Vol. IV. No. 21

The Weekly News-Magazine

November 24, 1924

THE PRESIDENCY

Mr. Coolidge's Week

It was announced that Mr. Cooldge had not approved plans for a all as part of his inauguration cerenonies next March.

A bold reporter at a press conference asked whether the President would change his attitude, especially toward Congress, now that he has been elected. The President replied that he would not change-he had done what he thought was right and would continue to do so. At the same conference, he denied that there would be many changes in the Cabinet, said that the only one he knew of definitely was to be caused by the resignation of Secretary of Labor James J. Davis, although he hoped that Mr. Davis would reconsider.

On Armistice Day, the President and Mrs. Coolidge bowed their heads in tribute before the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac. Mrs. Coolidge laid a white rose upon the marble on behalf of the "motherhood of the Nation."

As a result of a cumulation of business, and of the fact that Mr. Coolidge himself has replied personally to "more than half of nearly 2,000 congratulatory messages" received at the time of the recent election, the President curtailed his conferences, increased his office force, which is now twice as large as it was under the Harding régime.

Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman called at the White House to say good-by before sailing again for the American Embassy at Peking.

Mr. Coolidge sent a telegram to Amherst College, said of Dr. George D. Olds, new President: "I know he was a good teacher because I was able to pass the examinations that he gave us in Mathematics."

The President issued a proclamation endorsing Education Week (see EDUCATION).

President Coolidge named William M. Jardine, President of Kansas State Agricultural College, as ninth member of the Agricultural Commission (TIME, Nov. 17) which is to draw up "a Dawes plan for Agriculture."

To the 38th annual Convention of the Association of Land Grant Colleges, the President in person addressed words of comfort and caution.

The President let it be known definitely that he would not propose new tax cuts to Congress at least until the close of the present fiscal year (June 30) when the Government's books can be balanced to show the net result of the present tax law. Consequently, no extra session of Congress is in prospect.

In company with Chief Justice Taft and other officials, Mr. Coolidge attended the funeral of Gus J. Karger, Capital correspondent for The Cincinnatti Times-Star.

Will Hays called on Mr. Coolidge with Al Christie, cinema magnate.

THE CABINET

Fee Simple

It was announced that the Palace of Schönborn in Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, had been acquired by the U. S. Government. Henceforward, the U. S. Minister at that city will abide on ground that belongs to his Government in fee simple. One more servant of the State Department will be properly accommodated.

Another is likely to be added to the list when Congress assembles; for it is understood that the Administration will recommend that an expenditure of $1,150,000 be made to acquire land and build a new Embassy and Consulate in Tokio, where the old (and inadequate) Embassy was destroyed by the earthquake.

Heretofore, Uncle Sam, as represented by his Ambassadors and Ministers in foreign countries, has as a rule been merely a tenant. The disadvantages of this have been double: 1) Rent has been almost always exorbitantly high; 2) quarters have been, as a rule, inadequate. A third disadvantage, in countries that set more store by outward show than simple-living Uncle Sam, has been the loss of prestige and dignity due to the poor housing of our emissaries, even as compared to that of such countries as Siam, Poland, Cuba, Persia.

In seven Capitals we own our Embassies: London, Paris, Constantinople, Havana, Mexico City, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro. In eight capitals, we now own our Legations* - Prague, Christiania, Tangier, Bangkok (Siam), Peking, Panama, San José (Costa Rica), San Salvador. We own our Consulates at

*Legations differ from Embassies in that their inmates are Ministers instead of Ambassadors and have a lesser salary. When the title of the inmate is changed, the building also changes in rank.

Shanghai, Amoy (Southern China), Seoul (Korea), Tahiti.

Elsewhere we rent-in Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Budapest, Brussels. The Hague, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berne, Madrid, Lisbon. Only in the last decade has much progress been made in putting our representatives into American-owned homes. Several of the few we own-vide London, Mexico Cityare the gifts of wealthy Americans. Crowded offices, dirty buildings, bad plumbing have been the earmarks of our official residences abroad. Gradually we are improving.

A note, a diplomatic note, was sent to the Persian Government by Secretary of State Hughes. Diplomatic conversations are, of course, polite to excess; they have also been defined as "veiled menaces." Hear, then, the substance of a truly diplomatic note, sent when Persia, after hemming and hawing, had finally executed the murderers of a U. S. Consul:

"The United States Government is gratified. It is gratified because Persia passed sentences on those who murdered our Consul Imbrie. It acknowledges the payment by the Persian Government of $60,000 to Mr. Imbrie's widow. It calls attention to the fact that there is one question outstanding between the two Governments, namely, that Persia will reimburse our Government for the expense of sending a warship to bring home Mr. Imbrie's body. The Persian Government has already agreed to this. It is anticipated that this cost will approximate $110,000.

