Some Books of the Week
MR. COOLIDGE, as President of the United States, was famous for his taciturnity in a nation that delights in voluble rhetoric. The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge (Chatto and Windus, 10s. 6d.) is true to type. The author is reticent to a degree, and, with the art that conceals art, disguises his refusal to say anything that was not common knowledge by indulging in generalities. "The right thing to do never requires any subterfuges : it is always simple and direct." " The only way I know to drive out evil from the country is by the constructive method of filling it with good." Mr. Coolidge is a master of the copy-book heading. His repression of the Boston police strike which made him famous and brought him to the White House is briefly described as if it were an every-day affair. The only episode that seems to have impressed the author's imagination was his sudden accession to the Presidency when Mr. Harding died. In the last chapter Mr. Coolidge expresses his surprise at the prolonged national debate on the meaning of his famous remark, " I do not choose to run "—for a third time as President. Washington, he declares, said no more in his farewell address ; but Washington at any rate made his meaning clear to the politicians.
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