The White House Week

The White House Week

P: The Chairmen of the House Committees on Naval and on Military Affairs both called by request at the White House to talk over Air matters. Congressman Butler of the Naval Affairs Committee had proposed an expenditure of $85,000,000 over five years on naval aviation, and Congressman Morin was planning a $60,000,000 program for the same period in the Army.

P: At one of his conferences with the press, the President declared: 1) That the Cabinet felt the condition of the country is on the whole prosperous, and that there is no need to be concerned about the recent fall of prices on the New York Stock Exchange. 2) That he expected a favorable outcome in the negotiations with Mexico over the application of their new agrarian laws. 3) That he wanted to see the Shipping Board and the Emergency Fleet Corporation divorced and the latter put under a single head for reasons of efficiency, but he did not care whether the head of the Government merchant fleet is responsible to him or to Congress; until Congress clears up the situation he will not fill the present vacancy on the Shipping Board. 4) That Congress could do as it liked about adopting a Constitutional Amendment to do away with short sessions and have Congress meet in January (TIME, March 1, THE CONGRESS) ; he felt the matter mostly concerned Congress.

P: Twenty-two delegates from the North Central States' Agricultural Conference, meeting in Washington, called on the President and were told that he hoped effective farm relief legislation would soon be passed by Congress.

P: Three gifts arrived at the White House in one day. One of them was a piece of paper representing 100,000 lb. of smiles. It came from the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks at Stockton, Calif., and was a "way bill" representing a carload of smiles. It had been indorsed en route by many railworkers. The second gift consisted of two arrowheads from Fort Minis, Ala., presented by Representative Hill of that state, one to the President, one to Mrs. Coolidge. The third was a bushel of potatoes, "large Idaho russet," sent by the Idaho Chamber of Commerce and presented, on the anniversary of Idaho's admission to the Union, by Miss Toussaint Dubois (daughter of the first Senator from Idaho) and by Senator Gooding.

P: At the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents' Association, the guests of honor were President Coolidge, Speaker Longworth, Secretary Hoover, the German Ambassador (Baron von Maltzen), Frank W. Stearns, Everett Sanders (Secretary to the President) and Congressman Sol Bloom.

P: Under the flexible provision of the Tariff Act of 1922 and in accordance with the findings of the Tariff Commission, the President issued a proclamation increasing the tariff on butter 50%, from eight to twelve cents a pound. The reason for the change was to equalize the cost of production between the U. S. and Denmark, the chief competing country.

P: The White House announced that Ambassador Alanson B. Houghton (to Britain) and Minister Hugh Gibson (to Switzerland) have been asked to return to Washington to confer with the President concerning the proposed League of Nations preliminary disarmament conference.