1 1
THE GAZETTE-TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1925.
PAGE THREE
Behind the Scenes
At Washington
Calvin Coolidge, Mrs. Coolidge, Senator Borah, Chas.
G. Dawes, Herbert Hoover and Andrew Mellon
Discussed in Speech by Newspaper Man.
McNARY AND SINNOTT ARE LAUDED
Stanfield Mentioned; Fate of Parties Weighed; Elec
tion Prospects in Relation to Control of U. S. Sen
ate; Relations With Japan and With Europe.
By FREDERIC WM. WILE.
In Portland Telegram.
With in Introduction by L. R. Wheeler.
Mr. Wheeler Mr. Preildent and Gentle
men: H. G. WelU. in hti "Outline of His
tory, attribute the fall of the Roman
Republic to two factor: Int. the lack
of a public prew adequately to Inform the
people, and znd, the lack of tystem of rep
resentative government to provide the nee
Mary machinery for popular npreaiion.
The development of the public preni in
the lait century has been one of the "unii
in if" outKrowtha of our American democ
racy and in one of the eaiential safeguard
of IhU democracy. We have grown from
a country with 27 daily papers having an
aggregate circulation of approximately 10,
000 in 1810 to a country with approxi
mately 2600 daily papers having an aggre
gate circulation of 25,000,000 to 30,000,000
in li2fi. Practically every one in America
readn a daily paper.
The lament ia often heard that we have
drifted away from the good old days when
editors of the Horace GreHey type ruled
journalism and hlpd mould public opin
ion with masterful editorials. It is a char
acter in tic of modem journalism that the
interpretive writer has to a large extent
supplanted the old-time editor. People no
longer want to be told what to believe but
rather are inclined to want an analytical
discutwlon of the facta from which they
can draw their own cone 1 unions. Mr. Wile
belongs to this new class of interpretive
new a pa per writers.
He began his repertorial work with the
Chicago Record, later the Chicago Daily
News. For a number of years he repre
aei.ted this great daily paper first in Lon
don as assistant correspondent during the,
hoer war, and later In Merlin up till the
time when he came to the notice of Lord
NorthrlinVs paper, the London Daily Mail,
about W09, and was employed by the Lon
don paper up to and after the opening of
the war. On the outbreak of hostilities he
wait imprisoned in Berlin and with some
difficulty escaped punbhment as a spy at
the hands of the enraged military caste.
During Amercia's participation in the
war, Mr. Wile served under General Per
shing in France, putting to good account
his journalistic knowledge of Germany and
his thorough understanding of the German
press. He, waa with President Wilson on
t latter' European tour and at Ver
sailles. Since that time he has been Washington
correspondent for a distinguished lit of
newspapers among which are the Christian
Science Monitor, the Philadelphia North
American, the Ixmdon Sunday Times, and
the Japan Advertiser. Readers of the
Portland Telegram will recognise In him
the Telegram Washington correspondent.
Mr. WileMr. President, and Gen
tlemen of the City Club, it is i very
thrilling experience for an Eastern
tenderfoot, far remote from that com
munity of Rumor, Recrimination and
Remorse called Washington, to stand
before an audience on the Pacific
coast. It is also a maiden experience
and one in which 1 take the keenest
delight.
Ai an occasional contributor to the
columns of one of your great news
papers, I do not feel myself an en
tire atranger in Portland. Though
I feel myself very much at home,
thanks to the typically bountiful
western hospitality of which I am
the willing and grateful victim, I ititl
reserve to myself the right of the
visitor to rhapsodize over this city
magnificent. It is a complete eye
opener to me, as la also, if I may ven
ture to say so in Portland, your sis
ter city of Seattle. Their splendor,
their beauty, their metropolitan air,
their bustling life, their gorgeous en
vironments, their illimitable possi
bilitiea of future development, have
made a deep and lasting Impression
upon me.
