Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-15
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Another career diplomat"-despite
the shot which Vice President Dawes
has just taken at that caste-is I'M
derstood to be slated for an important
promotion. He is Nelson T. Johnson,
now chief of the Far Eastern division
in the State Department, and the post
to which it is reported that President
Coolidge shortly will elevate him is
an Assistant Secretaryship of State.
The position will become vacant with
the impending transfer of Col. Robert
E. Odds to the UndersecretaryShip of
State, now held by Joseph c. Grew,
Ambassador designate to Turkey. Mr..
Johnson is one of the United States
foremost authorities on China and the
Far East. He is a native of Wash
ington, d. c., but claims Oklahoma
as his residence. Johnson this Sum-
ner is completing his twentieth sue
cessive year in the foreign service.
He entered it as a student interpreter
in China in 1907, and since then has
functioned as a consular officer at
Mukden, Hardin, Hankow, Shanghai,
Chungking and Changsha. He's been
on duty in the State Department since
1925. Johnson speaks classic Chinese.
President Coolidge, in the opinion
OF some close observers, is very tired
man and Is embarking upon a vaca.
ton not n day too soon. There are
those who think they detected fatigue
in some of the Presidents most re-
cent public addresses, although by
common consent Mr.. Coolidge was
never happier in expression nor more
buoyant in manner than on Lind.
bergh day." Even a man like the
Chief Executive, who is often called
worry-proof, yields to the wear and
tear of White House duty. 1t is a
grinding, relentless, unceasing drive
of an existence that the President Of
the United States leads. Grave re.
sponsibility rests upon his shoulders
every hour of the day. The next
tweivemonth will lay particularly
heavy burdens upon Calvin Coolidge.
He will have an exacting Congress on
his hands, for one thing. Whether the
President is to be a candidate for re-
election or not, he will be in the fore.
front Of the 1928 campaign as the off,
cial leader of the Republican party.
For all these reasons Mr.. Coolidge has
made no secret of his determination
to get out of the Black Hills every
inch Of physical and mental benefit
possible.
From the distressed Mississippi
Hood districts comes one ray of humor,
for the authenticity Of which no other
than Secretary Hoover is said to
vouch. 1t is related that, in company
with Red Cross relief officials, Hoover
called upon a colored woman who had
given birth to twin girls in a refugee
camp. Doctors and nurses Were busy
administering treatment to ward off
contagion. The dusky mother, when
asked what she had christened her
twins, replied, Vaccine and Serum. I"
y y + Il
Over at Boiling Field, the Army
air base near Washington, there are
half a dozen especially trim-looking
and confidence.inspiring planes, to
which visitors attention Is usually
drawn They were pointed out to this
observer the morning Col. Lindbergh
hoped off for the big noise in New
York. They're the ships In which
the generals cruise" explained a
husky young flying officer. because
they're the safest machines on the
field. We call 'enl sacred cows"
~ n
New YORK University conferred an
honorary LII. D. upon Secretary Kel.
logg the other day. The citation which
accompanied thu bestowal Of the cap
md gown by Chancellor Brown took
ognizance, in the following terms, of
he rough and rocky road which KEEL
>gg has recently been travelling:
You were born to high response.
bilities, and they have crowded
upon you throughout the years of
your public life. In no one of
those years have you been more
beset with harassing perplexities
and cares than in the twelvemonth
through which we have Just come.
1t has been your difficult task to
shape and maintain, unimpaired,
foreign policy that shall be strong
in the present and wise for the
future: that shall compel respect