THE PRESIDENCY: Republican Logging

The woodman's axe rings once more among Presidential timber. Industrious politicians prepare with the approach of Winter to sluice their sturdy oaks through the waters of party politics down to the convention sawmill. The Stewart Edward Whites and James Oliver Curwoods of politics have already written the opening chapters of the great log drive.

¶Calvin Coolidge, President of the U. S., was first of the monarchs of the forest to tremble last week before the insidious chill of the approaching season. The Senators from Pennsylvania, George Wharton Pepper and David A. Reed, called at the White House. Mr. Pepper is sometimes referred to as " the best lawyer in the Senate "; Mr. Reed, although young, is rated as an able lawyer. On leaving the President, they "put their legal heads together and devised the following unincriminating statement:

" We have no statement to make in regard to the Republican Presidential nomination. If it be true, as rumored that President Coolidge will consent to be a candidate for the nomination, and if it be true, as likewise rumored, that Governor Pinchot has Presidential aspirations, a situation will develop upon which a Senator from Pennsylvania ought not to express himself prematurely, or otherwise than after serious reflection. . . ."

Immediately afterward, Harry S. New, Postmaster General, visited Indianapolis and exclaimed within the hearing of reporters: " There is no doubt whatever in my mind but that Mr. Coolidge will be, as he very righteously should be, the nominee of the Party in 1924."

South Dakota will be the first state to display her Presidential preferences. There, in December, a Republican convention, will make a first and a second choice to be presented to the State at ensuing primaries. Shrewd heads among political observers believe that Hiram Johnson will be first choice and Calvin Coolidge second. This will place both in the running, without the formality of casting their figurative headgear into a hypothetical ring.

¶Senator Hiram Johnson seems ever bit as loath as President Coolidge to announce an active candidacy. Mr. Coolidge is glad to let matters continue in their present form. Mr. Johnson has as yet no excuse for announcing a candidacy. The fact that he will probably be the first choice of the South Dakota pre-primary convention is only a matter of local politics. Mr. Coolidge will doubtless derive as much advantage from being named second as Mr. Johnson from being named first.