Vol. IV. No. 22

The Weekly News-Magazine

December 1, 1924

THE PRESIDENCY

Ir. Coolidge's Week

In evening clothes, immaculately essed, an elderly gentleman stepped er the White House threshold. es, it was the same place. It was me time since he had frequented s portals or had arrived there as a inner guest. In those days, he had een welcomed by a different host- taller man of eloquent tongue, qually slender, with face even more austere, with clear-some said coldeyes. The entering guest paused only a moment on the threshold. Then Bernard M. Baruch, Chairman of the one-time War Industries Board, close friend of Woodrow Wilson, entered to dine with Calvin Coolidge and presumably to discuss farm problems. ¶dressing a National Conference on the Utilization of Forest Products (called by the late Secretary of Agriculture Wallace), President Coolidge warned: "The era of free, wild timber is reaching its end, as the era of free, wild food ended so long ago. We can no longer depend on moving from one primeval forest to another, for already the sound of the axes has penetrated the last of them."

The President appointed John Van A. MacMurray, Assistant Secretary of State to succeed the late Alvey A. Adee (TIME, July 14), veteran retainer of the Department. Mr. MacMurray has been head of the Far Eastern Division since 1919, and has filled many diplomatic posts in the Near and the Far East.

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union held its 50th annual convention in Chicago, was overjoyed to receive a greeting from the President in response to a message of approval sent him. "The President asks me to express sincere thanks. . . ." wired E. T. Clark, Mr. Coolidge's personal secretary.

disabled veterans and orphans of soldiers killed in the War.

President Coolidge announced the appointment of Howard M. Gore to be Secretary of Agriculture (sce Page 2).

Mr. Coolidge telegraphed to George B. Christian Jr., Secretary to the late President Harding, asking him to express the former's sorrow at Mrs. Harding's death to the members of her family.

The Reaper

It was in many respects a merry party, a party at least filled with expectation of pleasant times to come, which set out from the White House for Alaska two Junes ago. Of those* who started on the trip, seven are already dead. The first fatalities were the deaths of Sumner Curtis and Thomas Dawson, newspapermen, killed in an accident near Denver on the first leg of the journey. Then came the death of President Harding of apoplexy in August, 1923, while returning to Washington. Fourth, was the death of Mrs. Hubert Work, wife of the Secretary of the Interior, after an automobile accident in May; fifth, the death of Brigadier General Charles E. Sawyer, of cerebral hemorrhage in September of this year; sixth, the death of Secretary of Agriculture Wallace of complications following appendicitis, in October last; seventh, the death of Mrs. Harding, widow of the late President, last week.

At White Oaks Farm, near Marion, where she had been making her home at the sanatarium of Dr. Carl W. Sawyer (son of the late White House physician), Mrs. Harding was seriously ill for about a month. She had been suffering for some years from a kidney trouble which nearly resulted in her death two years ago. A few days before the end, an alleviative operation was performed. Her death was quiet; for some hours she had gradually lapsed into unconscious

*The chief members of the party which Secretaries made the trip to Alaska were: Work of the Interior, Wallace of Agriculture, Hoover of Commerce; Speaker Frederick H. Gillett, White House Physician Charles E. Sawyer.

ness. Her death was ascribed to chronic nephritis with myocarditis and hydronephrosis as complications.

Mrs. Harding, née Florence Kling, born Aug. 15, 1860, daughter of Amos Kling, wealthy real-estate owner of Marion, married Marshall Eugene De Wolfe of the same place. They had one son, Marshall Jr. The marriage was unhappy and Mrs. De Wolfe obtained a divorce, resumed her maiden name, returned to live with her father. Mr. De Wolfe died; and, contrary to the wishes of her father, she married Warren G. Harding, struggling journalist. Her father disowned her; but, some years later, there was a reconciliation. Her son Marshall Jr. married and later died, leaving a widow and two children. The widow remarried and is living in Marion.

The funeral took place in Marion, with Secretary of the Interior Work and Secretary of War Weeks in attendance on behalf of the Administration. A military guard was dispatched by the War Department from Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. Harding's body was placed temporarily in the vault with her husband until the Harding Memorial tomb could be completed.

Following Mrs. Harding's death, within only a few hours, came the death of Mrs. Harry M. Daugherty, wife of the onetime Attorney General, at Columbus, Ohio. The two women had been friends from girlhood. Mrs. Daugherty had been an invalid for many years, but was in comparatively good health until a few days before her death when she succumbed to an attack of pneumonia.

