Mr. Coolidge's Week

P: The Executive Offices were visited by the President of the National Association of Post-Office Clerks and the Secretary of the organization. They wanted to know how President Coolidge stood on the question of a pay increase for Post-Office employes. The President declared that he favored an increase, if the proposal were scientifically drawn and if a means of raising the necessary revenue were provided.

Last Spring, Mr. Coolidge vetoed the Edge Bill, which provided for a $68,000,000 pay increase for postal employes. He objected that it was not scientifically drawn and that it did not provide for revenue. Democrats and LaFollette Progressives suggested that the approaching election has made the President see the error of his ways.

P: Mr. Coolidge took up equestrian exercise, going on "sunrise" gallops with his son and Maj. James F. Coupal, White House physician, successor to Brig. Gen. Sawyer.

P: To the victorious U. S. Olympic team, returning home aboard the S. S. America, Mr. Coolidge addressed a message: "On field, on track and on water, the achievements of our athletes were without parallel and the impressiveness of the victories was glorified by the sportsmanly conduct which earned all admiration."

P: The Coolidge Home Town Club, which claims a membership of more than 8,000, although there are only five houses in Plymouth, Vt., is circulating literature to prove that the President is a real dirt farmer. One Tuttle, President of the Club, said: "We are sending out literature and stories about the farm life of Calvin Coolidge and his ancestry. We are trying to prove to the farmers throughout the land that President Coolidge is a real dirt farmer, as were his father and his grandfather before him. And the best thing about it is that it is not bunk but the simple truth."

P: Incidentally, rumors persisted that Mr. Coolidge may go away for a vacation. He has often denied this and is known to be impatient when the press continues to promulgate rumors which he has denied. The latest rumor was that he might visit Plymouth, Vt., for ten days. If he should go home for ten days to help his father bring in the hay, it would fit in admirably with the Home Town Club's propaganda.

P: Charles Edward Stowe, of Santa Barbara, who calls himself twin brother of Uncle Tom's Cabin because his mother, Harriet Beecher Stowe, produced him and the book at approximately the same time, sent to Coolidge Campaign Headquarters a quotation from Quintus Horatius Flaccus, famed Roman poet, which he applied to the President:

"The just man, tenacious of his purpose, is not shaken from his firm resolve by the frenzy of his fellow-citizens bidding what is wrong nor by the face of a threatening tyrant nor by the uncontrollable storms of the sea nor by the mighty hand of thundering Jove. If the vault of Heaven should break and crash upon him, he would stand amid its ruins undismayed."

P: The President and Mrs. Coolidge made a tour of parks and playgrounds of the Capital, including the War Department Cafeteria. They stopped at a golf course to watch; a golfer, becoming excited, dubbed his drive into the bushes. They stopped at baseball grounds to watch two League teams; a pitcher suddenly became wild and "walked" two batters in succession. They went into the kitchen of the War Department Cafeteria; Susan, the Negro cook, went up in a flurry, exclaiming: "Praise the Lord. It's the President of the United States!"

P: The President was scheduled to break ground for a new Methodist church in Washington by turning a spadeful of dirt. He appeared promptly, with the energy of a real dirt farmer turned, not one, but three spadefuls.

P: Continuing the Defense Day controversy begun a few days before (TIME, Aug. 4), Governor Bryan of Nebraska, Democratic nominee for Vice President, sent Mr. Coolidge a message of inquiry about the proposed "Day." The President consulted with the War Department, answered Governor Bryan's questions. Both messages were later made public in Nebraska (see Page 4).

P: President and Mrs. Coolidge sent a wreath to the Harding tomb at Marion, Ohio, on the first anniversary of President Harding's death.