Evening star., 1925-03-03
COOLIDGE TOSTART
TERM WELL LIKED
National Confidence Strongly
lndicated-Economy Prin-
cipal Hold on Public.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


Calvin Coolidge enters upon the
first presidential term in his own
right strongly intrenched in public
confidence. An apprenticeship" of
II months in the White House stands
TO his credit. 1t is the opinion OF
friend and foe that he has acquitted
himself perhaps not brilliantly and
certainly not pyrotechnically, but to
the general and widespread satisfac
lon of the country as a whole.
In the inauguration crowds there
are hundreds Of Democrats. This
writer encountered a group OF them
from rock ribbed Democratic Texas.
Texas is for Coolidge because IL
thinks he's all right" said a cotton
planter from Galveston. Thousands
of Texas Democrats voted for him.
He's all right"
EpitOmizes General Feeling.
In that familiar American idiom,
He's all right" is epitomized a pop
ular sentiment toward Coolidge that
is as wide as the Republic itself. II
Is cherished by many who coucede
that the President has decided limita-
tions-who think, for example, that
he lacks the force of Roosevelt and
the intellect of Wilson, but who be-
lieve he measures up far above the
average run of presidential timber TO
the Nations requirements
II the people from all sections now
gathered in Washington could be polled.
it is a safe conclusion that they would
agree on one thing about Coolidge.
That is, that his present hour strangie
hold on public esteem is due prima
rily to his economy program. There is
no mistake whatever that the Presi
dents insistence upon Government
money saving, in order that there may
be progressive tax reduction, has made
a universal hit with the country.
II is an issue on which no partisan
differences are possible. When John W.
Davis, Mr.. Cooldge's late Democratic
opponent for the presidency, was asked
by Washington newspaper men in the
Senate press gallery yesterday to dis
cuss the Coolidge economy program.
Davis said, in SO many words, that
everybody is for It.
Business Backs Policy.
The business world is particularly
for il, because they see in the economy
program what the President himself
mainly sees in 1.-THE surest, if not
the only method of effecting tax reform.
Every business man in the United
States, whether il be Judge Gary OF
the Steel Corporation, or Mr.. Rookie
feller of the Standard Oil Co, or Julius
Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck & Co., or
the citrus fruit grower in California, or
the cattle rancher in Wyoming, or the
wheat raiser in Kansas, is bending all
his energies in cutting down the cost
of production.
Calvin Coolidge wants to cut down
the cost of producing Government.
He has declared war on overhead"
just like every business man, large
or small, is trying to do. Coolidge
is talking the language of the bust
ness tribe when he breaches economy.
That's why business, irrespective of
it's politics, thinks he's "all right"
And nearly everybody in America, in
some way or other, is in business.
Economy of taxpayers money isn't
the only kind of thrift in Calvin
Coolidge that has made millions of
Americans believe in him. They par
ticularly like his economy Of Ian
guage, as manifested in conversation
at the White House and in public
messages and other utterances. There
is, it ought to be said, bit of myth
about the Presidents taciturnity. He
sometimes talks a great deal. He
speaks volubly to the Washington
correspondents twice a week.
Can Measure His Words.
At his own desk, when he has a
caller on d subject that appeals 10
his, Calvin Coolidge can be. and is,
as chatty as any man. But the pub
lie at large has a conception of him
that is we'll founded as a man who
measures his words when they ought
to be measured. They like that trait
in him. They welcome it in an age
that is heavily surcharged with hot
air.
And then, beyond any shadow of
a doubt, the American people like
the mode of living that MIR. and Mrs.
Coolidge practice. The spectacle
that tens of millions of our people
will envisage on Inauguration night,
of the President sitting quietly at
home in the White House with his
father, and of the first lady of the
land alongside him, with her mother
and a Vermont schoolgirl chum as
house guests-thats the kind OF a
sidelight on the Coolidges that has
fortified them in popular regard be-
yond all measure.
The country knows IL is incorrigi-
bly, extravag CANT and often vulgarly
ostentatious. Yet it has plaudtts for
a President and his consort who are
setting as useful an example as our
plutocratic land needs, namely, an
example of simple living. These are
some of the reasons, and the chief
ones why, when Calvin Coolidge
takes the oath of Office on March 4.
an almost incomparably fervent
chorus of national good will will
echo across the continent.
Copyright, 1921