Words, Words

Believing that "what a man says reveals that man, if what he says is properly and intelligently analyzed," The Fourth Estate, journalistic trade sheet, set one Birdie Reeve, patient tabulator, to work pulling apart the speech made by Mr. Coolidge before a recent gathering of the Associated Press in Manhattan. It was believed that Miss Reeve's findings would enable newspapers "to give the people of the Nation a revealing portrait of the man they have chosen to lead them."

Whether or not the columns of words and figures that resulted were "a revealing portrait," they constituted an unusual layout of an address 4,646 words in length. There were: 1,246 different words.

Two words of one letter, "I" and "a." Not once had the President exclaimed "O," or been suited "to a T," the only other possibilities.

Twenty-four words of two letters. In these the President kept the cryptographer's well-known frequency rule almost perfectly: "of, to, in, it, is, be,

Wide World

SECRETARY GORE

West Virginia awaits him

he," etc. At "he," Mr. Coolidge, speaking chiefly of impersonal matters, had broken the rule, using only two "he's." "We" was far up the list, next to "be." He had said "me" but once.

Here

Fifty-five three-letter words had been employed a total of 904 times. the frequency rule "the, and, for, you" was broken at "for," which became "our." Then came 53 "for's" and 37 "not's."

One hundred and eighteen four-letter words, which, instead of being led by "that" or "this," according to rule, included more "they's" than anything else. Four-letter words were used 649 times, more often than those of any other length.

One hundred and sixty-five five-letter words, used a total of 431 times. "Which, world, would, there, great" was the order.

One hundred and fifty-three six-letter words, used 294 times.

One hundred and fifty-nine sevenletter words, being the greatest assortment in a given length.

One hundred and fifty-five eight-letter words.

One hundred and forty-two of nine, 109 of ten, 90 of eleven, 34 of twelve,

24 of thirteen, 9 of fourteen, 5 o teen, 2 of sixteen ("self-developmen "responsibilities").

THE CABINET

Secretary Gore

Howard M. Gore, Assistant Sec tary of Agriculture and Governo elect of West Virginia, was offica appointed Secretary of Agriculture succeed the late Henry Cantwell Wal lace. The President made the p pointment as a temporary measure Secretary Gore's tenure of office w necessarily terminate on Mar. 4 nev when he becomes West Virgin Governor.

Previous to his election to the ter post, a number of farmers others had urged that he be given the appointment as Secretary of Agric ture. President Coolidge, desirous taking his time in picking a perr nent Secretary, filled the post tea porarily with the man who was a hand and familiar with the Depar ment's affairs.

Expansion

The season of reports-official, an-) nual, Government reports-which at its height during December of each year, was inaugurated by the appe ance of the official report on the Panama Canal, rendered through the War Department by Governor r J. Morrow, who is just retiring. The report was, as usual, for the fi year-ended June 30, last.

It showed an increase of traf through the Canal of 38.7% over previous year. A great part of t was due to large shipments of from California. Deducting all th temporary boom-oil, however, car traffic increased 16.4%. Shipp tolls aggregated $24,290,963. T.brought the income from the car to more than $16,000,000, as compar to $10,000,000 in the previous ye and to $3,000,000 in the year befor that. Adding in the sums earned b the Panama Railroad, the mach shops, commissaries, coaling plars etc., the net revenue amounted $18,254,459-handsome enough.

U. S. ships were by far the greates users of the Canal, contributing 617 of the total. Great Britain stood ne with 22.4%; and 19 other nations cluding the Free City of Danzi Yugo-Slavia, Finland, trailed wi none of them as much as 5% of th traffic. Exactly half the ships using

Secretary of the Navy Wilbur issued

annual report on the Navy. Few w facts were disclosed. The followg sentences represent the gist of his marks:

"The state of the material condition I the fleet is now not satisfactory. Alough the available funds for the presat fiscal year remain about the same s for last year, retrogression is aparent because the ships are older and ne maintenance costs are increasing acordingly..

"The six older battleships must be nodernized if the reliance on them as hips of the first line of battle is to coninue and our ratio of naval strength is o be maintained."

THE CONGRESS

Tez Program

When Congress assembles on Dec. 1, it will be faced by a mass of legislation only a small part of which can be dispatched at the short session. Some of the major legislation that will be up for consideration:

The appropriation bills for the various Departments of the Government will be the first and most important business. All must be passed before Mar. 4. C Farm legislation in many forms will be presented. It is hardly expected that any important bill will pass; although some recommendations by the President's ting Agricultural Commission will probably be up for consideration towards the end of the session.

