Evening star., 1925-07-30

fact that merit Monday tEttl mark the
end Of the second year since Calvin
Coolidge took the oath of office as
President of the United States.J
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
sWAMPsCoTT, Mass, July 30
| Two years in the White House usually
means midchannel. 1t marks the
| high tide of popularity or the begin
ming Of the ebb-fiow of unpopularity.
| AIid-channei in President Taft's term
told the story of schedule TX" and a
fateful insurgency that spelled po-
| litical disaster. Mid channel with
| President Wilson revealed the great
| Federal Reserve act transmitted into
| a living reform. Mid channel for
| President Harding showed the Wash
| lngton armament conference as the
great achievement in foreign affairs.
but rising dissent on domestic poll
cies, particularly in the railroad and
| coal strike controversies.
! President Coolidge stands in a posi-
ition wholly unlike these prede-
cessors. All but Ave months of his
| first two years as President have been
| spent in filling out the unexpired
term of the man he succeeded. And
| most OF the first year was inevitably
| consumed in maneuvering for the
| presidential nomination, so that not
4
did the country feel that Mr.. Coolidge
| was President in his own right" as
| the phrase goes. He has, however
been in Office almost year now
under the latter classification
Is Mr.. Coolidge more popular than
he was when elected last Autumn, or
has his political strength declined?
| reVerses, or is his own political sagac-
ity responsible for the relative har-
mony that prevails inside his party?
| These two questions are natural to
| ask at the midchannel period in any
| presidential career. Calvin Coolidge
| has had the opportunity to reveal
himself to the American people in two
years, but even his friends concede
that he has not disclosed much more
OF his personality than was apparent
When he took the oath of Office. He Is
first OF all not of a self-revealing dis
position. He does not place the
processes of his mind In the public
prints. where they can be minutely
examined. He perceives as much
| virtue in restraint as in Affirmative
action. And by that standard must
all impressions of him be measured.
Economy His Forte.
If Mr.. Coolidge were to be asked
| wherein his term of Office thus far
differs from that of preceding Presi-
dents, he probably would say that 1t
has been less spectacular or perhaps
less picturesque Nobody knows bet
ter than he does how difficult II is to
dramatize statistics. and. after all, the
biggest single achievement of Mfr.
Cooltdge's career-one that will live
after him no matter what happens in
the next years OF his public service
Is his insistence on economy in Gov
ernment expenditure and a reduction
in income taxes. These two things go
hand in hand. They afford, however,
no opportunity to reveal in public the
character and positiveness of a presi-
Dental mind in action upon them.
Only the cabinet officers and their
subordtnates know that with utter
simplicity, yet with an earnestness
and even a severity which could not
be misunderstood, Mr.. Coolidge told
the personnel of the Government from
high to low station that economy
meant economy.
II requires political nerve to refuse
to sanction expenditures sought here
and there by influential members of
Congress. 1t requires considerable pa
tience TO conceal the irritation that
rises every now and then when econ
omy Is disregarded and the presiden-
tial policy really fiouted.
Has Made It Real.
Gen. Lord, director of the budget,
has stood at the Presidents elbow or
at the end of a telephone for nearly
two years, and he knows the battle
1 that Calvin Coolidge has waged quiet
ly to make the word economy a real
ity instead of a piece of political dema-
goguery.
Some have called II New England
thrift and have professed to see in the
Presidents whole life a tendency to-
ward economy and an adherence of
excessive spending. But even assum-
ing a certain instinct toward frugality,
there is no question that paramount
in the mind of Calvin Coolidge econ
omy and lower taxes constituted the
best piece Of politics on which he
could venture before the electorate.
Having spent most of his active life
in politics, Mr.. Coolidge knew the re-
| action of people to that issue. And
he gives no evidence of having be-
come convinced that the issue has out
lived its usefulness. He knows that
one good issue can transcend dozen
mediocre issues. And so il may be
confidently expected that two years
hence Calvin Coolidge will be preach
ing economy as earnestly as he did
two years ago when he drafted his
first message to Congress.
Mr.. Coolidge has the type of mind
which gives weight to the opinion of
his advisers. He early learned the
soundness Of the policy started by the
Treasury Department Immediately
after the war and continued by Secre.
tary Mellon on an even broader scale
namely, the retirement of the big
public debt. He saw, too. the necessity
of bringing income tax rates down, SO
as to make the total revenues larger.
On the essentials of the Mellon theory
of taxation Mr.. Coolidge found him.
self in absolute accord with the Treas.
ury, and then came the use of execu.
tive influence to secure the enactment
Of that policy. Mr.. Coolidge did not
succeed in the first attempt as well
as he might. He was inclined to let
the Treasury deal with the leaders in
Congress. He was a bit new in office
himself.
4, Is Stronger Now.
Now, however, things have changed
Mr.. Coolidge Is stronger--or at least
feels himself stronger with public
opinion-than Congress He will insist
upon further economy and further
reductions in taxes. He will stake
everything on that and regard the
previous defeats he has received al
the hands of Congress as due to his
own undeveloped strength rather than
any inherent flaw in his proposals.
For, to be sure, Mr.. Coolidge has
suffered some defeats on Capitol Hill
one of them within few DAYS after
he had been tnaugurated, truly ar
unprecedented reverse. But 1t has
, not hurt him politically with his own
party, and disinterested observers
question whether 1t has affected at al
outside of Congress.
!. Mr.. Coolidge's handling Of Congress
, thus far has not been as successfuI As