Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-03
COOLIDGE SILENCE SEEN
AS PROTECTIVE ARMOR
President Is Genial, Humorous and
Even Loquacious at Times,
Writer Asserts.


ask his secretary to get together the
material about the man. or the COM
munity. or the subject that Is to be
honored. The secretary does perfume
| tory job, and in consequence the result
| ing speech has areas of perfunctortneSs.
| Some such explanation as this accounts
| for the fact that portions OF few OF
Mr.. Coolidge's speeches have no more
| elevation than an article in an encyclo-
pedia. Indeed, few of Mr.. Coolidge's
speeches show evidence that his secre-
tary leaned heavily for his material on
an encyclopedia origin.
! In Mr.. Coolidge'S speeches there has
been comparably little of this. He
/ has been a Woodworking President. So
far as human limitations permitted, he
has driven himself to the writing of
his speeches with the same fidelity that
he has given to all his tasks When
Mr.. Coolidge has done this. when he
has been at his best. his speeches have
ranked with the best.
II is commonly supposed that Mr..
Coolidge as ex-PreSident will do good
deal of writing. It is possible he may
make writing his career. Assuming he
does, he can, subject to one proviso.
become very valuable to America. The
proviso is that he shall be without self
| consciousness, that he shall get rid c.
repression.
Repression and self-control have been
outstanding qualities of Mr.. Coolidges
actions as President. For the manage
ment of public affairs they are, in some
eras. valuable qualities. but in writing.
repression and self-consciousness are
impediments to value. Indeed, they are
the negation of value. A writer is val
liable. other things being equal. in pro-
portion as he gives free rein to what he
really thinks and feels.
Mr.. Coolidge did some writing for
magazines during period when he was
Vice President. Most Of that output
was disappointing. His circumstances at
that time made him cautious. AS Vice
President he could say nothing that
might conflict with the views of his SUI
perior. That was one cause of repres-
sion. Moreover. as Vice President he
could not know whether or not he would
have a larger future, whether he might
become President. A prudence even
less than Mr.. Coolidge's would have
dictated that he must be careful to say
nothing which might interfere with his
later career.
There are several examples Of the way
Mr.. Coolidge can hit out when he Is
free from representation he releases
the brake and opens the throttle. One
Of the most conspicuous was the veto
message with which he ended the Nc
Nary-Haugen bill. Such phrases as
bureaucracy gone mad" "a mass Of
ponderously futile bureaucratic para
phernalia." Those phrases recall one Of
two OF Cleveland'S that became famous,
"innocuous desuetude." But Mr. Cool
idge's denunciation of the McNary-
Haugen bill was really more pungent
and more powerful than anything Cleve-
land did to his enemies.
In that same veto of the McNary-
Haugen bill were such passages as:
This plague of petty oficialdom
would set up an intolerable tyranny over
the lives and operations of farmers"
THE bill runs counter to an economic
law as well settled as the law of gravita-
ton"
THE futile sophistries of such q sys-
tenn of wholesale commercial doles FOR
special groups"
"Delude the farmer with q fantastic
promise of unwarrantable Government
price-fixing"
And such epigrams as:
Fiat prices match the folly of fat
money"
That was the real Mr.. Coolidge when
he was in an argumentative mood. Even
better have been the utterances that
have come from Mr.. Coolidge about the
philosophy of existence, the manage
ment Of life.
An outstanding example was the let
ter made public few weeks ago in
which Mr. Coolidge dealt with the need
OF Summer White House. The letter
was written In a mood that surprised
the country. 1t was the mood Of the
real Coolidge. AS Mr.. Coolidge was writ
ing then. so can he write now. il he
will deliberately regard himself as free.
among other passages he said:
Experience in public Office made me
know that whether I was to be over
burdened with work and broken down
in health depended more on myself than
on any act of Congress"
And the following, which should be
borne in mind both by Mr.. Hoover and
by those who will beseech Mr.. Hoover
for speeches:
IF President permits himself to be
engaged in all kinds of outside enter
priseS. in furnishing entertainment and
amusement to great numbers of public
gatherings. undertaking to be the source
of inspiration for every worthy public
movement. for all of which he will be
earnestly besought, with the inference
that unless he responds civilization will
break down and the sole responsibility
| Will NC Olt iiiiilj A1C WILL ldSI III OlllCc
about 90 days"
Another example of Mr. Coolidge at
his literary best was the offhand talk
which Bruce Barton took down in the
Summer of 1926:
Il had always rather hoped that I
might keep store when grew up.
I have never been able to think that
fate was guiding my destiny. I have
rather felt that 1 was obliged to look
after it myself. have found. howevaI.
that when I was doing the right thing
a great many unforeseen elements would
| come in and turn to my advantage.
Presidents are broken down by outside
enterprises. try to remember
that there is only one ex-President
! living"
! One hopes that when Mr.. Coolidge
becomes a professional writer he will
write as Calvin Coolidge the man-not
as Calvin Coolidge with possible future
political career in 1892 or 1896; not as
Calvin Coolidge with a responsibility
for the Republican party-and not as
anything except a wise human being
with sound processes of thought.
| (Copyright, 1927