The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-01-05

overnight to the titular leadership
Of their party.
What the president said to them
remained a closed book, but signs
were not lacking that he could shed
MS cloak Of reticence and talk, brief
~ perhaps, but to the end of making
known his views, definitely and con-
clusively. The reaction was favor
able and It was not long before some
party leaders were hailing him as the
logical Republican candidate in 1924.
The tranquil qualities of his mind
stood Mr.. Coolidge in good stead in
many difficult moment during his
presidency. Within a few months
after he was first indicted into Of
flee he found himself facing stu
alton in government which might
have tried the soul of a man lacking
his fundamental calm and belief in
the unerring judgment Of the Ameri-
can people.
Under q drive by the senate that
perhaps was without precedent, rev.
Citations of scandal in high places
rocked the nation. There first were
disclosures as to the conduct of the
Veterans Bureau under the admins
tration of Charles r. Forbes, follow
ed quickly by a series of sensations
in the investigations of the naval
oil leases and the administration of
the Department of Justice under Har-
ry M. Daugherty.
Refusing to be stampeded even by
his own political advisors, Mr.. Cool
idge met each situation with cool
elaboration, taking such action as
in his mind would best conserve the
public interest. He quietly ordered
prosecutions in the Oil scandal, and
although eventually he sent Attorney
General Daugherty into involuntary
retirement, he passed no Judgment
on the senate disclosures regarding
the Department Of Justice, request
ing Mr.. Daugherty's resignation on
the ground that he was not competent
to pass upon what documents in his
department should be submitted to
the senate investigators.
Foes Attacked Him
The presidents enemies insisted
that his hand was forced in every
action he took in connection with the
senate revelations and that thought
Of his own political future dominated.
On the other hand, his friends were
equally as positive In their declara-
tons that he had met these situa-
tons with the same; courage that he
had the police strike in Boston which
first brought him into national prom
inence.
Whatever the merits Of this con-
troversy, he emerged from the weller
Of investigations strongly entrenched
in the regard Of the people. The
conviction became general that Mr..
Coolidge was man OF high integrity,
insisting steadfastly on honesty in
government, and that what had
transpired could reflect no discredit
upon his administration since all
these events had occurred before his
elevation to the presidency.
Facing as he did from the outset
a congress plainly hostile. Mr.. Cool
idge encountered the most serious
difficulties in putting through any of
the major proposals on his legisla-
tive program. Republican insurgents,
under the direction Of the late Sena-
tor Robert M. LaFolette, welded their
balance of power by repeatedly lin
ing up their strength with the Demo-
Gratis in direct opposition to the presi-
dent.
The chief executive, moreover,
found little material support forth
coming from the constituted leaders
of his party in the two houses prior
to his nomination at Cleveland in
June. 1924. This absence of out
spoken aid was particularly notice.
able in the senate during all the long
days of attacks on the administra-
ton in connection with the senate
investigations. Therefore, he was
obliged to look elsewhere than to the
halls of congress for champions of
his cause. The immediate result was
seen at the Cleveland convention,
where congressional leaders who had
dominated party affairs for SO many
years became mere cogs in the party
machinery. The president placed his
political fortunes in the hands of his
personal friends, among them William
M. Butler, of Massachusetts, and
Charles Beecher Warren, of Michi-
gan.
Without any organized opposition
having developed, Mr.. Coolidge was
nominated on the first ballot. AL
though the presidents nomination
was. accomplished in shor1 order, a
hitch developed over the selection of
his running mate and it was there
that Mr.. Coolidge suffered his only
reverse of the convention. After for
mer Governor Frank O. Lowden, of
Illinois, had refused to accept the
nomination as the vice-presidential
candidate, some of the old-time lead
ers Of the party blocked plan to put
Herbert Hoover on the ticket with
Mr.. Coolidge, and forced the nomina-
ton Of Charles G. Dawes.
Was Economy Advocate
While Mr.. Coolidge, prior to his
election in his own right, undertook
to carry forward the policies of the
Harding administration, he centered
a great part of his own effort on the
question of economy in government
and it was on that record that he
went to the country.
Besides approving a measure ma
pain