Scribner's Presents

It was a cynic who said "Every man has his price." It was Calvin Coolidge who declared that freedom has its price. Last week a volume of his speeches and essays was published under the title The Price of Freedom. It is an expression of his views on national affairs expressed in the generalized, aphoristic style which the public by this time knows well. Excerpts:

Of course it would be folly to argue that the people cannot make political mistakes. They can and do make grave mistakes. They know it, they pay the penalty, but compared with the mistakes which have been made by every kind of autocracy they are unimportant.

Oftentimes the inconvenience and loss fall on the innocent. . . .

No man was ever meanly born. About his cradle is the wondrous miracle of life. He may descend into the depths, he may live in infamy and perish miserably, but he is born great. . . .