Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-31
PRESIDENT HOLDS
SECRET OF FUTURE
win Take Mystery of Why
He Did Not Choose to Run
/ With Him to Private Life.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


Calvin Coolidge is about to take two
great personal secrets with him into
private life. One is why he did not
choose to run for President in 1928.
The other is what he is going to do
with himself after March 4, 1929.
The best information obtainable-a d-
lnittedly based on the putting-two-
and-two-together SYSTEMS that the
President has not yet made up his mind
about his future activities. If he has,
Mr.. Coolidge, true to form, has kept
the decision exclusively to himself.
On the other hand, he may make
1t known suddenly, and soon. The
Vermonter has lifetime habit of not
broadcasting his intentions on major
occasions until he is on the eve of
carrying them out. His three closest
personal friends-Frank Stearns,
Dwight Morrow and former Senator
Butler-had no inkling of the immor-
tai I-do-not-choose manifesto of Au-
gust 2. 1927, until it was sprung. Mr..
Coolidge's intimates expect the an
nouncement of his post presidential
occupation will be forthcoming under
similar circumstances-Sudden and
with an element of surprise attached
to it.
Has Pick of Jobs.
Only one thing is certain Mr.
Coolidge has his pick of number of
very comfortable jobs. Several of
them are worth more than 100000
year. Neither the concerns in
question nor the President himself have
ever confirmed recurring reports, but
one or two of them circulate with a
persiStency that compels the belief
they may have solid foundation. In
New York the prospect that Mr.. Cool
idge will eventually become chairman
of the board of the United States Steel
Corporation is constantly revived.
ceeded in that post by j. P. Morgan,
Wall Street said-and is still saying
that the place is merely being kept
warm for the retiring President of the
United States. The position pays
$l50,000 a year.
Another siX-figured executive berth
mentioned in connection with Mr.. Cool
idge is the Craftsmanship of the Amer
lean Telephone & Telegraph Co., now
the biggest capitalized corporation on
earth. The American Petroleum InSti-
tute, of which Charles Evans Hughes
is general counsel has also been named
as an organization which would be glad
to enlist President Coolidges services.
the suggestion was heard that his name
at the head of concern representing
the whole oil industry would work
miracles to purify that much-ma-
ligned trade and retrieve some of the
reputation it has lost on account of the
Doheny- Stewart affairs.
The Presidents native State boasts
an old-line life insuranve company,
''The National of Vermont" founded by
Charles Dewey, brother of Admiral
Dewey. There have been circumstantial
statements that Mr.. Coolidge is going
to be. invited to settle down in quaint
and beautiful Montpelier as president
of the company. 1t is in position to
offer him an attractive salary. Earle
S. Kinsley of Rutland, Republican ma
tional committeeman from Vermont. is
National Life man and a longtime
political associate of Mr.. Coolidge.
Comrades in Northampton.
Current stories of the offer of the
University of Michigan presidency to
Mr.. Coolidge draw attention to the oc-
cupation many people think would be
he could 60 back to his alma mater,
Amherst College, and become its head
for the asking. But he probably would
prefer the larger field of activity which
a great university would provide. One
of MIR. Coolidge's closest personal
friends, the late Dr. Marion Lie Roy
Burton, was president of Michigan
when he placed the Vernonter in nom
ination at the Cleveland national con-
Vention in 1924. Coolidge and Burton
were comrades when the former was a
lawyer and the latter a professor in
Northampton.
Writing Is the thing to which many
friends are persuaded that Mr.. Cool
ldge would most like to dedicate himself.
William Howard Taft contributed semi
weekly political articles to the Phila-
oelphla Public Ledger until he went to
the Supreme Court. Mr.. Coolidge
might have taken up the Chief JUS
tice's Newspaper work, but came to the
conclusion it would not be becoming
an the Vice President to engage in such
activities, and doubted besides whether
he would have the time. The President
VIII be the guest in Florida this week
OF the family group which owns the
Public Ledger, New York Evening Post
and Saturday Evening Post.
II Mr.. Coolidge does choose writing
as ms after-White House Job. he viii
be following the precedents of both
Roosevelt and Taft And he Is strong
~ addicted to precedents.
Copyright, 1929