Presidential Week

P:Newspaper correspondents, lolling on the porch at Paul Smith's Hotel, were wishing something would happen. Something did. Leonard Smith of the New York Evening Post and Alfred H. Kerchhofer of the Buffalo Evening News canoed, capsized, found the lake waters icy, heard the rescuing put-put of several motor boats. Ever-attendful Major J. F. Coupal, the President's physician, ordered the conoeist-correspondents to bed.

P:The Spokesman told the press in the brief conference held last week, that reports about his active participation in Congressional campaigns this fall (in behalf of Senator Butler of Massachusetts or any other Republican) should be regarded as purely speculative; that Senator Wadsworth of New York is coming to visit him this summer; that the Adirondacks are a delightful spot; that the mosquito ravages had been exaggerated. The gentlemen of the press were impressed by the tan and the high spirits of the President.

P:The President found new fisheries twelve miles from White Pine Camp on the former preserves of the late William Rockefeller. These lands, 52,000 acres, are now owned by a syndicate headed by Colonel B. B. McAlpin, potent Manhattan hotel man and financier.

A party, including Mr. Coolidge, native guides, Secret Service men, caught 32 speckled trout in one afternoon. Ten of these (among which was the largest) chose the President's hook.

P:"Major" Arthur Brooks, Negro valet, who has advised every President since William Howard Taft on the purchase and wearing of clothes, suffered a sudden heart attack. President Coolidge's personal physician, Major J. F. Coupal, was summoned from Paul Smith's Hotel to White Pine Camp at 3 a.m. and reported the spell not serious. Mr. Brooks has been ill for many months. John Mays, Negro, has been substituting for Mr. Brooks.

P:An invitation from the President is a command, although it is usually worked to permit declinations in favor of previous engagements.* Governor Alfred E. ("Smiling") Smith was unable to accept President Coolidge's first luncheon date, so their respective secretaries exchanged cordial telegrams and arranged a second day.

The day came; the man who is President received the man who would like to be President; an executive who had pitched hay on a Vermont farm met an executive who had sold fish at the Fulton market. Historians, political observers, reporters, photographers yearned for ringside seats; but the gates of White Pine Camp clicked shut after the Governor and Mrs. Smith had entered.

Marines fired the Governor's salute, presented arms; Captain Wilson H. Brown Jr. presented the guests to the President and Mrs. Coolidge; the formalities ended. Four charming people chatted, dined on brook trout which the President himself had caught, strolled about the alpine rock garden, cruised on Lake Osgood. Later in the afternoon, other members of the Smith family and their guests were received by the Coolidges.

Reporters captured Governor Smith when he returned to Paul Smith's Hotel: "What did you talk about?"

"Well, we talked about fishing," said the Governor using his widest gubernatorial smile. "In deference to the ladies we kept off politics and other controversial subjects. . . . The President and Mrs. Coolidge are very delightful."

*Able, righteous Senator Borah had once played with Presidential etiquette by failing to appear at a White House luncheon for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which he is chairman. No explanation of the incident was made at the time, but last week it was said that Senator Borah had understood the luncheon to be canceled, whereas really a breakfast invitation for another day had been canceled.