Income tax legislation will probably be left alone, since the Administration does not plan to press it. There will

a

All American commercial vessels pay toll. During President Taft's Administration law was passed exempting U. S. vessels in coastwise trade from toll, but Great Britain. objected that this was a violation of the HayPauncefote Treaty under which the U. S., formerly a partner in the canal business with Great Britain, acquired sole rights in the project and promised equal treatment to "all nations." Elihu Reot, then a Senator, held that the law violated our treaty promise. President Wilson and Ambassador Page took the same attitude. In the Spring of 1914. the President asked that the law be repealed. After a bitter wrangle for several months this was done. Party lines were broken in the bitterness of the struggle. Senators Root, Lodge, Kenyon, McCumber. Burton (Republicans) supported Mr. Wilson, Senators O'Gorman, Reed (Mo.), Chamberlain, Vardaman (Democrats) opposed the Presi dent.

probably be some action in regard to the publication of income tax returns, how

ever.

¶ Important railway legislation, for want of time and inclination, is likely to be omitted.

The bill for reorganizing the executive branch of the Government will come up and has a good chance of passage.

The proposal for U. S. entry into the World Court might safely be expected to remain in limbo except that Senator Borah is to be Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Agreements for funding the War debts of Lithuania and Poland to this country, having been negotiated, will be up for approval-probably without opposition. However, there will, very likely, be a controversy over the unfunded debts. Three large debtorsFrance (four billion dollars), Italy (two billion dollars) and Belgium (450 million dollars) have not yet made an agreement for repayment. The life of the World War Foreign Debt Commission (members include Secretaries Mellon, Hughes, Hoover, Senator Smoot, Representatives Burton and Crisp, onetime Representative Richard Olney) must be extended if it is to continue its efforts for refunding. Alternative and, perhaps, more drastic methods of collection are likely to be proposed.

The disposition of Muscle Shoals is almost certain to precipitate a new wrangle. The Wilson Dam will be completed next July and at least some temporary plan for disposing of the power must be adopted, since Henry Ford has now withdrawn his bid for the property (TIME, Oct. 27).

Dispossession?

When the call went forth for holding the Republican Senatorial caucus on Nov. 29, it went to all Senators formally listed as Republicans-to Senators La Follette, Frazier, Ladd, Brookhart, Norris-as well as to the "regulars." It was only logical that it should be so sent. Although there was talk of dispossessing those gentlemen of their Republican committee posts, it of course could not be done without the action of the cau

cus.

Certain of the regular Republicans in both houses have insisted that the insurgents should no longer be classed as Republicans in Committee assignments. In the Senate, Messrs. Smoot, Ernst, Reed (of Pennsylvania) are known to take this attitude. In e House, Representative Treadway

of Massachusetts is one of the leaders of the same movement. It is proposed to give the insurgents committee places in accordance with their strength as a minority. Mr. Treadway explained:

"This would in no sense be considered as retribution for their attitude, but rather a perfectly logical outcome of their own procedure and convictions."

It is doubtful, however, whether any policy of this kind will even be attempted before the assembling of the new Congress next year.

Meanwhile, the object of the Republican Senatorial caucus will be to elect a floor leader to succeed Mr. Lodge. Due to the deaths of Messrs. Lodge, Colt and Brandegee, places must be filled on the committees for Foreign Relations (two), Immigration (one), Judiciary (two), Naval Affairs (two), Library (one).

The situation in regard to the floor leadership was this:

Senator Warren of Wyoming was entitled to the post by seniority. He is 80, however, and has the important post of Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Consequently he did not care for the floor leadership. His chief motive, should he ask for the place, would be to prevent a fight between the other aspirants. It was agreed that there would be little opposition to him if he should express a wish to be chosen.

Senator Curtis of Kansas, Republican whip, was well liked by the regulars. In his capacity as a sort of assistant floor leader under Lodge he has been popular. He is 64.

Senator Watson of Indiana, 60, was somewhat too closely allied with the old guard to be considered an eminent contender.

Senator Wadsworth of New York, only 47, able and forthright, was a leading possibility because of his prominent place in the group of younger regulars.

If Senator Curtis were chosen, someone else would have to replace him as Republican whip. The whip's function is to circulate among the members of his party, sound them out in regard to specific measures, discover whether any of them had made embarrassing commitments that would prevent them from lining up with the others on a given bill, ascertain what amendments would make a bill acceptable to individual members of his group and generally try to line up the party vote. It is an important post, and Mr. Curtis has shown himself able in filling it.