Evening star., 1926-10-06
A Summer White House Plan.

Capital moving. once favorlte IN
door sport of legislators, has become
obsolete. No longer are demands
heard for the shifting of the seat of
Government from the banks of the
Potomac, where it was established a
century and third ago. The fad for
proposing the removal to point
nearer the seogra phical, or at least the
popula ton center of the country,
passed about thirty-five years back.
But new idea has come forth, of
somewhat the same sort, and accord
ing 20 news dispatch from Fort
Dodge. Iowa. it is to be given express
sion in formal manner at the coming
session of Congress. Representative
Dickinson of the tenth Iowa district
is to offer a bill for the esta blishment
of a Summer White House somewhere
west of the Mississippi. to permit the
President of the United States to
breathe the Air of the West and come
in closer contact with Western senti-
ment"
This idea offers opportunities for de-
velopment. A Midwestern White
House for a President who "hails"
from New England should be accom-
panied by New England Summer
White House for one who may later
be elected from the West. And what
of the South? Should it not have
Summer White House-Or. If the eli
mate be unpropitious for such an es-
tablshment, a Winter White House?
And there is the great Northwest
that corner where the national boun-
Diary reaches the Pacific. Should it
not have a Summer White House to
permit President from one of the
distant sections to assimilate the SEN
timent of that region?
In all consistency, there should be
surely half a dozen summer White
Houses" according to the idea that a
President cannot get into contact with
local sentiment otherwise. Perhaps
there should be forty eight of them
permitting a peripatetic vacation, with
two or three days soiourn in each.
Then would the Chief Executive
breathe the air of not only the West,
but of all parts of the country indis-
criminately.
During the past Summer Mr.. Cool
idge has occupied a Summer White
House" in the Adirondacks There he
country. He did not "brea the the
air" of every State, but he came in
contact with guests, most of them self
invited. but none the less welcome,
from every section. II he had occu-
pied goVernmentally esta blished tenn
porary vacation home Somewhere
| west of the Mississippi" he would
! have had the same range and variety
OF callers and counselors and no more.
1t may be a good idea that Repre-
sentative Dickinson has advanced, but
! it has it's difficulties. and they are of
! just the same nature as the difficult
| ties that beset the Capital movers of
sixty years ago. The moment the pro-
| poSal was made to move the seat of
Government claimants for the capital
| privilege were legion. They qllarreled
/ over their respective advantages, Poll
| ties played a large part in the contro-
versy. Finally a convention was held
| at ST. Louis by the movers" and 1t
was "a veritable Madison Square Gar.
| den affair, complete deadlock, and it
| did not break eventually. as did tina
| blockade of 1924. 1t broke the Capital
moving plan completely, however. And
! Just so will Summer White House
! scheme evoke iea lousies and divergent
! claims, and in the end the matter will
/ be passed up by Congress and left to
the judgment and the wish of the
! Chief Executive. which is precisely
! where it should rest.