details
If Secretary of Commerce Hoover
wants to know how to conserve the
salmon which swim in the rivers
of Alaska. he has to ask himself
Coolidge is no expert on gill-nets
and purse.seines and does not try
| to be.
Even in his own unavoidable
duties he sheds the details. One Of
his closest assistants remarked the
other day:
AT first the President looked at
everything l did. He seemed to
want to be sure to know how I
was doing it. Now, unless insist,
he looks at nothing ! do"
| UetS WORK Done.
Coolidge confines himself first to
his own duties and then to the
main lines and high points of his
own duties. The result is that he
| gets his work done The result is
| even that he gets it done easily.
| In modern times in America there
has been a tradition of worrying
! about the "overworked man in the
| LII 4.
tradition, strictly.
rendered the Presidency to John
| Washingten's face was "as serene
and cloudless as the day"
That was antique America
Washington did more work than
anybody else that ever was Presi-
dent. but he did only his own work.
| Coolidge revives that old calm
habit.
He accordingly is not one bit
'overworked." If he has a cold, it
Is not because of the Presidency.
1t is only the same sort Of cold that
millions of his fellow citizens have
who do not live in the White House.
The Presidency is not wearing Cal
vim Coolidge out. 1t Is NOT even
bearing him down. Just as much as
anybody in the whole country, he
goes to bed early and serene and
gets up early and fresh
To order ones life in this way,
while President. must presumably
require thought. Perhaps Calvin
Coolidge, during his silences. thinks
out the things which he will not
permit to come to his desk. Per-
haps his silences constitute-so to
speak-the planning department"
OF his work as he does it.
Every evening his desk is
virtually clear of all the work that,
the day has put upon it, and he il;
free to sit upon the porch for a
while and watch the neighbors go
ing by.
AS an administrator, then, he
shows high personal efficiency. His
desk as an administrator is kept
clear. The precise contrary must
be said about his desk as a maker
OF policy for his party and for the
country.
Copyright. 1924, by Current News
| Features, Incl
Chemical Society Meets