Evening Star Newspaper, May 28, 1922, Page 61

Part 4—8 Pages BY JAMES A BUCHANAN. GREAT majority of the citizens of the United States long re- garded the office of Vice Presi- . dent as one which called for Jittle effort on the part of the second ranking officer of the government. Tkis opinion has been brought about DV two causes, one being the humorist "%ho. a number of years ago, finding the mother-in-law joke growing stale, Beized upon the office of the Vice President as a medium for the. exers ©ise of alleged wit. The other cause zested largely in some of the Vice Presidents themselves, who elther lacked initiative or energy or failed to comprehend the real importance of the office. . o N STHE incumbent of the office, Cal- vin Coolidge, has.not only brought the position to a point where it s recognized as being the second ¢ WASHINGTON, D. and the reguest therein complied with, | A if it'is possible to do so. * kK K S (CALVIN COOLIDGE takes his job seriously, and he gives it the same attention that has characterized him in the different public offices he has held. He has brought to the office the calm, deliberate judgment of the trained New England lawyer and statesman who has held public office for a number of years. By reason of his attitude he is caus- ing a greater respect for the office every day. While he is at his desk or in the chair as presiding officer of 0 2 ¢ E PRESIDEN' Harding’s assistant as a sort of court of last resort. The minutes pass and the pile grows smaller. From the dictator's reply, you realise that Calvin Coolidge ha: been a close student of world affairs, a man who not only has read ex- Second in Command of Nation and Presiding Officer of Senate Has Made His Position a Real Man-size Job—Possessés Rare Power of Analysis and Quick Decision—Dignified in Office, Intensely Human in Qualities, Kindly, Considerate’ and Helpful Toward Others—Shows Greatest Care in Answering Constant Stream of Letters, and Receives Numerous Delegatiohs Making Special Requests. Senator Calder of New York, who presented two gentlemen represent- ing the friends of Armenia. They de- sired Mr. Coolidge to go to New York and address a meeting which was to be held for the raising of funds for the suffering Armenians. Lack ol! time necessitated his declining, but he did it in 2 manner which was gra- clousness itself. He also disclosed | the fact that he was very well in-| formed as to the Armenian, situation, | and mentioned the names of several | persons who were aiding the cause, | Hardly had the senator and his con- stituents departed when Senator Mc- Nary of Oregon brought In two gen- | tlemen who bore a message from the | chamber of commerce at Portland, Ore, with a request that the Vice President go to Oregon during the | famous rose festival. . oy g — ERE again Mr. Coolidge showed an intimate knowledge, not only of this fiesta, but also of general conditions on the Pacific coast, but even this extremely alluring invita- tion was declined because, as he ex- pressed it, it was his duty to remain in Washington as long as he was needed. His memory is truly mar- velous, and, as one of.the Oregon visitors remarked, Mr. Coolidge knew mgre about general eonditions on the coast than they did themselves. There were also, during this hour, numerous friends who dropped in to pay their respects or make some request about this or that matter. It was again time for him to take important office in the country, but he has also daily demonstrated that the Vice President of the United f:ateu can. if he so desires. be a very seful member of the government. President Harding. who recognized ““that his running mate of the cam- Yaign of 1920 was both forceful and erergetic, gave that recognition foree by asking Mr. Coolidge to participate in the meetings of the cabinet. This was not only a recognition of Mr. Coolidge’s ability, but it also enabled the Vice President to be in touch with every phase of governmental jactivity. &nd in case anything happened to the Fresident, the next in command would have a pérsonal and intimate knowledge of the nation’s affairs. The Vice President arises at an early heur and after breakfast with his eharming wife, who ever since their marriage has been his working part- |mer. goes to his rooms in the Senate | office building. where, with Secretary —1 oot Acen: Clark and a number of assistants, he goes over personally the morning mail. As the writer say in his office the other morning he was ‘much fm- pressed by the rapidity with which ghe Vice President classified the let- ters that were on his desk.’ While it §s acknowledged by all who know Mr. Coolidge that he is a_man of ‘rare pnenta} attainments, yet very few mén butside of heads of big corporations ess his power of analysis and quick decision. He grasps the key- pote of .a situation slmost instantly: @nd his directions to his secretaries * pemind one very much bf Mr. Gary of fke Steel Corporation. S T As letters pass in a seemingly n% stream across his desk, one &3ed to mote that at the end of the orning period each iuissive has re- ived personal attention. ry let- that oalls for it is as Vice President feels that those tave written him have & pight theix leu:n wexnowledged DELEGATES TO SEE THE ' | the Senate you will recognfze the fact | JT was the writer's privilege recently. | that here is a man who is more than to spend a day with the Vice |2 mere second choice of the people. | Presidént in order to secure at first- | and you at once gain added Tespect | hand a record of just how Mr. Cool- for the man himself. While