Evening star., 1928-11-25
Continued From First Page.)

in his agreeable, easy manner. There Is
never any stir there, never any hustle.
His desk is clear except for a few
beautifully sharpened pencils, a few
flowers and the neat card typed with
list of the Presidents engagements,
which stands up in frame like a
chefs menu.
Everywhere is an air of imperturba-
bility--not of lifelessness. but of serenity.
Just to walk into that room is sooth-
ing to the politically hysterical. There
they get reassured. In the background
passes with soft steps one Rudolph For
ster, permanent assistant to any secre-
tary any President may have. He seems
to be doing nothing In particular, yet
actually knows everything, his memories
of the White House going back to the
beginning of the century.
These two-Sanders in the foreground
Forster in the background-are what
the regular visitor to the White House
in its executive wing sees when he goes
to keep an appointment with the Pres
ident.
Where One Finds Clark.
When he goes to see Clark, instead of
entering that sunny -windowed room, the
visitor turns off to the left, down dark
ish corridor (perhaps thinking as he
goes how dismal it Is compared to SIM
liar Offices In the great chancelleries of
Europe). And then he turns into a
room so dark that 1t is almost always
artif1cially lighted.
There. unobtrusiVely In the farther
corner, he may see Clark. Unlike his
colleagues in most other respects. Clark
resembles Sanders in this: Both have
| had long and efficient training in pol
| itics.
Lodge, the master politician, was
Clark's master. While he was with
Lodge he learned, with other things,
| the Importance of listening to all sorts
of people, the Importance of contacts.
! the importance of thinking yourself
into the other fellows mind With Lodge
| he learned the benefit of the quiet
method and how to avoid public Incl
| dents. His philosophy of politics Is
| that it must contain no incidents, There
fore, the important things about him
are not the incidents which could not
happen, but the political wisdom he
| has attained under Lodge and under
Coolidge and through his multiplicity
of contacts.
He begins with a conviction that the
first point is to keep your own charac-
ter spotless. He doesn't begin by won-
dering what is popular. The really i'm
portant thing is your record In office.
Never Goes Dragon Hunting.
Next, Clark never goes dragon hunt
ing. In other words, he doesn't see why
he should go after a public issue unless
1t is his own specific duty to do so. Nor
does he invent dragons to hunt And
II there are any dragons about, mewing
and splitting fire, even then he wouldn't
go after them unless the public had put
into his hands hunters license.
And next, your position is shown by
your acts. You don't talk much about
what you are going to do. You DON'T
talk much about what you have done.
Your acts do your talking.
In other words. If you can, without
shouting about it, dig out a dragons
left eye, you have done more to protect
your countrymen than II you stay up in
a tower delivering blasts of language at
him. And your board of strategy is as
big and, as wide as the world.
With that sort of philosophy. 1t is
quite natural that Clark, like Coolidge,
should take a whimsical view of all the
meaningless stage thunders of politics,
Of all the tranSitory so-called "impor-
tant issues" such as Did Hoover owe
his nomination to Senator Swat of
Swatville?" and that line of ballyhoo.
| LIE WIliIIlpCtIl6 CdIupdlSLl Idloco UIlIy
a sort Of quizzical contempt in them
said that Clark begins his politics
in character He also ends 1t there.
He is master judge of human nature.
He will leave the obscure corner in the
darkish room and come out into the hall
and lead the visitor into the formal re-
ception room and sit on the sofa and
chat while the wide doors remain most
unsecretively open. Or he will stand in
the doorway which commands fine
view Of the south lawn Of the White
House-and, incidentally, of the White
House family wash.
His large dark blue eyes will crinkle
with easy laughter and seem never to be
focusing incisively upon the caller. All
the while his mind is making It's own
penetrating analyses And he will be-
tray the habit of the cautious man, Of
the man who carries successfully the