The Coolidge Week

P: Is it in defiance of superstition or in deference to colonial tradition that President Coolidge invites 13 guests at a time to breakfast parties? It is neither, but simply that 13 is the number of guests that can be seated comfortably around the White House table without putting in extra table-leaves. Last week there was a series of breakfasts at which the guests were groups of Congressmen 13 strong. Most notable was the Tuesday morning breakfast, attended by Senators sharing President Coolidge's antipathy toward the Jones shipping bill. For all the breakfasters' palavering, the bill passed the Senate that afternoon (see p. 9).

P:. Thursday arrived and with it some 2,000 legislators, with wives and friends in tow, for the Congressional Reception.

P: Congressional hearings on flood relief having at last terminated, it looked as though legislation might soon ensue (see p. 9). President Coolidge sent for Secretaries Mellon, Hoover and Davis (of War); for Major General Jadwin, Chief of Engineers; for Representative William E. Hull of Illinois, outspoken advocate of a 100% Federal program. After much conferring, the President let it be known that he might let up a bit on his insistence that the flood-region States pay 20% of the cost of their protection.

P: The Presidential tongue having slipped on "President Hoover" (see BOOMS), and newsgatherers having made holiday with the phrase, President Coolidge issued a new press order. Hereafter, the semiweekly visit which newsgatherers are permitted to make at the White House and at which they may submit written questions, shall not be regarded or referred to in any sense as an interview. There must be no reference to questions asked and answered; no direct revelation of what the President is thinking about. The Presidential thoughts shall be "background," not "news."

P: Next evening, in a dedicatory speech at the National Press Club's new building ("greatest news centre in all the world"), President Coolidge, speaking as a member of the club, said:

"Even with all the ingenuity that characterizes the press of the present day, most writers are dependent on some real news as a source of inspiration. . . .

"The press . . . appears to have lost very much of its power as a director of public thought. ... It ought to undertake to recapture the dominant position it formerly held as a distributor of current information and a director of public opinion. . . .

"One of the strongest safeguards of the integrity of official action is publicity. This does not mean an espionage of all personal and private actions of Government officials, but it does mean publicity concerning the discharge of the duties which they have been chosen to perform. . . . Publicity is not only the main agency of reform, it is likewise the main agency of prevention."