in his offices or in his seat he is, and you Insthictively sense the | fact, the -Viee President of the United States, but when you meet him so- cially you will find & charming and intensely human individual, one whose infitincts are kindly, considerate and helpful. He is not a person that pro- for the position he holds as well as idge spende his days, but the .im- | pressions set forth in this article are | not based merely on a sixteen-hour observation of the man, because those who, write about men in publie life must necessarily observe their Actions for many weeks before writ- ing about them. Mr. Coelldge breakfasts between 7 and 7:30 o'clock and partakes of the *WORK HAS BEEN CALVIN COOLIDGE’S PORTION THROUGH claims bis deeds from the housetops, same kind ef a morning meal that but his Massachusetts friends state|the average American enjoys. He that upon many occasions he has ex- | then returns to his apartments inthe tended a helping hand to the lesshotel and goes over the personal mail, fortunate brother. | giving directions to a stenographer I? you have gathered the idea that|as to the manner in which it should Calvin Coolidge does not possess a|be handled. He leaves for his offices, sense of humor you have made a seri- | Which are situated on the second ous miscue, for he dearly loves a good | floor of the Senate office building. story and thoroughly appreciates the | There he is met by his secretary, E. finer points of a joke. If you cross|T. Clark,.who was formerly secretary = _LIFE. AS A YOUTH HE WORKED ON m FATHER'S FARM.” ten ly, but elso has observed and retained the impressions. * ok x k A MONG the unusual requests of the morning’s mail was the desire of a Filipino boy who wanted Mr. Coolidge to send him a bomba gun. Others were appeals from persons in Germany, Aus- C., SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 28, 1922, ¢ 9 ¢ 9 9 his place &s presiding officer, and in this connection thes writer desires to explain the matter of voting by the Vice President. Under the law, the Vice President can vote in case of a tie. This prerogative he exorcises only when he desires that a motion carry. If his opinion is against a pending motion .he does not vote, be- cause if a tie ensues and he fails to vote in the afirmative the measure is necessarily lost. Hence, when the Vice President votes to decide a tie it is in the affirmative, that the mezs- ure may carry. Two or three hours passed and the Senate adjourned. The Vice Presi- dent returned to his office to look over any mail that had come in since morning. this, he returned to the hotel to pre- pare for dinner, as he and Mrs. Cool- idge were to be the guests of honor at a dinner that evening. The Coolidges generally return from dinners about 10 o'clock and retire rather early, as each day is filled to therbrim with work. * x k% \\/YO'RK has been Calvin Coolidge’s portion through life. As a youth he worked on his father’s; farm and each successive position he has held has found him earnestly endeavoring to give all that the office demanded. Once or twice, when the Senate was not in session, he has gone to a base ball game or played golf, although the writer understands that the lat- ter game is but an occasional pastime With the disposition of | and fs the result of orders from the physician who looks after his physi- cal welfare. The doctor insisted that he go out and play a few rounds. Mr. Coolidge complied, with the result that at the ninth hole he was in fine fettle andmot in the ghtest fatigued, while the doctor was puffing somewhat and showed need of more outdoor exercise. In his early days the Vice Pragident secured exercise #nd enioyc.ent from I riding horseback, but since coming to ‘Washington he has had little or no time fn which to enjoy the sport. Calvin Coolidge, many times honored by the people of the great common- wealth of Massachusetts and elected T is traditional that great men have big noses. Napoleon, it is said, used to pick his generals by their noges. To ascertain if a big nose is really an indication of supe- rior mental powers Prof. Frederick Adams Woods of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has for twen- 1y years been collecting portraits of men who have in some way or other distinguished themselves and study- ing their physiognomy. The results | of his investigations he now pub- lishes in the Journal of Heredity. _Prof. Woods began with a collection of the portraits of the world's great- est astronomers. Of these he found that thirty-four had large or long | noses, seventeen had average and five had short noses. To check his own | opinion as to the relative size of the noses shown in the photographs he submitted them to an associate, whose | judgment was that there were thirty- one large noses, twenty-two average and three short noses. * ¥ * * TEXT he took the portraits of twenty-two famous orators of England, from which he found six- teen with large or long noses, five with average and only one small. Spending a Day With the Vice President on His Tour of Duty with President Harding by a majority of seven million votes, came to Wash- ington on March 4, 1921, with the de- termination that, as Vice President of the United States, he was going to render real service, through his office. to the peoxle of the country. That he has succeeded In winning the high re- =grd and esteem of his fellow citizens ‘{ 1% best evidenced by the tributes that have been paid him, both in the press and hy personal letters. By his at- tention to duty he has demonstrated that the office of Vice