If 1 could be born again and start
life all over, there is nothing that
could prevent the pitching of my tent
out here where the west ends. I am
afraid I should drive the stakes as
near the Columbia River Highway as
possible. I have been far afield In
two hemispheres in my day, but I re
call nothing that can approximate the
grandeur of those miles of panorama.
Nature has been very lavish to West
ern Oregon. Your enthusiasm over
her gifts is fully justified.
Disconcerted by Distances.
I have come among you after four
weeks of exploration of the western
country lying between the Great
Lakea and the Pacific ocean. The
northwest wai virgin soil to me. It
haa been a revelation, every inch of
the wav. The trip has been for me
a campaign of education that I, In
common with most residents of the
east, sadly needed. I have learned
for one thing, why they are called
the "great open spaces. My acquaint
ance with those vast distances is re
newed every time I buy a sleeping-
ear berth.
Along the Atlantic seaboard, when
wi iournev from Washington to New
York, or to Pittsburgh, or Detroit, or
Chicago, or St. Louie, we think we re
taking a long journey. It was a little
disconcert na to find that msmarcic,
North Dakota, la as far from Helena,
Montana, as New York in from Lhi
cago, and that it takes longer to got
from Portland to San Francisco than
it does to go from Washington to
Chicago. I spent tha Fourth of July
at Minneapolis and said to my host
that it felt good at last to be in the
heart of the west. He told me that
Mlnnennolis is only 1,300 miles from
the Atlantic and that I was still 1,900
miles from the Pacific. Columbus am
a groat job when he discovoered this
vast land of ours, though, an English
man once said ho didn't sea how
Christopher could very well have
missed it!
Men, Women and Ilerdera.
Tr. la a irroaL compliment to a pro
fessional chronicler of public affairs
to be invited bo far afield as Portland
to discuss events. "Behind the Scenes
at Washington." It la appropriate
that you custodians of wostern dos
tlnios should survey those scones
for vou are now monarch there
...There has never been a time when
the West waa ao strongly intrenched
at tho seat of Federal government as
It ii today.
For the first time on record, more
than half of the Cabinet ia recruited
from the region where men are men,
where women are governors, and
where aheepherders are shot. You
have in Kellogg, of Minnesota, the
premiership of the Administration,
the Secretaryship of State. Califor
nia holds two Cabinet portfolios
Wilbur is Secretary of the Navy, and
Herbret Hoover is Secretary of Com
merce, and a lot of other things be
sides. New, of Indiana, is Postmas
ter General. Jardine, of Kansas, is
Secretary of Agriculture. Work, of
Colorado, is Secretary of the Inter
ior. Everett Sanders, of my own na
tive state of Indiana, ia secretary to
the President a post of great power.
And, of course, there is General
Dawes, of Illinois, hell-bent for leath
er on converting the Vice-Presidency
from a decoration into a volcano.
St. Paul Gathers the Fruit.
Within the past four months no
fewer than three important Federal
plums have been dropped in the lap
of a single western state. To Minne
sota men, in rapid succession, Presi
dent Coolidge gave the posts of Sec
retary of State, Solicitor General of
the United States and an assistant
secretary of Stat. That generous
shaking of the patronage tree in Min
nesota's favor may help to wreBt the
state from the Farmer-Labor grip,
but it may not keep Minneapolis safe
for Coolidge, for Mr. Kellogg, Mr.
Mitchell and Mr. Olds all came from
St. Paul.
Predominance of the West at Wash
ington by no means ends with the Ad
ministrative branch of the govern
ment. Congress is ruled and led by
men of the Middle West, the Missis
sippi Valley and the Rocky Mountain
region. In both Senate and the House
sons of the west will preside over
the Sixty-ninth Congress Dawes of
Illinois, as president of the Senate,
and Longworth of Ohio, as Speaker
of the House. There is hardly a ma
jor committee of either house that
is not headed by a western man. Of
the blue-ribbon Senate committee on
Foreign Relations, Borah, of Idaho, is
chairman.
