PERSONALITIES

Southland Times, Issue 19395, 8 November 1924, Page 11 (Supplement)

PERSONALITIES

COOLIDGE THE TACITURN.

(By

Ædile.)

In a loquacious country, taciturnity may easily procure for a dull man a reputation for great wisdom, and any wise Democrat in the United States would show you that this is the explanation of the enthusiasm of the people for President Calvin Coolidge. There may be semething in this Democratic jibe at the Republican chieftain; but it would be incorrect to adduce from such an admission that Coolidge is a mediocrity. There are times when he displays a shocking carelessness about the fitness of things —when he allows himself to be photographed as a harvester in the fields while, still wearing a stiff white collar—but his career, as far as it has gone, has revealed him as a man who is capable of meeting the emergency when it rises, and of acting firmly without sticking to orthodox lines. Calvin Coolidge from his Vermont boyhood was determined to enter politics, and he studied earnestly those subjects which would be of assistance to him in helping to rule his fellows. Like Roosevelt, he took office in a salaried post and assisted in municipal and State administration before rising at last to be Governor of Massachusetts. He was a sane and careful administrator, esteemed for his integrity and his avoidance of those flambuoyancies which make and mar American political oratory, but it was not until the Boston police decided to go on strike that he shet into public prominence, and became known beyond the borders of his own State. Nowadays the Democrats declare that Governor Coolidge could have obviated ail need for the drastic action he took, if lie had appreciated the position and intervened at an earlier stage, but that of course, is the counsel of perfection of which no one takes any heed. Governor Coolidge stepped in when the Boston police decided to leave the city without protection against the criminal element. He mobilised the State troops, established martial law, and bluntly told the strikers that as the State’s servants could not strike, they were no longer servants of the State. Boston blessed this taciturn fellow who moved promptly, just as Melbourne at a later date had cause to curse the lack of promptness in the administrators in Victoria.

The Boston strike drew from President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, a warm tribute which also expressed the hope that Massachusetts would re-elect him. Wilson did few finer things in his brilliant career, and it made Coolidge a Presidential possibility. The stalwarts of the party could not hepe to win support for him in the West and Middle States, and so when Warren Harding was nominated, Calvin Coolidge became the party’s candidate for the Vice-Presidency. This must have cheered the Ohio newspaper man who had to fight in the senior position, because he had, and still has the record of never losing an election. The fact that his public service has invariably received public endorsement is to his credit. Coolidge, as VicePresident, kept in touch with some of the Cabinet’s deliberations, but he was not a member of the administration in any sense—the limitations of the office make that impossible. Like Roosevelt the Talkative, Coolidge the Taciturn, rcse to the highest office through the death of the President, but while the picturesque Teddy was always showing his muscles and running the machine with clamorous declarations of his own strength, Coolidge is calm, retiring, and even shy, but undoubtedly he has a big lever on the American imagination, and the American confidence,, because it is believed that if the big emergency call happens to come to him he will be equal to the task. In the meantime there is growing about his name a collection of stories having a basis in his economy of words and his dry, elusive wit, which often is drawn so finely that its effect is lost on those against whom it is launched. In these revelations Coolidge is shown as a man with a keen brain and a lively sense of humour, though taciturnity is an outstanding characteristic. The Coolidges are a silent people—in the cemeteries where they lie, tombstones dating back to the early days of Vermonts life, bear the names of the family’s dead, the date of birth and death, but no epitaph. There is not one epitaph to be seen on these gravestones.

One sample of the Coolidge manner can be got from a momentous duel between Senator Bcrah and Coolidge a few months ago when the President wanted the Independent to be the Republican candidate for Vice-President. Borah virtuously refusing, finally chided Coolidge with: “Mr President, ought not the convention to choose its own Vice-President?” but the Chief Citizen was not abashed. He paused, and then in a long, nasal drawl said: “They-cha-ose-a good man-in-1920.” Coolidge’s objection to “small talk” is wellknown in the States, and his blunt way with gushers is effective. Here is one incident. At a dinner a woman of this kind was seated next to Coolidge, who was then Vice-President, and she burbled: “Oh, Mister Coolidge, I’ve just made a ten-dollar bet that I can make you talk!” With some dignity the Vice-President of the United states answered: “I am sorry, Madam, that you have lost your wager,” and turned his strict, attention to the lady on his right. The daughter of a New York Senator called at the Executive offices with a lady whose face was snow-bound with several layers of cosmetics. “Mr President,” chirped the latter, “you look entirely too pate.” “Wee-al,” drawled the Chief Executive, facing her squarely, “guess-ITI-have-to-try-a-new-brand-of-face-paa-owder.” There is at the White House a coloured factotum who delivers checks to the Executive force. After placing on the President's desk the first salary as Chief Executive of the nation the messenger waited for a word of pleasantry such as Mr Harding was wont to extend—an inquiry, perhaps, after the children. The mesenger hovered for a long time. At length, aware of the dusky presence, Mr Harding’s successor wheeled around: “Caome again, any time,” remarked the President, sharply. Some hours later the factotum saw the point, which he never tires of repeating. One more instance of the Coolidge method. He was entertaining, and the company had heard a lot from a Southern Congressman who was a great hunter. This Southerner told the company stories of his achievements after big game, and then turned to the President and asked him if he had ever hunted game. Coolidge, in quiet, but nasal tone replied: “Shot a sparrow once,” and the recital of the great one’s exploits came to an abrupt close.