President of the United States is an important Pposition or, to put it into everyday. plain English, he has made it a real man-size job. Big Noses on Men Who Lead The check opinion was fifteen long. seven average and none small. Among orators of modern Europe and orators of America, forty in all, he found twenty-three large noses, sixteen average and one small. And his associate found twenty-two large seventeen average and one small Among nineteen kings “of industry there were eleven hig noses, seven average and one small. As “Who's Who in Ameriea” is not illustrated. he took the Canadian “Who's Who and Why” and went through the portraits under the ini- tials A, B and C as fir specimens of the whole number (about 10.000). His own verdict on them was fifty-two big noses, one hundred and sixty- seven average and forty-five small; that of his associate was seventy- four big noses, one hundred and fifty- one average and thirty-npine small The names in this book are, like those in “Who's Who in America,” those of men who have certainly done something to raise themselves above mediocrity, but not all of whom can by any means be called great. There- fore the proportion of average noses is much larger than in the lists of men selected for their real eminence. MEMORIAL DAY ON MAIN STREET | tria and Hungary who wanted the ad- | BN dresses of missing relatives or informa- tion about property that had been taken over by the allen Bropefty eustodian. Frdm the raft of.letters was secured the: dstonishing infgrmation as to the number. of . parligments, assoclations and governments in' the making todaw Herq were communicatiens from Asia Minor, China, Chita—In' fact, from all parts of the ‘world. mental foils with the Vice Presldent you should be careful of your guard. His repartee is_delightful, and, without carrying a sting, as a rule disarms his opponent. < An old philosopher once said that the best way to make a correct &n- alysis of a .man'g character was to talk with the people of the com- munity i which he lived. If one talks with 'the employes of the hotel at ch*the Coolldges have lived ever sinee coming to Washington he will find that the Vice President, and his are held In the highest esteem peonle who' see them two Or three times each. day. Their demo- crafic actions have won for them the respect and ‘admiration of those who serve them at their temporary home, to Senator Lodge.. There are two| clerks and a-messenger ready to as- sist in the routing work of the morn. ing hour. SR o _ The mail has been opened and the Vice President starts in on tha pilé that confronts him. According to Mr. Clark. there are about ome hun- dred letters a-day, and they embrace every request possible under the sun, They come from all parts of the world, and it appears that every one who has a particularly hard: problem to salve writes to the Vice President about it, This condition also obtains at the White House. - Incredible as it may séem, there hundreds of peaple throughont e There was likewise a box containing 2 pair of women’s shoes. The explana- tory' epistle which should have accom- panied them had evidently been delayed in transit. Those who. sent these uncommon let- ters. evidently: looked upon the Vice Presldent as a sort of a great-uncle. There were invitations to attend this, that or the other affair. These were not counted in the hundred or more let- ters. Last year the Vice President re- celved 1,030 invitations to be present at some sort of a function, and this num- ber does not Include the formal en- graved requests for his presence. Hardly a morning hour passes that the Viee President of ‘the United Staes is not waited upon by some delegation which desires his presence ‘at & ban- quet, the laying of a=corner stone, the unveiling of a monument or e other occasion, and all of them present their requests with an earnestness that'shows how deeply they feel in the matter. Wherever it is possible, Mr. Coolidge complies with the request, buf he feels, however, that it is his duty as an offi- cer, of the government to spend most of | his time in Washington, especially when Congress is in session, If he were to comply with one-fifth of the requests made for speeches, etc., he would be five Chauthuqua circuits rolled into one and would not have any time left for ‘his official duties in the Senate or at the White House, for twice a week he is at ‘the executive mansion participat- ing In the meeting of President Hard- ing’s cabinet. * K ¥ GECRETARY Clark - bas _observed that the hour is rapidly approach- ing for the.convening of the Senate, and Mr. Coolidge leaves hfs office and walks briskly to the Senate, where one minute before the hour of convening he enters the Senate chamber §nd awaits the_co " of the chaplain® i The morning prayer is offered and the day’s work of the Senate com- ences. The morning's business is finished—that is, the routine work— and the special business of that day is entered upon. The Vice President must be ever ready to pass upon any parlamentary question that may ‘arise, and his long experience has ad- mirably fitted him _to be & presiding officer and to decide’ questions of an intricate parligmentary nature. An_ Hour. or so. pssses and some member of the:Senate is called to the chair. Vice President then de- scends to' the- Senate 7 where, at a table near. the corner, he éats his Juncheon. This meal:ge: food. He -nods pleasantly to. those members of_the Senate who are hav- tug lunch, either alone or with. some constituent.. Sometimes he lunches t generaily. has b Sl & friend ‘or Al O