Vetoes

V-O-T-E spells "Yes." Dislocation of the vowels spells "veto," a hard thing for a U. S. President to write. Not over 600 vetoes have been written since the U. S. Government started functioning. In that time the Congresses have passed upwards of 50,000 bills and resolutions.

President Coolidge wrote 13 vetoes during the first session of the Seventieth Congress. He sent eight vetoes "up the hill" in one day last fortnight. His thirteenth (this session) was affixed last week to the McNary-Haugen Farm relief measure (see FARMERS). Senator McNary and Representative Haugen were called to the White House and told in advance that their work was disapproved because of the "equalization fee."

The President's sharpest critics agreed that he had showed courage. His best friends, however, said that he would have undermined the G. O. P.'s chief bulwarks if he had done otherwise. They said it was by no means Hobson's choice. Nevertheless, forces were so balanced that none could suspect President Coolidge of departing from the convictions he expressed last year.

Vetoing a measure causes a President more calculation than thought. Important vetoes have grave political bearing. The power is so nearly absolute. Not more than 50 vetoes have been overridden in the U. S. history. Fifteen of them were President Johnson's (1865-69), and he was working on a Reconstruction (Post-Civil-War) program opposite to that desired by Congress.

Historic vetoes, some of which figured in Presidential campaigns, include:

Three famed vetoes of the charter of the Bank of the United States, by Presidents Madison, Jackson, Tyler. These were referred to in planks of the Democratic party.

President Cleveland vetoed (often by the "pocket" method--letting bills go when Congress was about to adjourn*) 304 bills, mostly Civil War pensions. Historian James Bryce commented: "By killing more bills than all his predecessors put together had done, Mr. Cleveland is supposed to have improved the prospects of his reelection. . . . The nation . . . has good grounds for distrusting Congress."

President Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act. The House repassed it the same day, the Senate the next day.

President Harding vetoed the Bonus Bill and the Bill died, to be revived under President Coolidge and repassed over his veto.

P:A $125,000,000 increase in the Federal fund authorized to be loaned at low interest to U. S. shipbuilders, which was approved by President Coolidge, looked to farmer-sympathizers who did not know how much money the U. S. has put at the farmer's disposal (see p. 11), like sharp discrimination between Agriculture and Industry. President Coolidge signed the Jones-White Merchant Marine bill, providing this increase, the same day he vetoed the McNary-Haugen bill also provided comforting U. S. mail contracts for U. S. shipmen. President Coolidge's main reasons for approving the ship bill were two: It was designed to put more merchantmen operating from the U. S., under the U. S. flag; it required only five out of the seven votes of the U. S. Shipping Board to dispose of the 300-odd Government-owned ships remaining from the Wartime U. S. Emergency Fleet. Some Congressmen had tried to require the Board's unanimous vote, or six-out-of-seven. President Coolidge is anxious to oust the U. S. from the shipping business. To a provision doubling the pay of U. S. merchant mariners who join the Naval Reserve, the President had objected, but accepted it finally, knowing it would please patriots.

P:An interview between President Coolidge and his son John, has been scheduled for some months. But both have been too occupied. The agenda of the interview is: What shall John Coolidge, 21, do with himself after being graduated by Amherst this month? John Coolidge discussed the matter last week with a newsgatherer. One thing was certain he said. He was not thinking of entering the Harvard Law School. He would go into Business somewhere. But first, he said, he wanted to talk with his father. . . . Florence Trumbull, first daughter of Connecticut, was asked again last week, if she is engaged to John Coolidge. "I always say it has not been announced," said she.

* Should the President "pocket'' a bill and do nothing for ten days, the bill, if Congress is still sitting, becomes law. But should Congress adjourn within ten days of a bill's passage, the President can kill the bill by doing nothing.