Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-01
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE

What sort of an impress has Calvin
Coolidge left upon presidential records?
Will it be indelible or epflemeral? Will
the thirtieth President of the United
States be remembered merely as a
cheese-paring Chief Executive who
taught the Nation how to make both
ends meet? Will the Coolidge admin
istration in other words. belong to the
ages as more or less prosaic and ma
terialiStic economy era" or will it re-
ceive finer and more spiritual dis
tinction? 1t will require the perspec-
tive of time to determine the answers
to these various questions, now on many
lips in Washington as Calvin Coolidge
makes his exit from the White House
stage.
This observer ventures the view that
the American people will remember the
Coolidge administration primarily for
other things than reduced budgets, the
curtailment of the national debt and
lower taxes. He believes that the reign
Of Calvin and Grace Coolidge will
live In our history as the age of
presidential simplicity. 1t is useful to
recall the circumstances under which
1t was born. The Government reeked
with scandal in high places. The pop
ular conscience was dulled and callous
In the orgy of postwar luxury and
spending rampant five and half years
ago the theory that the end justifies
the means was gaining extensive vogue
The country was bursting with afflu-
ence. extravaganza was the order of
the day. Money and motors had be-
come national gods. To get rich quick
and to keep up with the JoneSes were
the twin ambitions of Mr.. and Mrs.
Average Man. America succumbed to
vlrulent attack Of nervous prosperity.
Then entered the White House a
homespun New England family-first
OF the breed to inhabit it since the
John Quincy Adams presidency a CEN
fury before. lightning flashed through
the governmental heavens throughout
the Coolidges' first year. Teapot Dome
was its source. The ship of state
rocked: Timid souls thought it would
crash before it righted itself. They did
was on the bridge-an elemental man,
an lmperturbable spirit, an unexcitable
SOUL proof personality. A
Roosevelt doubtless would have grappled
with the oil mess more tempestuously.
More heads might have fallen, and fall
en- sooner. Yet, in due course and with
out sacrifice of single vital national
interest, Coolidge cleaned the Augean
stables. Their noxious .odor filled the
peoples nostrils in 1924. but the Yer
mont Hercules was unopposed for NOM
nation as his own successor and was
overwhelmingly elected.
y X
Mr.. and Mrs. Coolidge were not long
settled at No. 1000 Pennsylvania avenue
before 1t dawned upon the country that
regime of wholesome living was es-
tabilShed there. Their boys were at
Mercersburg-at prep school, like the
sons OF thousands of other American
families. One Of their earliest requests
TO the press Of the country was not to
intrude upon young John and Calvin,
u. educational privacy. The second
born passed on before Mr.. Coolidge was
President year. Probably no one will
ever know the depth of the scar little
CARS death scared across his parents
affections. To the mother 1t brought
especial poignancy. But her heart was
never worn upon her sleeve. Grace
Coolidge kept on smiling. A couple
OF years later the Presidents father,
Col. John Coolidge-mentor, as we'll as
parent-Was taken. That was the Sec
ond great grief Of the White House
family.
\
People addicted to less simple stand
ards would have had their habits of
life gravely wrenched by the succession
of untoward events that logged the
Coolidges' footsteps in the White House.
But 1t happened that Calvin and Grace
Coolidge had no standards that needed
changing. Quiet, common-sense types,
who had never been burdened with
they pursued the even tenor of their !
ways alike in rough as in fair weather. !
1t Is a fierce glare that beats upon |
the presidential throne, but they were
never blinded by it. Instead they
turned the White House into a light
house, beacon Of conservative living