Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-13
The President Goes West.

President Coolidge goes West to-
night. For three months the Chief
Executive will remain away from
Washington, unless called back to the
Capital by an emergency not now fore
seen. He goes to merited vacation
in the Black Hills of South Dakota,
Gods country" as the people of the
West say. 1t will be a vacation in
the sense that the President will be in
a secluded spot, where the constant
stream of callers who go daily to the
White House cannot reach him. IT
will be a vacation in the sense
that the President can engage again
in fishing and in tramping in the
woods. 1t will be a vacation in the
sense that many Of the minor matters
of Government, some Of which are
called to the Presidents attention in
Washington, will be left for final de-
cision to the heads of departments.
The President of the United States,
however, can never shake from his
shoulders the entire and enormous re-
sponsibility which attaches to that
Office. He continues the head of the
Government at all times. There is no
acting President" when he leaves the
White House and the Capital. The
Vice President does not take up the
burden of running the Government
when the President is away. The Vice
President, under the system in this
country, acts as President only when
the Chief Executive is removed, dies,
resigns or is unable to perform the
duties.
The West will be glad to welcome
the President of the United States. It.
the Nation should be known in all Sec
tons of the country and that he
should know, through a measure of
personal contact, the problems of
every section. At present the agri-
cultural West presents a real problem.
Upon the proper solution of the farm
economic stability Of the country. So
complex and so intricate are the re-
lations between all forms of activity
in this great country that the dis
tress of one basic industry must in the
end react unfavorably upon the
whole.
Because President Coolidge would
not yield to the demands Of certain
groups in regard to farm legislation,
it has been heralded that his popu-
larity has diminished in the States
of the wheat and corn belts. 1t is diff
flcult to determine whether the groups
which have favored the enactment
Of the McNary- Haugen bill constitute
an organized minority of the farmers
or not. They have been vociferous,
but there are many farmers who do
not believe in the principles Of that
measure. OF one thing, however, the
people Of the West may be sure, the
President is as earnest as any Of them
in his desire to see the farm problem
correctly solved and the farmers
dollar put on a parity with that of
the manufacturer and the Industrial
worker. The suggestion has been put
forward that the administration will
seek during the present congressional
recess to work out legislative pro-
gram that will go far toward meeting
the needs Of the farmers. During the
last Congress, it kept its hands off,
leaving to Congress the determination
of the character of farm legislation.
Only when, in the opinion Of the
President and his advisers, the Con-
gress overstepped the bounds Of
economic reason and stability did the
Executive use the veto power to halt
the McNary -Haugen bill.
In some quarters it has been charg-
ed that the President goes West this
Summer to build up political fences in
order that he may be renominated
and reelected in 1928. But there are
some who can see only politics in any
move which the President may make,
no matter how beneficial to the coun-
try, how wise, or how altruistic.