Milford chronicle., 1925-05-08

lA4lO OAllCS III JnG lltluSL VI d pOpu-
lar acclaim usually reserved for
military heroes or dynamic and ra-
diant leaders of the people, For a
quiet man, not of commanding pres
ence, with no gifts of oratory, and
without the display of any of the
fetching arts of the politician, thus
to have walked away with the great
prize of our national life is certain
ly romantic if anything ever was.
The other part of the almost un-
believable story is the response of
the people to the man who never
made a burning appeal to them.
This was all the more extraOrdi-
nary since America had been going
through a long series of sensation
al experiences in public life We had
had a President like Roosevelt,
skilled in rousing the country to
great emotional heOights. We had
had Woodrow Wilson, with his tai
ent for leadership and his command
of words that "crystallized into epi-
grams as they touched the air" The
war had stirred our national imag-
| ination and made us crave excite
ment. Then came President Hard
ing, with his immense geniality and
personal eXpansiveness. Who could
have dreamed that after all this the
country would turn with eagerness
and enthusiasm to a taciturn and re-
served man of perfect self-control
like Mr. Coolidge? If a writer of
political fiction had pictured such
an abrupt transition, he would have
been regarded as a venturesome ro-
mancer.
1t is wholesome thing for the |
nation thus to have learned that |
some things can be done as well as |
some others. Our public men do not |
need to be all of the same pattern. |
A change in personality and also in
practice may be needed, now and
then, in order to prevent one good
custom from cOrrupting our politics.
Mr.. Coolidge as President went his
own way, and it speedily appeared
that it was a way the people liked.
They saw him apply himself to his
work with infleXible industry With
out haste, yet without rest, he took
up one after another the eXacting
tasks of his great Office. The coun-
try soon discovered that it had
man capable of iron labor, and also
intent on doing thoroughly a big
job of national housekeeping. Others
had preached economy in the vague;
President Coolidge urged it in the
concrete and with one definite ap-
)lication after another. Others had
alked of relieving tax burdens in
this man attacked the
problem in detail, struck his hand
lpon the spot and showed where
his saving could be made and that
'ut in taxation effected.
In word, he exhibited the most 1
lonely virtues of an administrative II
ficer, and the wonder was that II
'eOple who had been so long run
ing after the spectacular and the
rilliant showed that they delighted
D honor this plodding, thrifty, even ii
President. No one
ould have believed it in advance. ii
What, tell eXcitable Americans to j.
eep cool? Urge the most lavish =
eOple on earth to give heed to pet =,
2 savings? 1t was ridiculous to sup 9
ose that this would go with the
reat masses, but it did. Here
gain do we encounter the Coolidge
1t was the most improb- 3
bic thing, yet it happened.
President Coolidge begins his full
'rm of office with an unquestioned
old upon the confidence of his fell
'W-countrymen. They believe not
My that he is safe but that he is
'und. They approve of the person
quality which they have found in
m. They endorse his main policies
Id hope for public benefit from
EN-. Today, with the utmost good
i'll and with quite unusual oblit- 3
alton of party animus, they cher
b the hope that his extraordinary
ccess, which he has taken with
It one trace of vanity, may con-
lue through the next four years.