Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-08
PROSPERITY ISSUE
!. IS AIDING COOLIDGE
:
Headed for Third Term in
J White House, Political
. Observers Believe.
By ROBERT r. SMALL.
Special Dispatch to The Star.


NEW YORK, August president
coolidge either consciously or uncon-
sciously has sounded his own keynote
for 1928. 1t is the prosperity of the
Nation. He regards this as his issue,
and no one can take it away from
him.
Mr.. Cooldges friends believe it
would take great upheaval in
American business to keep the Presi-
dent out ST a third term. SO long as
conditions continue to approximate
the situation of today Mr.. Coolidge
has to do nothing but sit still and re-
main relatively silent.
The President is in the happy posi-
ton Of sitting in the White House at
a time when most of the Nation APP
pears to be contented with it's lot.
Farmers of the corn belt are raging
about conditions in their section of
the country, but when they meet
ostensibly TO denounce the President,
they do not denounce him. They
hope he will see their plight and do
something for it.
The President has his own ideas as
10 the proper farm remedies. They
may not suit the radicals, but evil
IDENTIFY they will get him by, and that
Is what interests the politicians at the
moment.
Entitled to Claim Credit.
1t will do no good for the Demo
Gratis to claim that the country would
be prosperous in spite of Mr.. Coolidge,
or to say that the country would have
recovered from the war period under
any other President. The facts are
that MI. Coolidge is the Chief EX
ecutiye at this most fortunate period
and as such is entitled to claim all
the credit he desires. If the condition
of the country at large were not so
happy, Mr.. Coolidge would get the
= blame. He might try to escape 1t,
but he could not.
A President likewise can get vir-
tually all of the credit out of any
good acts of Congress while escaping
from congressional miSdeedS if he so
desires. Mr.. Coolidge, however, has
taken occasion highly to praise the
last session of Congress and to say
that he and Congress worked in the
finest sort OF harmony.
There are still some who insist that
Mr. Coolidge is not a politician. They
forget that he has been in politics all
of his adult life. Since graduating
from college he has been out of public
office only something like two or three
years. He knows what appeals to the
average man far more than any of the
So-called astute leaders of the party
who were prepared to ditch Mr.. Cool
idge in 1924 and who would like to
sidetrack him today on the third
term" issue.
In 1924 their plans had been
thWarted by the death of President
Harding and the accession of Mr..
Coolidge to the White House. Once
he was in that position of power, Mr..
Coolidge knew how to play the game
tar better than the leaders who had
not been particularly attracted to
him.
Preaching of Economy.
The President has lost none of his
political acumen in the years that
have followed. He has preached
economy day in and day out. Some
OF the Democratic leaders say they
can prove that Government apprO-
priationS are mounting at an alarm
Hlg rate and that Government econ
Omy is a fiction rather than a fact.
Eut the people have heard Mr.. Cool
tdge preaching economy. They have
heard him over the radio. They have
read his speeches in the papers
1t makes no difference if the APP
preparations have gone up and may
be expected to so higher still. The
president has convinced the people
he believes in economy, and the So
called humorous stories which have
been told from time to time to illus
triite the Presidents natural 8 New
England thrift have served to help
rather than harm him Coolidge and
IL,
separated in the public mind, despite
the many stories told of how much
ii costs the people each year to keep
the presidential yacht Mayflower in
commission so that the President and
the First Lady may enjoy their after
noon cruises down the placid stretches
of the Potomac.
View as to Primaries.
Even the keeneSt of the Republican
politicians admit they do not see how
President Coolidge is to he kept out
of the nomination in 1928 if the coun-
try remains prosperous. They do not
believe that the scandals" in the
Republican primaries will react in
any way against the President. He
had nothing to do with them, just as
he had nothing To do with the oil
scandals which marked the close of
the short Harding administration.
President Coolidge is able to take
advantage Of everything good that is
done in the name of the Republican
party, but suffers not Il whit from
any evil which may be committed in
its name He is Of the party and
Yet not Of it. He occupies, in fact, a
position unique in American political
history. Hence. it will not he sur
prising if he turns that history upside
down by serving the unprecedented
"third term"
fCopyricht. 1920