Monday, Jun. 20, 1927
The Coolidge Week
P: The Swiss can make Swiss cheese cheaper than U. S. cheesemakers can make Swiss cheese. To keep Swiss Swiss cheesemakers from underselling U. S. Swiss cheese makers, President Coolidge increased the duty on Swiss Swiss cheese from 5c to 7 1/2c per pound.
P: The President expected a caller --expected in vain. Governor John Hammill of Iowa was late for an appointment with him,. Moments passed, the Governor's tardiness emphasized itself. Finally came, not the Governor, but word from him. He had not reached Washington in time to keep his appointment. He would call the next day.
P:Quotations from the President's Flag Day (June 14) proclamation: ". . . fitting that we should recall all that our flag means . . . rededicate ourselves to the high principles for which our ensign stands . . . continuation of justice in our domestic and foreign relations . . . cherish in our hearts an unquenchable love and devotion. . . ."
P: A stump in the rear of the temporary White House is the temporary home of Rebecca, pet presidential raccoon. One day last week Rebecca vanished. Attaches called "Rebecca! Rebecca!" Located, eventually, in a neighboring yard, Rebecca hopped from tree to tree while pursuers rushed from trunk to trunk. After two hours Rebecca, tired, permitted herself to be captured.
P: Mrs. Coolidge was playing with her dogs. Said she, laughingly, to a visitor: "Isn't it nice that Calvin is President? You know we really never had room before for a dog."
P: The President received General Enoch H. Crowder, received also his resignation as Ambassador to Cuba, to take effect Sept. 1. General Crowder, famed author of the 1917 conscription act, has been for some time desirous of returning to private life.
P: In one hand the President held a wooden spoon; in the other a plate of ice cream. He and Mrs. Coolidge were giving their annual garden party for disabled veterans; received nearly 1,000 of them on the South Lawn of the White House grounds. Secretary of State and Mrs. Frank B. Kellogg, Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, et al, attended.
P: Shiny boots were re-shined, polished buttons re-polished, cleaned rifles re-cleaned last week at Fort Meade, Army post. For there was stationed the First Squadron of the Fourth Cavalry, and from that squadron, announced Major General Harry A. Smith, Commander of the Seventh Corps Army Area, Omaha, was to be chosen the presidential guard which will look after the safety of the President during his summer stay in the Black Hills.
In the guard were to be 50 men, three officers, a surgeon and a medical detachment. Guardsmen were to be selected by Lieut. Col. R. W. Walker and, said General Smith, "every man will be as perfect a soldier as there is in the United States Army." This will be the first Army presidential guard, Marines having previously served as presidential protectors. The guard was to camp about a half-mile from the State Lodge.
P: The President told the First International Congress of Soil Science that all mankind is dependent upon the soil and hoped that the Congress would be abundantly fruitful in illumination and inspiration to all who attended it.
P: An eight-car special train was ready. Into it stepped President and Mrs. Coolidge; the White House office staff and household employes; newspaper men and photographers. Into it also, strapped in harness, went Rob Roy and Prudence Prim, Presidential collies. Then the engine chugged, the wheels revolved, the first lap of the 1,900-mile journey to the Black Hills began.
P: No. 15 Dupont Circle ceased to be a famed address with the President's departure, will not renew its glory even when the President returns to Washington in September. White House repairs have been running on schedule, are expected to reach completion by the end of July.
P: No flies, mosquitoes or snakes can bother the President on his vacation. At 3,500 feet above sea level flies cease to soar and the whine of the mosquito weakens and dies. The State Lodge is a good 1,000 feet above the insect-line. Snakes are not so disinclined to high altitudes, but officials maintain that none have ever been found in Custer Park.
P:On his way to the Black Hills, the President delivered a Flag Day address at Hammond, Ind. His speech dedicated the Wicker Memorial Park to World War veterans.