The White House Week

THE PRESIDENCY

The White House Week

P:And all through the White House scarcely a sound was heard--for it was Thanksgiving Day. In the morning, the President read his newspapers, scanned his mail. Before noon the calm grew more profound, for the President and Mrs. Coolidge together with Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Stearns of Boston and Attorney General John Garibaldi Sargent had departed for worship at the Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church,* where Bishop William F. McDowell preached. Upon their return, the five lunched lightly. Then the President napped while the rest of the party went to see Ethel Barrymore in The Constant Wife. At 7 p. m., what with a 24-pound turkey, the gift of Governor Sam A. Baker of Missouri, the climactic business of the day began. And then the little party of sons and daughters of Massachusetts and Vermont chatted through the evening.

P:Meanwhile, "Jim," famed gobbler from the President's Plymouth (Vt.) farm, escaped the ax for the second time. Last year he was intended to grace the table of a U. S. Thanksgiving Day banquet in London. Queen Alexandra died (TIME, Nov. 30, 1925), so the dinner was canceled. This November, the chef of the Savoy said that "Jim" was too tough, despatched him back to a peaceful old age on his Kent farm. P:The second story and roof of the White House are in need of repairs which may take six months to complete. So next March, after the Washington social season, the President and Mrs. Coolidge will take up residence in a hotel as they did in the Vice Presidential days.

P:Through National Commander Howard P. Savage of the American Legion, President Coolidge was urged to urge the Senate to reject the Geneva protocol prohibiting the use of poison gas in warfare. Said Commander Savage, vigorous warrior: "Ask any veteran of the A. E. F. whether war could be humane, with or without gas. . . ." Several days later, after a conference with Senator Borah, the President announced that he would support the Geneva protocol. P:Germany can manufacture methanol (synthetic wood alcohol) for 48-c- per gallon; in the U. S. the production costs range from 72-c- to 75-c-. So, last week President Coolidge raised the tariff on methanol from 12-c- to 18-c- per gallon, thereby using the full extent of his power under the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act of 1922, which authorizes him to change duties within limits of 50%. This is the eighth time that President Coolidge has raised the tariff; twice (on live bob white quail and paintbrush handles) he has lowered it. P:General Humbert Nobile, pilot and builder of the dirigible Norge, was presented to President Coolidge by the Italian Ambassador. Titina, sophisticated fox terrier who had seen the North Pole, accompanied General Nobile, but scurried out of one of the White House windows before greeting the President. P:Does President Coolidge eat raccoon meat? No. A full-grown male raccoon, sent from Nitta Yuma, Miss., with the hope that it would be a piece de resistance for the Presidential table, is now frisking about in the White House cellar. Soon it will probably be despatched to the Rock Creek Zoo in Washington.

P:Some of the Black Hills of South Dakota are no hills. Harney Peak, is the loftiest mountain in these hills. It is perched up on this peak that Senators Norbeck and McMaster of South Dakota want President Coolidge to spend his 1927 summer vacation. There the state maintains a large residential lodge which it would be pleased to have the President occupy.

P:"Coolidge Potatoes" are now selling for $3 a peck,* f. o. b. Ply mouth, Vt. Last week New York newspapers contained an advertisement of the Dimock Potato Corp. of Bellows Falls, Vt., which said: "A thrill for your dinner guests. . . . This unusual, long-to-be-remembered novelty--baked potatoes de luxe--grown on the farm of Calvin Coolidge's boyhood."

Perhaps, these enterprising potato potentates have unwittingly furnished Calvin Coolidge with a campaign slogan for 1928. "Coolidge and the Big Baked Potato."

*The President is a member of and usually attends the First Congregational Church of the Rev. Jason Noble Pierce (TIME, Aug. 23). "The market price for potatoes is now about 45-c-.