In the Seats of the Mighty.
Smoot, of Utah, is chairman of the
Senate Committee on Finance, with
vital authority on questions of tho
tariff, revenue and taxation. The vet
eran Warren, of Wyoming, is chair
man of the Senate Committee on Ap- ;
propriations. Hiram Johnson of Cal-;
ifornia, is chairman of the Senate
Committee on Immigration. NorrU,
of Nebraska, heads Agriculture and
Forestry. Oddie, of Nebraska, is
chief of another committeo of special
interest to the West, that which deals
with mines and mining.
Capper, of Kansas, heads the com
mittee on Claims. Jones, of Wash-
ngton, is chairman of Commerce and
Shipping. Harreld of Oklahoma heads
Indian Affairs. Cummins, of Iowa,
authority on railroad economics, di
rects the activities of the committee
on interstate commerce, which deals
ith the thorny problems of trans
portation. Norbcck, of South Dakota,
is chairman of Pensions.
Stanfield and Sinnott.
Oregon is very much in the picture
behind the scenes at Washington. The
chairmanships of the important com
mittees on Public Lands in both Sen
ate and House are in the hands of
Oregonians Senator Stanfield now
leads the Senate committee, and my
old friend and comrade of college
days at Notre Dame, Representative
Nicholas J. Sinnott, of The Dalles,
heads the House committee. I regret
not having seen Sinnott in Portland.
Few men In Congress enjoy higher
respect. He was the all-round athletic
champion of Notre Dame a genera
tion ago, and has carried into his
work at Washington the energy, the
skill and the strength that made him
invincible on the cinder-path in the
early nineties.
Senator Stanfield is also chairman
of the Senate committee on Civil Ser
vice, and a member of the exceeding
ly important committee on finance,
which has to do with the tariff and
revenue.
McNary'a Enthusiasm Withers.
Senator McNary is chairman of a
Senate committee no less important
to Oregon than the committee on
Public Lands the committee on Ir
rigation and Reclamation and be
cause of his high repute among his
colleagues, has also won assignments
to the vital committees on Agricul
ture and Forestry, on Commerce, on
Indian Affairs, and on Manufactures,
McNary'a name has become a house
hold word in Washington because of
his temporary identification with the
agricultural export corporation bilk
If I am rightly informed, his enthus
insm for the McNary-Haugen measure
has withered with time, though I have
discovered throughout the farming
west a keen desire for something like
that legislation, by whatever name it
is to be called.
The farmer does not yet feel thot
he is on anything like equal terms
with the manufacturer with regard to
the protection which the tariff gives
to industry. The farmer looked upon
the McNary-Haugen bill as protection
for the farm,
Nostrums for the Farmer,
I think we must be prepared for a
resumption of the demand that ngrl
culture be given a squarcr deal with
Industry, though, as far as I enn make
out, agriculture in thawest is doing
very well Indeed without any patent
medicine from Congress. It looks to
a casual observer as if Nature wore
Coolidge Does Not
Ym y
sfcEaV y AyUTpclgTa-ctl ss laCtl
An unusual picture of the President and Mrs. Coolidge aboard
the Mayflower for a short1 cruise along the New England Coast
Despite the fact that the President is badly in need of rest and
relaxation, reports from Swampscott, Mass., are that he has again
thrown himself into affairs of state with important ' conferences
scheduled almost every day.
t.ulrinc nvri11fnt fa ret nf tha hnnar
ana ijaeiy 10 maKe a Deuer Job 01 it
man Washington could ever do.
Haney and Chamberlain.
Oregon has a capable and respect
ed representative at the national cap
ital, too, in the person of Bert E.
Haney, a member of the United States
Shipping Board. And the Beaver
state has never sent a more popular
son to the Potomac than George E.
Chamberlain. If Oregon doesn't want
to return him to the Senate, Wash
ington is quite content to have its
bar adorned by a lawyer of such
eminence.
Don Quixote Tilta at W indmills.
