The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-01-05

cipality.
 As early as the spring of 1927
 there was widespread opinion that if MT. Coolidge wished to bt reelected he had only to indicate it. By his own confession, this view was shared by MT. Coolidge himself regardless of the popu- lar tradition that a President must retire after his second term.
 In magazine article publish ed after his retirement, MT. Cool Iidge- declared he wanted to retire for several reasons which he pro- ceeded to enumerate.
 ] First of all, there was his own health and that of Mrs Coolidge ''It Is hazardous he wrote, ''to attempt what we feel is beyond tour strength"
 l Served His Time
 l Tn addition, he considered it inn possible for one man to serve successfully in the Presidency for more than eight years as re- Eview of the careers of those who had served two full terms had shown him that the latter part of 1. their tenure of office was devoid of constructive accomplishments. { The nation was startled when lon August 3, 1927, the President lissued his famous statement: T do not choose to run for President in 1928"
 It was interpreted variously throughout the country Many saw 1 in it a sincere wish for retirement, but still a willingness to accept the nomination should an insistent demand arise. Others looked upon | it as final decision that he would not be a candidate for reelection There were many, too, who re- ! garded it as a shrewd attempt to avoid the third term issue by having himself drafted for office" !" This confusion was clarified by MT. Coolidge in an address before the Republican National Committee the following December In six crisp sentences which were added at the last minute to s pre- pared speech, the President 'de- clared that he had eliminated himself entirely from the Presi- dential race and advised the party to continue the serious task of selecting another candidate" This decision, he asserted, must 1 be respected"
 Meant What He Said But MT. Coolidge did not stop there. When the Republican Ma itional Convention met at Kansas 1 City in June, 1928, he dispatched his secretary. Everett Sanders, to 1 the session with instructions "to notify several leaders of the state delegations not to vote" for him. Had I not done so,7 he said in his magazine writings, T am told that should have been nom- i mated"
 MT. Coolidge is on record as having said that he had never formulated in his own mind what his attitude would have been had i he been nominated.
 But I was determined" he add ed, mot to have that contingency arise
 f One of the major issues of that convention had been a principal subject of contention during the latter years of the Coolidge admini- stration and one that the President had tossed squarely into the center of the Presidential campaign. It was farm relief.
 Farm Problems
 Signs of unrest in the farming sections of the Middle West were apparent when MT. Coolidge took office. The farmers of that section were confronted with a serious depression and called upon the federal government for help in finding a way out. Their spokesmen in Congress clamored for legisla- ltion and the passage of a measure which MT Coolidge left he could mot support. That was the original McNary -Haugen bill, containing the famous and much discussed equsli- zstion fee provision. a3 I Urging the development of CO., i operative marketing organizations as the best solution for the de- pression, MT. Coolidge declared he must oppose any form of price fixing. either direct or indirect, and called for the measures de- feat. It was passed twice by Con- gress and on each occasion it re- ceived presidential veto. With 1.-the second veto the president sent Ito Congress scathing message in which he termed the measure economic folly"
 The Coolidge administration was characterized by peaceful relations with the rest of the world and attempts by the President to make lthat peace a lasting one Early in 1927, he asked the principal naval powers to meet for a discussion