Evening star., 1925-02-19
SPEECH STIRRED G. o. P.
Burton Placed Coolidge in Nom
ination at Cleveland.
BIZ ROBERT r. SMALL.

DR.. Marion L. Burton. who died at
Ann Arbor, Mich. Wednesday, was
one man who felt that he knew Calvin
Coolidge. When he was called upon
to place Mr.. Coolidge in nomination for
the presidency at Cleveland last June
DR.. Burton spoke as a friend. and not
as a politician. He did not deal with
issues He gave his conception of the
man.
DR. Burton is held by many mar
rowly to have escaped the vice presi-
siderable talk of him. and his address
on the life and character of the head
Of the ticket deeply impressed the
delegates. But fortunately, perhaps,
the politicians took the vice presi-
dency in hand, and, while they made
something of hash of it at first, they
seemed TO hit upon strong man al
the end.
Adds Another Death.
DR.. Burton also is another link in
the line of tragedies associated with
the White House during the last four
years, and there is general hope in
Washington that the 4th of the COM
ing March will mark a new and hap
Deaths in the White House circle
have included both President and Mrs.
Harding, DIR. Charles E. Sawyer, the
Harding family physician; young
Calvin Coolidge. Secreatry of Agri-
culture Henry c. Wallace, Mrs. HUI
bert Work, wife Of the Secretary of
the Interior, and Fred W. Upham ef
the Republican national committee.
who was constantly White House
guest during the Harding regime
President Coolidge chose both wise
" md In Dr purtor
present his name at the Cleveland
convention. Mr.. Coolidge knew, of
course, that his nomination was as
sured long before the delegates gath
cred. He knew that his policies were
generally understood. But he felt
that he himself was scarcely known
to the rank and file of the party
Epic af Praise.
DR.. Burton announced in advance
that he would speak as one who had
known the President for years His
45-minute address was a staccato epic
of praise. Episrammatic eulogies
rippled from an eloquent tongue.
The climax of his address was when
he referred to Mr.. Coolidge in the
words the latter had once employ ed
in speaking of Lincoln:
The great men of. all time baff1e
all analysis and all description"
DR.. Burton, who. as already stated,
felt that he knew MIR. Coolidge better
than any of his political associates,
because of the years he spent in COM
pany with him at Northampton. Mass,
before the President had sat in the
seats Of the mighty, gave his estimate
of the man in rapid-fre sentences.
some of them as terSe as any the
man in the White House has ever
uttered.
Il shall make no effort to exalt
him." said DR.. Burton: he does not
need it. He is not a superman. and
would be the last to think so. There
is not a trace of show or ostentation
about him. He does nothing merely
for appearance.
Never Set Example.
He may be an example. but he
would never set one.
IF it be said that he is rarely COM
mon, it must also be known that he
is nobly uncommon.
"A great man is always simple and
direct. 20
He can see into the very heart of
things.
He never lacks dignity
He has moral fiber. There is a
moral grandeur about him.
You simply can't think of him as
soft and nabby.
He aims actually to do what he
knows he ought to do.
There is a rigor and a visor to
his life which suggests sternness and
discipline.
with him there is no compromise
When he knows what Is right he fol-
lows 1T with resistless logic and per-
sistent endeavor.
He seems the epitome of sheer
self-contTol
He early learned that obedience is
essential In a well ordered group.
"Frugality is a part of his being.
He inherited it out of the BACKGROUND
from which he came.
He Is an humble man. He is su-
perbly American. He is the practical
idealist."
Such was the friend President Cool
idge has lost and deeply mourns.