U. S. A. PRESIDENT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLII, Issue 9374, 1 November 1921, Page 8

U. S. A. PRESIDENT.

ENTHUSIASTIC GOLFER.

Mr Harding is the most human of Presidents, writes Mr A. Maurice Low, the Washington correspondent of the London "Morning Post." Noted before his election to his high office for enjoying the companionship of his fellow-men, he has not changed since he came to the Whjte House. ' Although this is a democratic ' country and the President is surrounded with none of the pomp and ceremony of royalty, democracy has its own code, and there are things the President may not do which the King doeß as a matter of course. The President is required to be democratic; he mustnerer forget that while he is m a sense the master of the people he is always their servant; he is constantly reminded that the people pave and the people can take away. He must not be too exclusive, and the suspicion that he ia an "aristocrat" — a word which has never been defined, but which the people understand without definition — would be fatal to his influence, hjs popularity, or his future hopes. But if he must be one of the many, at the same time he must maintain the dignity of his position. The country, would like to think of him as a; " good fellow," yet he must always re* member that he is the President oftlW United States, He, is required to be fairly accessibje-^if he is a recluse the people resent it 1 and criticise his aloofness and say he is out of touch with the maßses-7;but no one must be allowed to forget that it is an honour to be receiyM by the President. It is a difficult role, and what makes it more difficult is that the President, unlike the King, is the first politician of the country. He is not only the I nead of the State for the time being, but he is also the leader of his party and the chief of his Cabinet. In him are combined the ceremonial functions of the Crown — and, like the Sovereign, the President iB the fountain of all honours — the Prime i Minister's responsibility for the conduct of the Government and the control of the Cabinet, and the leadership of his party m Congress and the country. Mr Harding has kept his balance. He is learning, as every President does; he probably knows a side of human nature that was foreign to him a few months ago, but it has not made him cynical or take a jaundiced view of life. He retains his friendships of the past ; the men with whom he played before are still his companions; apart from his added duties and heavier cares, his life is now what it has been. He enjoys golf, and plays it as a necessary recreation ; his partners or adversaries are usually the same men with whom he played when he was a senator and no one looked upon him as a future President. He is an early riser, and the municipal golf links are within almost a stone's throw of the White House, while the more select country clubs are some distance of. It is at the public links that the morning game is usually played. Mr Harding pays the established fee of a shilling for himself and his companions, and is treated no differently from anyone else. One rather likes this picture of the President playing on a public course m the midst of department clerks, shop assistants, girl stenographers, who, with admirable manners, show him the respect to which he is entitled, but politely leave him alone. This is democracy at its best