Evening star., 1925-03-04
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE

In the man himself, not in his
inaugural address, the country must
look for signs of "the new Coolidge"
The Presidents policies have not
changed, but he has. His 5,000-word
message reveals In no direction any
departure from principles and pro-
grams hitherto proclaimed. On them
he stands pat. But in various vital
respects Calvin Coolidge is as diff
ferent today from. what he was in
August, 1929, as traditional day from
night He has found himself. He
sits firmly In the saddle. He has
learned the ropes. He has become
President unafraid. That Is the Cool
idge that was inaugurated Chief Ex-
ecutive of the republic this day.
Cooperation with the outside world,
on lines laid down at the Washington
armament conference and as exempli-
fed by our participation in the Dawes
reparations plan, Is Calvin Coolidge's
foreign policy boiled down to es-
sentials. The President favors Amer
ican adherence" to the World Court.
as he always has, without saying
what kind OF a court-whether the
Harding Hughes court or the Pepper
court, or the Borah court. In the
realm of armaments, Mr.. Coolidge
calls for an intensely modern" de-
fensive establishment, but one that
shall be neither a menace nor a spur
to International competition in armies,
navies or air fleets. There is con-
spicuous absence of any specific hint
of Mr.. Coolidge's. intention to call
another disarmament conference. He
has said in the past that he is dis
posed to await the outcome of Eu-
ropes efforts, under League of Ma
tions auspices. to assemble an arms
conference. Evidently the President
does not think the time has yet come
to snatch the initiative out of the
Old Worlds hands.
There is another glaring omission in
Mr.. Coolidge's- inaugural discussion Of
the International situation. He makes
not the slightest reference to the
S12, 900, zoe, zoo which allied Europe
owes the United States Treasury
Perhaps the. President intends this
cryptic passage to have meaning of
it's own for France, Italy, Belgium
and our other transatlantic debtors:
"s Our program Is never to op-
press, but always to assist. But while
we do Justice to others, we must re-
quire that justice be done to us. We
nave maze ETeAt 10 the
settlement of contentious differences
in both Europe and Asia. But there
is q. very difinfte point beyond which
we cannot CO."
That Is as near a please remit
notice as Calvin Coolidge serves on
the European governments that have
not yet followed Great Britain's fund
ing example.
~ * x
Americans who favor the recogni-
tion, of Soviet Russia will find no
comfort In President Coolidge's first
inaugural address. The subject Is not
mentioned or even limited at. There
is no suggestion that Senator Borah's
plan for commission" to investi-
gate the desirability of recognition is
receiving White House consideration.
Mr.. Coolidge 'manifest1y feels that he
has more than once laid America s
Russian cards on the table, for the
autocrats of Moscow to look at and
ponder over, and that there is no vir-
tue in reiterating conditions which
the Soviet appears to have no inten-
ton of meeting.
y y *
It is only when he approaches
purely domestic issues that the Presi-