Evening star., 1925-02-22
COOLIDGE AND THE PRESIDENCY
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

On the occasion of his retiring
from the office of secretary to the
President, Bascom c. Slemp of vir-
ginia has made an announcement OF
Importance. He has told the coun-
try that President Coolidge is beat
ing his job.
The announcement deals a blow to
a popular tradition given wide cur
rency in recent years-namely, that
the business of being President is a
IMAM killing" job. This had almost
been taken for granted when Mr..
Slemp undertook to refute 1t, and
left the inference that the country
may get along without an assistant
to the President
The retiring secretary, after 16
months of service as the Presidents s
chief aide in carrying on the routine
duties of the Executive once, gave
assurance that Mr.. Coolidge is hale
and hearty and that he is finding it
possible to perform his daily round
of duties without undue drain on his
physical and mental resources
Other White House attaches are in
accord with Mr.. Slemp on this point.
There is no politics involved. as the
President only recently emerged
from a successful campaign for re-
election. incidentally. he was the
only one of the principal contestants
who did not take a holiday after the
battle. He simply went on attend
ing to the Nations business, going
for walk every afternoon, taking
an occasional week end cruise down
| the rctomac in the Mayfower, and
all the time handling this job of
his efficiently
There is no particular Coolidge
secret about the why and the where
fore of it all. 1t is not that the Pres
ident is doing less work than his
predecessors in Office. AS a matter
of fact he gets through an enor-
nous amount of work every day,
and the business of the Executive
Office is constantly increasing in
volume.
Some of the reasons for the Presi-
| dents ability to cope successfully
with the physical demands of his
office inhere in Mr.. Coolidge himself,
in his personal characteristics, his
orderly habits, his refusal to be stam-
peded, and his faculty for reserving
himself for the more important ma
| tional problems confronting him.
When all this is said and given due
weight, there is a situation at the
White House today which has been
generally overlook ed, but which goes
| far toward explaining Mr.. Siemp' s
assurances to the country. The busi-
ness of the White House is better err
ganized than it has been in many
years, with the result that while
| more work is being done, the machine
| is moving so smoothly and so effec-
| lively thai the President is not un-
| duly harassed by the peak load.
This situate is due in the main to
| the men around the President-not
| the men like Senator William NJ. But
| ler, chairman of the Republican ma
tional committee, and the various
cabinet officers who have their own
| jobs to look after, but the men OF
| whom little is heard, who are ac-
| tually on duty at the Presidents ell
bow during all the working hours of
| the day.
There are four of these men to whom
| the country and the President owe a
great deal They are: Mr.. Slemp. the
| retiring secretary to the President
| Rudolph Forster, the veteran execu-
| tive secretary; Edward T. Clark, the
private secretary, and Judson c
Welliver, the chief clerk.
The Coolidge Innovations.
President Coolidge made innovations
| in the White House, and these inno-
| vations are to a great extent respon-
| sible for the smooth working ma
chinery of the Executive Office. He
| was the first President who selected
a member of Congress for secretary
Mr.. SIemp's IA years of service in
/ Congress proved an invaluable asse,
| to the President. The fact that he
| has selected Representative Everett
| Sanders of Indiana to succeed SlemI
is taken as an indication that the
| President himself Is convinced OF
the wisdom of this procedure.
| Then again there is Ted" Clark. II
has not been customary for President,
| to have private secretaries of his
| grade and caliber. But here again
the plan has proved highly success
full.
The first thing that Mr.. Slemp dit
| when he came to the White House II
September, 1924, was to ask himsel
the question, What can / do in thi'
position to ease the burden OF thu
PRESIDENTS office and at the same tim'
get the maximum amount of worl
done every day?"
1 Nr. Eemp did several things, On