Evening star., 1927-05-21
HUGHES SUPPORTS
COOLIDGE FOR 1928
Leaders Consider His Stand
as Political UtteranCe of
Utmost Significance.
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.


Charles Evans Hughes announce
| ment that he stands for the re-elec-
tion of President Coolidge first, last
and all the time" was accepted here
by prominent Republicans as a politi-
! cal utterance of the utmost signifi-
canoe.
| Mr.. Hughes own name has been
! during the last six weeks prominently
mentioned as the likely Republican
nominee for President i'm the event
| President Coolidge should declare
| himself unwilling to be a candidate.
! Indeed. several of the leaders of the
party in the East have assiduously
| circulated the prediction that Mr.
| Hughes would be the choice of the
| party in the 1928 convention if Presi-
| dent Coolidge were out of the run
ming. Not little quiet work has
been done along this line, but ap-
parently without consultation with
Mr.. Hughes himself.
Spikes Own Boom.
Now the former Secretary of State
! has himself spiked the Hughes boom,
| if ii can be called such. He has de-
/ clared that he will neither seek nor
| accept" the nomination for President
next year. His announcement made
Yesterday in New York. followed the
publication of reports in the news
! papers that he was to be the choice
f! of many Republicans for the nomina-
| ton il the President should take him.
/ self out of the picture or should be-
| come unavailable for any reason.
erfxs fxx-N trnu
! his formal statement for his attitude.
| The first is that he is for President
! Coolidge The second is that he is
| himself too old. His statement fol-
| lows:
| II know nothing of the movement
| to which reference is made" Mr..
! Hughes said. There should be no
! doubt as to my own altitude. | am
| for President Coolidge. first. last and
all the time, and l believe that he
| will be renominated and reelected. /
f! do not wish my name to be used In
any contingency. 1 am too old to run
! for President and l would neither seek
! nor accept the nomination"
! The so-called third-term issue.
! which opponents of President Cool
/ idge have raised against him already,
/ has no weight apparently with Mr..
/ Hughes. 1t is clear that the New
Yorker. who was the nominee of"his
party in 1916, does not take stock in
the issue. that he does not believe
that another term of office would be
! in reality a third term for President
Coolidge.
Considers 1t No Obstacle.
His assertion that Mr.. Coolidge
will be renominated and reelected
that the third-term issue will be
real obstacle either in the nominating
convention or in the general election.
Coming from an authority on
American government of the eminence
of Mr.. Hughes, this opinion doubtless
will have no little effect upon public
opinion 1t backs up the views already
expressed by other leaders of the Re-
publican party in many parts Oh the
country. 1t follows close upon the
heels of similar statement from Sec
retary Hoover, who. like Mr.. Hughes,
has been prominently mentioned as
presidential possibility in the event
Mr.. Coolidge is not the nominee
SO far the opponents of President
CoolideeS reelection in the Republl-
can party have had their difficulties
in finding an outstanding RepuDllcan
to enter the lists against the President,
if he is to be a candidate for re-
nomination.
Former Gov. Frank o. Lowden of
Illinois, champion of the principle OF
the McNaryHaugen farm RELIEF bill,
is the only man who has yet Indicated
that he might be willing to enter the
running. Mr.. Lowdens boom has been
launched and LOwden-fOr-Pr President
Clubs have been organized III several
States. and headquarters have been
opened in New York.
Lowden Older Than Hughes.
Right here Mr.. Hughes second rea-
son for eliminating himself from con-
sideration for the nomination becomes
interesting. He is 65 year old. If he
became President March I, 1929. Mr..
Hughes would be almost 67 years old.
Mr.. Lowden, however, is older than
Mr.. Hughes by more than year, and
If he were inaugurated President in
1929, MIR. Lowden would then be 63
years old Only one President of the
United States has been as old when
he was first inaugurated, President
William Henry Harrison, and he died
within few weeks after entering the
White House.
The only real opposition which has
developed to the reelection of Presi-
dent Coolidge has been in the corn
and wheat belts of the Middle West
and the Northwest, based entirely on
the opposition of the President to the
McNary -Haugen farm relief bill.
Reports from the far West all indicate
that no one but Mr.. Coolidge is now
being seriously considered as the Re
publican standard bearer next year
That section of the country, like the
East, apparently is thoroughly salts
fled with the Coolidge administration
of the Government. Even in the Mid
die West. many of the leading Repub |
licans declare themselves in favor of |
the denomination of the President.