To a western man has been en
trusted the toughest job in Washing
ton, even though it is the outstanding
proof that the star of congressional
empire is steadily taking its way tow
ard the Pacific. 1 refer to that stur
dy Kansan of Chicksaw ancestry, Sen
ator Curtis. Curtis is leader of the
so-called Senate majority and chair
man of the committee on Rules, that
citadel against which Don Quixote
Dawes is now bo vigorously tilting.
Dawes says he, too, is banging away
at windmills.
Senator Curtis' job in Washington
is the kind described by Lord Rose
bery, in his biography of Disraeli, as
the tedious art of managing men."
Curtis is the official leader of a ma
jority that exists only on paper. He
commands followers who go not
where he leads, but whither they
please.
Fickle as the Weather.
The Republican Party has a sta
tistical majority of 14 in the senate,
which now contains 63 nominal Re
publicans, 40 Democrats and one
Farm Labor member Henrick Ship
Btead of Minnesota. That statistical
majority is about as dependable as
the weather. Let only seven Repub
licans of the less regular type like
Borah, Johnson, Couzens, Howell,
Norris, Norbeclc, and Mc Masters
leave the reservation, and the so-
called Republican majority in the
Senate goes where the woodbine
twineth, I
Tempermental Republicans,
Indeed, not even seven of these
tempermental Republicans need to,
stray from the straight and narrow
path to annihilate Administration
control of the Senate. For when the
Republicans expelled LaFollette,
Brookhart, Ladd and Frazier from the
Lodge last winter, it reduced even
their paper majority from fourteen
to ten. Subtract from ten the seven
capricious spirits whom I named a
moment ago, and you have a Repub
lican control reduced to almost less
than nothing. These are the condi
tions that are fast turning Senator
Curtis' remaining raven locks to
white.
Solid South and Frenzied North.
That is the present situation. The
future is even more disconcerting.
Thirty-five elections to the United
States Senate are now in prospect.
Twenty-eight of the seats in question
are in Republican possession, count
ing the LaFollette and Ladd vacan
cies. Seven are held by the Demo
crats. While all of these democratic
seats, being in Southern hands, are
secure for that party, many of the
Republican seats are highly insecure.
Several are bound to be lost. It will
not be necessary for the Democrats
to gain more than a few of them to
wipe out Republican control of the
Senate In the next Congress. Cool
idge administration policies will face
a period of extremely rough sledding,
if that contingency arrives.
The time is easily within the recol
ectlon of most men here present when
the roost at Washington was ruled by
the hast. In those days, only a very
few years ago, the West was the po
litical step-child of the Republic.
Government waa still of the people,
but mainly of, by and for the eastern
people. Those days are gone. Min
ing and agriculture and the other
basic interests of this virile section
of the United States no longer ap
pear at Washington, cap in hand, to
beg for favors. They present them
selves nowadays in tho guise of lords
and masters. They command the ear
alike of Administration and Congress,
and seldom Is it a deaf ear.
Aiming at the Jaw.
Events of the past month have
clothed the 1926 Congressional cam
paign with an unexpectedly new sig
nificance. The passing of LaFollette
and Ladd, who in a certain sense were
the bone and sinew of the Radical
movement in Congress, has opened up
inviting possibilities for the Repub
lican organization. You are certain
to experience, in consequence of them
a vigorous drive to givo Radicalism
in Wisconsin and North Dakota, and
in the Northwest generally, a knock
out blow.
Behind the scenes at Washington,
during the next six months, there will
be no singlo political activity with a
more definite and determined purpose.
The questions tho Republican lead
ership is asking itself are those docs
the disappearance of LaFollette mean
the break-up of the Radical combin
ation which Imposed its will with so
deadly offoct upon recent procedure
in Washington? Is western Radical
ism a flimsy structure that was built
around one or two dominating per-
aonalitlcft? Is it now doomed to crum
ble and decay? Was LaFollette tho
keystone of an arch that cannot stand
without him?
