Evening star., 1927-12-06
Statement Void
of Startling
Comment.
ADEQUATE NAVY
TERMED A NEED
Foreign Relations
Given Only Pass
ing Notice.
BY j. RUSSELL YOUNG.

BY J. RUSSELL YOUNG.
President Coolidge's message to
Congress today is void of anything
startling or actually new in presi-
dental comment or recommenda
| ton.
II any one had been anticipating
something different or unusual from
Mr.. Coolidge, probably because of
his announced decision to not be a
candidate to succeed himself, or even
because of the approaching 1923 ma
tional campaign, they were disap-
pointed.
While he did advocate moderate
expansion of the Navy to include
authorization for some new cruisers
and liberality in extending relief to
the Mississippi food area. and adop-
tion of an adequate plan for prevent
ing a recurrence of disaster in that
.section, and a few other though
lesser important things, which were
not included in his 1926 message. they
were merely reiterations of his al
ready known attitude toward these
subjects.
Enlln~.,s Encr~a~ C@x,ya
Otherwise. the Presidents message
varied very little from his former
messages. 1t was a well prepared
| carefully worded presentation of
facts. figures and comment. There
was virtually no departure from his
| customary manner of making known
his views upon the state of the
Union and upon the more important
subjects which should come before
this Congress-.
1t, was, in brief, typical Of the
| Coolidge idea Of presenting such mat
ters to the attention of Congress. In
| style and treatment the message
was "Coolidgesque"-as the writings
| and utterances of the President deal
| ing with domestic and world affairs
nave iOHS since Deen termed.
Mr.. Coolidge reported gratifyingly
of the general prosperity Of the land.
which prosperity. he ventured to pre-
dict. would surely continue If the
people maintained that confidence
which he contends they are entitled
| to have in themselves. in each other.
and in America. The general tone of
| his paper was one of serenity and
| hopefulness. He discussed the vari-
Gus problems Of the country and the
| Government in manner which can
not help but convey the impression
that there is no occasion for alarm
or uneasiness and that there is rea-
son to feel secure, comfortable and
happy.
Stresses Deficit Danger.
| He evinced very little concern
about the internal affairs of this
country or this Governments re-
lations with the other countries Of
| the world, other than his concern
about the possibility of deficit il
| Congress becomes too reckless in ap-
propriating money and in reducing
| taxes.
As for our foreign relations, the
President gave only passing attention
to this subject. combining his remarks
on this generally important subject to
not more than 400 words. and assign.
Ing it place near the very end of
his message. This can be taken to in
dicate that the President has no wor-
ries SO far as our intercourse with
other nations is concerned. He thinks
our differences with Mexico are being
ironed-out to a nicely. and that our
Chinese and Nicaraguan policies are
working satisfactorily.
He again gave assurance of desire
to consider proposals for promoting
peace Of the world, but he did not ex-
press himself as being especially opti.
mistic in this particular In his
opinion, peace comes only from
honesty and fair dealing. from modera.
ton. and generous regard for the
rights of Others and he has little faith
in securing peace through treaties.
Emphasizes Economy.
| The President indicated that he has
great faith in the ability of this Con
gress to work out the mighty destiny
of America, at least for the moment
| Nevertheless, he felt called upon to
dwell at considerable length upon the
need for governmental economy and
J the exerting of extreme care If
I Treasury deficit Is to be ayerteG. AS
! might have been expected. he dis.
played his customary apprehension of
a possible deficit by warning Congress
| of what to expect in the form of
deficit and its disastrous financial
consequences, if that body fails to co.
| operate with his economy program.
He punctuated this admonishmcnt
with the reminder that without con-
structive economy in Government
| expenditures this Nation would not
now be enjoying such a widespread
! and highly comfortable prosperity.
Once again the President empha.
sized what has been accomplished dur
ing the past seven years in reducing
the national debt and again he sound
ed the great need for continued reduc.
ton of this debt. He made it quite
evident that he would infinitely pre-.
fer to see the Treasury surplus ap-
piled TO the debt and let the tax rates
remain as they now are, rather than
enact revision bill carrying the peril
of a deficit. However, he approves
of another cut in the taxes, such as
has been recommended by the Secre.
tary of the Treasury, but he appealed
to Congress to approach this subject
in broad, but cautious and nonparti-
san spirit. He assured Congress that
all of those who participate in finding
a reasonable solution will be entitled
to participate in any credit that ac.
Icrues from it without regard to party
In other words, the President is hop
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