THE PRESIDENCY: Mr. Coolidge's Week: Jan. 12, 1925

¶ Three thousand members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (see Page 15) appeared in the White House grounds. The President addressed them from the south portico, saying: "You are the wonder-workers of all the ages. . . . We trust ourselves to you, perhaps with some doubt as to what you many finally do with us and to us, but at least with firm convictions that your activities will save life .from becoming very monotonous. And, besides, we realize that if we did not give you our confidence, you would go ahead without it."

¶The country was informed that the President was sound asleep when the New Year came in, and had been for some hours.

¶New Year's morning, at eleven, there was a fanfare of trumpets. Military and naval aides advanced down the stairway. The President and Mrs. Coolidge followed and after them trooped Cabinet members and their ladies. In the Blue Room, Mrs. William Howard Taft, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Mrs. Edward W. Eberle (wife of the Admiral), Mrs. Frank W. Stearns, John Coolidge (the President's son) and others were waiting. Secretary and Mrs. Hughes joined Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge in receiving the diplomatic representatives of 52 nations headed by Jules Jusserand of France. Next in order came the Supreme Court, then Congress, then the Army and Navy, the bureau chiefs and executives of various boards and commissions.

At one o'clock, there was a half an hour's recess while the President and Mrs. Coolidge ate a hurried lunch. The diplomatic group withdrew to attend the usual breakfast given by the Secretary of State at the Pan-American Union.

At 1 :30, the handshaking was resumed for an hour with the admission of patriotic societies and the public, who had been standing without in the snow and cold for two or three hours. One man, a member of the Oldest In habitants of the District of Columbia, dropped dead from a heart attack just as he was admitted to the grounds. Among those received was Lieutenant Colonel R. G. Scott of Linn Creek, Mo., who first attended a White House reception in 1862. When the gates shut, Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge retired with limp hands to rest.

Mrs. Coolidge's gown for the reception was described as "rust colored satin-faced crêpe, made on a narrow tube foundation, with a single piece of drapery crossing the skirt at the hips in plain, close lines so as to give a jabot effect in front ... an enameled buckle of rust and jade . . . sleeves long and close-fitting, the neckline square in front with high shoulders . . . string of small jade beads . . . gown eight or possibly nine inches off the floor . . . satin pumps and hosiery of the same neutral tones, with pumps darker than the hosiery."

The total number of visitors at the New Year's reception was 4,000.

¶ Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, having received the peace award of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation (TIME, Jan. 5, FOREIGN NEWS), went to Washington. In company with Sir Esmé Howard, British Ambassador, he called at the White House and conversed in camera with the President. Their meeting was variously described: by Lord Cecil as "a pleasant visit," by a White House spokesman as "an exchange of amenities."