Rest on Vacation
Parties In a Maelstrom.
The next few months or the next
year will tell. What ensues is bound
to be of far-reaching effect upon the
whole national political situation. It
may be that we are on the verge of
an entirely new alignment of parties.
It may be that both the Republican
and Democratic parties are on the
threshold of reorganization. They
may be destined to find themselves
in a common melting pot from which
perhaps parties to be known as Con
servative or Liberal will emerge.
America is conservative at heart, but
Radicalism in America can never be
stifled, for it is the true mother of
progress. We shall delude ourselves
if we think we have seen the last of
it Do not misunderstand me. I do
not mean red flag radicalism. I mean
enlightened Liberalism.
Muffling Niagara's Roar.
Radicalism, callel Revolution, won
our freedom from Great Britain. Rad
icalism, called Abolition, liberated
the slaves. Radicalism, called Union,
forbade Secession. Even radio is rad
icalism a revolt against antiquated1
methods of transmission. Aviation is
radicalism man's insistence upon
peerage with the eagle. Radicalism
in our politics may prevail under an
other name, but it will smell as sweet
end its invigorating perfume is bound
to scent our public life for all time
to come. It can no more be sup
pressed than Niagara's roar can be
muffled. Our task is to see to it that i
Radicalism is captained by men who
are sane and patriotic, and not mere
ly self-seekers and demagogues.
Coolidge Bends Like Granite. I
Calvin Coolidge had not been Pres-1
ident very long two years ago before
Washington realized that an unusual
type of American citizen waa now es- i
tabliBhed at the White House. The;
Republican Party, which, it was com-'
monly understood, had no intention
of renominating the quiet man from
Massachusetts for the Vice-Presidency
in 1924, discovered, to the con
sternation of many of its leaders.
that a masterful personality was at
the helm; not a spectacular person
ality, not an orator, not a hail-fellow-
well-met, but a man of calmness,
courage and caution. With those
qualities to recommend him, it did
not take long to "sell" the new Presi
dent to the country.
Before Calvin Coolidge was Presi
dent six months, the oil scandals en
gulfed the nation's attention and
rocked the country with fears and un
rest that seemed for awhile to be
unsettling the very foundations of
the Republic. At such times this
emotional and easily excited Ameri
ca of ours needs calm, courage and
caution in the White House.
The comparison, of course, is not
wholly pertinent, yet I have often
thought that, as the crisis of Seces
sion found us with a Lincoln, and the
World War with a Wilson, we were
perhaps more fortunate than we at
the time realized that in that moment
of overwrought national nerves in the
winter of 1924, there was in the pres
idential chair an individuality and a
temperment of the type of Calvin
Coolidge something of the granite
of the Green Mountains, of that fibre
against which even the most violent
storms break, but which they do not
bend.
Clinging to Cautions Calvin.
Tha presidential campaign of 1924
came on. Upon that contest the Dem
ocratic party entered with as formid
able a mass of fighting material as
ever was at the disposal of an Amer
ican political organization seeking to
wrest control of the Federal govern
ment. The administration in office
was tainted with the oil 'scandals and
the Veterans Bureau corruption. The
Republican congress was in general
disrepute, Coolidge himself, with
what many of his followers felt to
be reckless courage, had vetoed the
soldiers' bonus. It was no small trib
ute to Calvin Coolidge that the party
which, only a few months previous
was prepared to drop him, now saw
in him practically its only source of
salvation in the impending struggle
for retention of power at Washing
ton. As state primary after primary took
place iV became evident, in the allit
erative words of Senator George H.
Moses, of New Hampshire, that "the
chief asset of the Republican Party
was the calm and cautions Christian
character of Calvin Coolidge." So it
came to pass that at Cleveland, in
June, 1924, the Republican national
convention was nothing but a Cool
idge ratification meeting. The Pres
ident automatically became the cam
paign issue as far as the Republican
Party was concerned. Other issues
were raised. LaFollette provided the
issue of "Save the Constitution." But
the issue most effectively carried to
the country was "the calm and cau
tious Christian character of Calvin
Coolidge."