"Therefore, the U. S. Government proposes that 'the Persian Government's undertaking in this matter be carried out by the establishment of a trust fund to be utilized for the education of Persian students at institutions of higher learning in the United States.'"

Again the generous gesture, the truly diplomatic move, the spirit of friendliness with which John Hay, at the time

of the Boxer Rebellion, finding the sum of the indemnity awarded in excess of legitimate claims, returned the balance in the form of a similar fund for Chinese students.

Vicissitudes

The following kernels of fact are winnowed from the chaff of rumor about Cabinet changes:

Secretary of Labor James J. Davis expects to retire early in 1925. This news was promulgated by the President himself, who added that he hoped Mr. Davis would change his mind.

¶ Rumors that Secretary of State Hughes would resign were set at rest by an apparently authentic report that he would forego his desire to return to his private law practice until sometime in 1926.

The President continued to take his time in selecting a successor to the late Secretary of Agriculture Wallace. The delay prompted many suggestions that Assistant Secretary Howard M. Gore be given the Secretariat until Mar. 4, when he becomes Governor of West Virginia, a post to which he was elected in the last great balloting.

To the post of Assistant Secretary of the Navy, vacated by the resignation of Theodore Roosevelt Jr., when he attempted unsuccessfully to obtain the Governorship of New York, President Coolidge appointed Theodore Douglas Robinson, son of the first T. R.'s sister and cousin of T. R. Jr. T. (D.) R. was State Senator in New York in 1916-18, 1920-24. He is the fourth member of the Roosevelt family to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

THE CONGRESS Opening Date

Dec. 1 will see the reopening of a lame duck Congress-but not so very lame. Eleven Senators will be paying their last visit before retirement and 73 members of the House. Of the 73 members of the House, 13 will be succeeded after Mar. 4, by former members of the House, reëlected, and 60 will give way to raw material.

Pre-Season Practice

Only a few weeks ago, before colleges opened, football players went back for pre-season practice, to get a "flying start." With much similitude, the Appropriations Committee of the House assembled in the Capitol, last week, in advance of the reopening of Congress. With Martin

B. Madden of Illinois in the Chair the Committee settled down to work on a number of appropriation bill's The supply bills for the Post Office and the Interior Departments were taken up. With appropriate foresight, the Committee hopes to have several appropriation measures ready for the House as soon as it assembles.

In Hanna Manner

Governor Channing Cox of Massachusetts rolled the syllables upon his tongue as he named William M. Butle for the seat in the U. S. Senate left vacant by the demise of Henry Cabot Lodge.

Thus were answered a number of questions:

1) Q.-How will Mr. Coolidge "take care of" the campaign manager who added four years to his tenure of office?

A.-Mr. Butler will not be cared for in the Cabinet. He is given a seat in the Senate.

2) Q.-What sort of successor to Mr. Lodge will go to the Senate?

A-A regular of regulars, a staunch friend and supporter of the President; a man who, with the other new Massachusetts Senator, Frederick H. Gillett, will share the courtesy title of Presidential spokesman.

At once all good journalists recalled and "hashed up" the obvious parallel, the career of Marcus Alonzo Hanna.

He

Now Mark Hanna, after being edu cated in the public schools of Cleveland and at Western Reserve University, went into the wholesale grocery busi ness with his father, who soon die From the grocery business, he went into coal and iron; from coal and iron to Great Lakes shipping and coal and iron mines, to street railways, to banking. Then he branched into politics. worked with William McKinley; and finally, in 1896, got McKinley the Republican presidential nomination, became Chairman of the Republican National Committee and won the great campaign which ensued against Bryan and "free silver." Within a short time, there was an opportune vacancy in the Senate and the Governor of Ohio appointed Hanna to succeed Senator John Sherman.

The career of William M. Butler began in the public schools of New Bedford. At 16 he went into a shoe factory, at 21 to the Law School of Boston University. He began to practice in New Bedford, later in Boston. In 1902, he went into the textile business, constructing the Butler Mill in New Bedford. His connections increased. The Butler Mill was followed by the New Bedford Cotton Mills Corporation, the Quissett Mill, the Hoosac Cotton