Site-Seeing

Last week Col. Edward W. Starling, Secret Service officer, one-time chaperon to John Coolidge (TIME, Oct. 25), left Washington on a site-seeing trip.

Colonel Starling went to eye the many locations offered to President Coolidge for his summer vacation. Ornithologists, recalling the starling's reputation for appropriating the nests of other birds, punned feebly on the name of the President's emissary whose problem is not to find a home but to choose among the many offered by generous donors with available premises and a yen for publicity.

Most confident among the prospective presidential hosts was William Wrigley Jr. (chewing gum). Of the many who have called, only Mr. Wrigley has announced that he is likely to be chosen. "Although I have received no official acceptance of the offer of my summer home, I have been led to believe that Mr. Coolidge favors the proposal and will accept it." Should Mr. Wrigley not have been misled, the President, encamping at Green Gables, Mr. Wrigley's summer mansion at Lake Geneva, Wis., will have the privileges of one yacht, ten master's bedrooms, a private bathing beach and a bathroom with gold-plated fixtures.

But Mr. Wrigley has many a competitor. The following summary includes only outstanding candidates, with the localities arranged by states:

Wisconsin. Onetime (1918-27) J. S. Senator Irvine Luther Lenroot offered "Lawsonia," the 1,380-acre estate of the late Victor E. Lawson, Chicago publisher. Perquisites: Two houses each with 10 bedrooms; 18-hole golf course; 54-foot motorboat.

On this estate are residences owned by H. F. Norcott, John S. Nash, of Chicago. Location: Green Lake, Wis.

Iowa. The legislature of Iowa, forgiving the presidential veto of the McNary-Haugen farm bill (TIME, March 7), formally placed at the President's disposal "all the good things that do distinctly exist in the Hawkeye State." One specific good thing was the Franklin Floete estate "The Highlands." Inducements: 35 acres, fully fenced for privacy; 1,700 feet above sea-level (cool, bracing). Location: On Lake Okoboji, northern Iowa.

Michigan. Alfred Owen Crozier of the National Republican Club contributed his summer home, "Wildwood on the Old Indian Trail," near Harbor Springs. Inducements: 300 acres; a new log cabin of Norway pine. Mr. Crozier said the President had termed his offer "most alluring" but that no definite decision had been made.

B. Frank Emory, personal representative of Fred W. Green, Governor of Michigan, hauled into the President's presence an album measuring one yard on each side. In the album was a history of Mackinac Island and views of the Island estate of Mrs. Alvin T. Hert of Kentucky, vice chairman of the Republican National Committee.

California. The Hollywood Home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford was offered by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

Col. John F. McGill suggested his Napa valley estate, airmailed his invitation and a folio showing panoramic views of the estate, interiors of his residence. Inducements: Six master's bedrooms, five baths, cherry orchard, model farm, $200,000 home, sunken gardens, terraced lawns, fountains of imported marble, 17 rooms, 2,000 acres. Location: Napa Valley, northern California.

Wyoming. Miss Cody Allen, granddaughter of the late Colonel ("Buffalo Bill") Cody, invited the President to Cody, Wyo., named for her grandfather. In 1850 President Zachary Taylor attended a fourth of July celebration in Washington. With the thermometer at 97DEG, President Taylor washed cherries down with ice water. A few days later the nation was in mourning for him. Presidents before and since Zachary Taylor have sought to escape Washington's summer heat. Last summer President Coolidge sojourned in the Adirondacks; in 1925 visited Massachusetts; in 1924 Vermont.

But political observers maintain that motives political as well as personal have dictated the President's proposed Western excursion. In 1870 a torchlight procession smoked down Pennsylvania Avenue, besought President Grant to have built a permanent Western White House somewhere west of the Mississippi. At the last session of Congress, Representative Dickinson of Iowa resurrected the proposal. Official Washington, including the President, is said to frown on the Western White House idea as needlessly expensive.