THE PRESIDENCY: The Coolidge Week: Jul. 25, 1927

¶ President Coolidge listened attentively to cattlemen who called to urge the extension of co-operative marketing to the cattle industry. Paul E. Martin, president of the Western Stock Marketing Association said that the co-operative plan was “not a radical proposition,” as it did not involve federal control of prices. He said that President Coolidge, while not committing himself to Government cattle-aid, appeared “sympathetic.” ¶The President informed newspaper correspondents that he saw no need for a special flood session of Congress. The President has issued this information at frequent periods during the past several weeks.

¶Popular supposition that North Dakota farmers were intensely interested in the McNary-Haugen bill or a substitute measure of farm relief was dispelled by Judge R. G. McFarland, spokesman for a delegation of North Dakota farmers calling upon the President. It is the early completion of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence waterway and the proposed diversion of Missouri River waters for the irrigation of central North Dakota that most concerns North Dakotans, according to Judge McFarland. Though North Dakota has Deen a Non-Partisan League stronghold, the delegation agreed that should the President wish a call from the people for another term, he could hear the desired voice merely by turning his ear toward his neighbors in the north. ¶”Snip!” went shears in the hands of John Mays, White House valet, “snip, snip, snip!” The President was having his hair cut. Not unduly selfconscious, the President had the operation performed on the State Lodge porch while, despatches reported, “many tourists stopped to gaze at the sight.” ¶ Prudence Prim, pet white collie of Mrs. Coolidge, died at Fort Meade, S. Dak. Cause: Distemper with complications. ¶Inasmuch as President Coolidge usually does not attend meetings at which a Democrat is the principal speaker, his ears must last week have heard strange sounds and subversive doctrine. For, attending a farmers’ meeting at Ardmore, S. Dak., the President listened while Democratic Governor Bulow of South Dakota assailed the Republican tariff. The Governor, tall, lean, ruddy complexioned, with a long, thin face and rather a dominating nose, maintained that farmers must be given fair treatment if “this country is to long survive.” Governor Bulow felt that if the “discriminatory” tariff were not remedied, the farmer would have to be given assistance in the form of “artificial price-fixing.” Even this bow to the McNary-Haugen bill prompted no reply from the President who came with the intention of making no speech and left with the knowledge that his intention had been fulfilled. Senator Norbecky however, replied briefly to the ‘Bulow speech, though with the somewhat equivocal statement that the only thing worse than a Republican tariff was a Democratic tariff. The other South Dakota senator—McMaster—also in the President’s party, duplicated the President’s silence.