Evening star., 1925-07-05

that Gen. Dawes is exploiting Senate
reform as smoke screen for presi-
dental plans in 1928. With all the
vim, vigor and vehemence he pos
sesses, Dawes denies this soft i'm
parchment. Like his superior execu-
tive officer. the Vice President of the
United States may not be quoted. But
his whole bearing is that of violent and
explosive impatience with the taunt
that personal interest, not public good,
is the handspring of the warfare in
which he is now enlisted.
Dawes friends see in the effort to
depict him as presidential aspir-
ant, and, therefore, a rival of Mr..
Coolidge, desire to discredit him
with the President and with the
public generally, on the Senate issue.
1t is insisted in Chicago that Dawes
is not a candidate for anything on
earth except victory in the conflict
with Senate tyranny" and, old fogey-
ism. If he can overthrow them. he
Will achieve the goal of all the politi-
cal ambitions he cherishes at the
moment. Dawes friends point out
that II the Vice President were now
cunning for the White House he
would specialize in pussy footing and
not embark upon a Hell-and- Maria
expedition that is loaded with polit-
ical dynamite. He would be reduc-
ing the visible supply of elbow
grease, back-slapping the leaders"
and generally currying favor with the
practical gentlemen known as the
powers that-be. None of these things
finds place in the Dawes program.
What his devoted supporters and ad-
mirers plan and hope-that's another
story, and one of which, this writer
is convinced, more is going to be
heard.
Respects President
There is impatience, too, and some
thing more, in the Dawes region. with
the recurrent reports of hostility be-
tween the Vice President and Mr..
Coolidge. No tinge of bad blood is
discernible hereabouts. Dawes con-
fesses the deepest respect for the
president, both as man and states.
man. AS the first director of the
budget the Vice President greatly
admires the tenacity with which Mr..
Coolidge is conducting his economy
drive. 1t is conceded that the
methods of the two men differ, and
that they do not always see eye to
eye. But from the Vice Presidents
standpoint. there has not been. and
Is not now, the remotest kind of
breach or break between them, or any
cause for one, to say nothing at all
of enmity.
If Dawes hat were in the ring for
the presidency, that would be horse
of different color But it isn't. And
that's all there is at this writing to
the Coolidge-Dawes feud of current
romance and rumor When the Vice
President was installing the budget in
Washington in 1921 and 1922, he and
MRS. Dawes lived a few doors away
from the Coolidges in the same hotel.
A friendship there was struck I'D. of
a peculiarly intimate kind The
Dawses are not aware of any rife in
the lutte, either personal or political.
Fifty Senators Saving Wood.
AS far as the Vice President has
been able to check up, % United
States Senator'S thus far have come
out IN favor of changes in the rules,
ana, by a strange coincidence, %
Senator's also have come out in oppo-
sition. This total of A, who are on
record, leaves so taking the passing
OF La Toilette and Ladd into account)
VINO are not yet committed. Thus,
more than a ma ajority of the Senate as
now constituted is pursuing the canny
ways OF Senator Jim" E. Watson.
Hepublican, of Indiana. They are
oa"ihS Woou. FROM Inc Dawes angle
there is method in this reticence. The
Vice Presidents supporters diagnose
the reluctance of the falterins so as
anxiety to see what is going to hap
pen to the prairie fire Dawes has set
going.
Prairie fire" is exactly the figure of
speech Dawes is fondest of. when he
can be persuaded to discuss his cam
paign. Sometimes he calls it a hon.
fire. The point stressed in this inf1am-
mable connection is that peoDle who
want to put out either a bonfire or a
prairie fire don't usually stand aloof
and let it burn. They clear for action.
They try to stop its spread. If thew
maintain the role of inactive obsery-
ers, the contention is that they either
know they can't extinguish the fire or
are afraid of being consumed by its
devastating flames.
Gen. Dawes is subjected to some of
his heaviest criticisms for failing to
get down to brass tacks on changes in
the Senate rules Opponents charge
him with being vague and visionary,
instead of definite and practical They
complain that the Vice President re-
fuses to indicate what he's driving
at" Dawes is determined not to be
drawn into position where the great
er issue can be clouded by details. For
the moment he is concentrating on
principles. not paragraphs. He is bent
on getting to the country the broad
fundamentals of the question he has
raised, rather than particularized ways
and mans fQR sQaEp&r in These he