Chats Much But Leaks Little.
Calvin Coolidge 1b no longer an ac
cldent. He is President of the Uni
ted States by one of ths most over
whelming majorities in our electoral
history, If I have derived one par
amount impression in the west, it is
tne impression that rresinent t-ooi
idge's grip on popular confidence is
almost a stranglehold.
Let me analyze, briefly, as best t
may, some of the apparent secrets of
it. The people are under a good
many misapprehensions about Cool
idge, One is that ha Is a silent man.
Another is that bt ia dull-witted.
Another is that he is a small -town
politician.
He ia none of these things.
Instead of being silent, he is talk
ative. He is by far the most loquac
ious President with whom the news
paper correspondents in Washington
have aver had to deai. At our semi
weekly press conferences at the
White House, we do not always find
the President informative, but we
invariably find him chatty. Some
times be is positively garrulous. He
always is verbose when he wants to
answer questions without saying any
thing or committing himself.
Charm of Coolidge Personality.
Although the President is not ex
actly the "Silent Cal" of popular fic
tion, he is thrifty with his words
when conversational economy la use
ful. The American people are so sur
feited with wind bags that they wel
come the arrival in public life of a
man who even has a reputation for
keeping his mouth jjhut.
In private, conversation, the Presi
dent, as I know from personal ex
perience, is as communicative as any
man. He has a hospitable manner, a
winning smile, and considerable I
charm. What the outside world looks
upon as his coldness is to a large ex
tent shyness and genuine modesty.
He cares nothing for show, the cheap
social graces, small talk or idle com
pliments. You seldom talk with Mr.
Coolidge without feeling that he has
an adequate grasp of the topic under
discussion and a mind open to con
sider it from the other fellow's point
of view.
President's Favorite Ballad.
The President, X believe, is ap
proaching national and international
questions in that mood. He is not
a builder of air castles, or afflicted
with an exaggerated vision, or fired
with any evangelical ambition to re
form either his own country or the
world at large through a program of
Utopian but impractical idealism.
Except on the single issue of govern
mental economy, we detect no sign of
the cruBading spirit in Calvin Cool
idge. On that issue he is inbued
with almost religious fervor, but it
is tinged, as all Coolidge policies are,
with a very practical quality.
Just before the President left
Washington for his summer vacation,
he delivered a farewell speech on his
favorite subject of economy. Econ
omy is the song Mr. Coloidge sings
more effectively than any other bal
lad in his political repertoire. He has
undoubtedly lifted it to the dignity
of the paramount number on his po
litical program. He told the Busi
ness Organization of the Government
that he is committed to a policy of
"relentless economy."
The President's all-dominating pur
pose in preaching and then practicing
Federal economy is of course the re
duction of taxes. He wants the
American people to understand that
without persistent economy in the ex
penditure of public funds, there can
be no progressive decrease in tax
burdens.
(Continued on Page Four)
Ihisy satisfy Is no
csitch phrase it's a taste -description
of Chesterfields
SUCH P O PULAB.ITY MUST BE DESE R.VED
Liourrr & Myim Tobacco Co.
M ifi v :A
sf'teca i i . A SK
That FeOow Feeling
vrOU are all wrapped up in the
merchandise that fills your
store. You enthuse over the qual
ity of this article and that line.
You probably display the goods at
tractively, too.
All you need now is to transmit
your enthusiasm to the buying pub
lic of your community and your
goods will move out and profits roll
in. ADVERTISE. For advertis
ing makes the customer feel as you
do about the goods you have to sell.
Every time you talk to prospective
buyers through an Advertisement
in The Gazete-Times, you are in
creasing the fellow feeling that
brings business to your store.
AN ADVERTISEMENT
AN INVITATION
IS
mere