Mr. Coolidge's Week

P: Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge descended from their railroad train in Philadelphia just in time to arrive for the end of a celebration. It was the 150th anniversary of the first meeting of the Continental Congress and the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Carpenters' Company. That forenoon, the guests of the Carpenters' Company had been taken to Valley Forge to see Washington's Army impersonated by Company H of the First Pennsylvania Militia, and a parade in which a number of ancient military organizations, including the Worcester Continentals, the Washington Light Infantry (of S. C.), the Amoskeag Veterans (of Manchester), the Governor's Foot Guard (of Conn.), the Fifth Maryland Infantry, the Old Guard (of Manhattan), the Putnam Phalanx and the old Guard State Fencibles took part. In the afternoon, the Scottish Rite Masons of Philadelphia presented in Carpenters' Hall, amid the original furniture, a reproduction of the first meeting of the Continental Congress, with words taken from the Secretary's minutes and the original prayer offered by the minister of the same church who had opened the historic meeting. All this Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge missed.

But they came in time for dinner. Senator Pepper presided and spoke. So did Solicitor General James M. Beck, who recalled the good old times when a dinner was given for George Washington and 33 toasts were drunk. In the evening, at the Academy of Music, the President was made an honorary member of the Carpenters' Company--the first ever made. He delivered a speech:

"No American coming to Philadelphia on this aniversary could escape being thrilled at the thought of what this commemoration means. It brings to mind events which, in the course of the century and a half that has passed since the day we are celebrating, have changed the course of human history. Then was formed the ideal of the American nation.

Then--whisk!--and Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge were back at the Capital again.

P: The White House received word of the death of General Sawyer of Marion, White House physician to President Harding and (for a few months) to President Coolidge. The President immediately sent his condolences to Mrs. Sawyer.

P: Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt resigned, having been nominated for Governor of New York; and the President bade him Godspeed in the footsteps of his father.

P: A message to President Coolidge from the Law Enforcement League of Philadelphia invited the President to prevent the ejection of Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler of the Marines, who was in danger of being removed from his post as Director of Public Safety (Police Commissioner) of Philadelphia. Some months ago, General Butler was granted leave from the Marines in order to take the post and clean up Philadelphia. Friction developed between him and the reigning politicians of the city. It was believed that Mayor Kendrick would not reappoint General Butler. The Law Enforcement League declared that it had evidences of "political corruption all down the line in Pennsylvania." The President turned the matter over to Attorney General Stone, who promised investigation and "appropriate action."

P: The President addressed several thousand delegates to the Retail Druggists' Convention, at the White House grounds; Cardinal O'Connell lunched at the White House; Senator Moses, Chairman of the Republican Senatorial Committee, reported that all was well for the Republicans in this year's Senatorial elections-- but there must be no overconfidence.

P: Other callers at the White House included Senator Wadsworth of New York, a delegation of California laundry owners and a delegation of the National Local Preachers' Association (Methodist).

P: Like Theseus entering the Labyrinth, with no string to guide him out save Assistant Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis, President Coolidge plunged into the temporary offices where the War Department is carrying on the work of preparing to pay the soldiers' bonus. In and out through corridors of files, with a dozen typewriters clicking in his ears at every turn, a battalion of adding machines belching forth figures from every cranny and 2,700 acolytes, spread over eleven acres of floor space, putting 20,000 requests through the ritual every day, the President wandered, and emerged with a smile--and Secretary Davis.