PRESIDENT COOLIDGE AND HIS RECORD STILL AN ISSUE IN 1928
President Coolidge and His Record Still An Issue in 1928 "I Do not choose to run for Presi dent in 1928." These words uttered by Calvin Coolidge are the most important political news of months....
...Last March when Copgress adjourned it was generally conceded that Mr...
...All who advocate liberty, even though they take no part in politics, are under the ban...
...That knowledge had created the "extremely disturbed condition" which existed...
...Secretary Kellogg's defense of the bombing of Ocotol did not satisfy the Pan-American Federation of Labor...
...These delegates are bought and sold with Federal patronage and the transactions are largely completed...
...His worst foe could hardly have made a more damaging arraignment of Fascism than Mussolini's display of monstrous egotism and reckless threat of war and destruction of world peace on this occasion...
...This extraordinary threat on the part of Col...
...Paul conference made it perfectly clear that there would be no compromise with the President on the vital ques-"tion of the rehabilitation of agriculture...
...We have no more legal right to bomb rebels in Nicaragua than Nicaragua would have to bomb rebels in the United States...
...imperialistic policy in Nicaragua and Mex-co with loss of friendship and trade of Central and South America...
...He took the device of an ambiguous statement, which did not foreclose him from accepting the nomination if it were tendered, as the easiest way of avoiding the bitter controversies which were bound to ensue during the coming months...
...In order to achieve our goal we must at a given moment be able to mobilize 5,000,000 men thoroughly armed...
...No wonder that we are regarded with fear and hatred by every Republic from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn...
...The bombing of 300 Nicaraguans at Ocotol is war...
...Having clubbed the Liberal forces in Nicaragua into disarming by threatening them with an illegal use of the Marines, Secretary Kellogg has the crust to refer to this as an agreement...
...that his past record has ceased to be an issue...
...Secretary Kellogg answered President Green's letter of the 15th of July on the 18th after the bombing of Ocotol was known and his reply is evidently an attempt to explain in a very light and casual manner a very serious matter...
...indifference to the debauchery of elections in Illinois and Pennsylvania...
...Utider date of July 15, President Green had written a letter to Secretary Kellogg enclosing a statement from the delegates of the Nicaragua Federation of Labor which said that American Marines in Nicaragua threaten to attack Nicaragua forces...
...Orlando has been forced to retire from active parliamentary life...
...This reactionary record will not down so long as the President is in a position of being ready to accept the nomination...
...Magistrates are completely under the dominance of the Fascist regime...
...No wonder that boycotts against American goods are being formed...
...In a state like Pennsylvania where the Mellon interests are all powerful there can be little doubt that the Republican delegates from that state will demand that the President run, whether he choose or no, in order to save the country from ruin...
...Stimson until he gave them the ultimatum that the armed forces of the United States would take the field against them unless they laid down their arms...
...support of the Mellon tax program relieving the rich of their fair share of the burden of government and the cost of war...
...packing of the Federal Trade, Interstate Commerce and Tariff Commissions with servants of special interests...
...The situation is perfectly clear and simple if we keep in mind that the bombing of Ocotol is not an "incident" but a consequence of a well-defined and determined policy...
...Unless he makes an unequivocal statement that definitely precludes his being nominated he will continue to be the center of attack from those who oppose his reactionary subservience to the great industrial and financial interests, and from those who are determined that the third term tradition shall not be broken...
...The quietism and repression of the normally buoyant and expressive Italian people bespeak dread of spies, fear of punishment and a spirit that is crushed and held in submission by force and violence...
...William M. Butler, ex-senator from Massachusetts, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, the President's closest political advisor, says that Mr...
...In this greater Italy legislative bodies will be elected through the corporative organizations of the State...
...President Coolidge has wilfully exceeded his constitutional power...
...Secretary Kellogg's attempt to brush aside the appalling destruction of life at Ocotol as a mere incident with no political significance whatever, simply shows how inextricably the Coolidge-Kellogg administration is involved in its unlawful and indefensible war in Nicaragua...
...Cool-idge, as an active candidate, faced a hard fight...
...On July 21, the Congress by a rising vote, unanimously passed a resolution urging immediate withdrawal of American forces in Nicaragua so that the people of that country "may fully and freely work out their own problems...
...But how about a free press...
...tory, we will be able to make our voice heard and see at last our rights acknowledged...
...Famous thinkers and scholars like Professor Salvemini, noted Italian historian who has of late been lecturing in the United States, cannot return to Italy under the reign of Mussolini...
...The Fascist State neither needs nor brooks opposition...
...Green further informed Mr...
...Until recently the average wage of the Italian workman has been but a trifle over a dollar...
...He opened the conversation by asking if we were pleased with the train service in Italy...
...No wonder that the nations of Europe are pointing to Nicaragua as our "Egypt and India...
...In order to uphold the pretender Diaz who had been recognized as president by the Coolidge administration, U. S. Marines were landed in Nicaragua last Christmas eve...
...Acts of violence have been committed against Ex-Premier Nitti...
...President Green in his address of welcome had "deplored the unhappy state of affairs in Nicaragua," had urged that disputes between United States and Pan-American countries be settled by arbitration and had declared the American Federation of Labor to be "irrevocably opposed to the use of arms or the declaration of war for the settlement of any dispute that may arise between any Latin-American country and the United States...
...It is futile to go to the courts for relief from these outrages...
...If this precedent is allowed to stand unchallenged, then in the future any President may wage war on another country without the consent of Congress...
...It will be used as the excuse for the extermination of any and all Nicaraguans who fail to accept the terms laid down by Colonel Stim-son, representing President Coolidge...
...All representative government in Italian cities has been abolished and in its stead Fascist leaders rule with an iron hand...
...Coolidge is not abusing the power of his office to force his renomination and re-election in violation of the unbroken precedent that no man shall serve more than two terms as President...
...Last May in an effort to deflate the lira Mussolini decreed downward revision of wages and at the same time reduction in prices, "though it would appear," as remarked by a disinterested authority, "that the attack on wages was the more drastic of the two...
...The bombing at Ocotal is the logical result of his highhanded imperialistic policy in Nicaragua, but it is a bloody climax from which he cannot escape direct responsibility...
...When we were in Rome in 1923 my father had an interview with Mussolini at which I was present...
...These statements made by Mussolini are not merely for home consumption...
...This battle which began at one o'clock A. M. July 16, after seventeen hours of fierce righting resulted in the complete routing of General Sandino's five hundred Nicaraguans w h o h a d attacked a small force of thirty seven U. S. Marines aided by forty-seven Marine-trained native troops...
...He makes some important admissions, however...
...He says "The department was at this time (June 14) informed that the commander of the American forces in Nicaragua considered it necessary to treat Sandino as the outlaw which he was generally considered to be in Nicaragua...
...And he says further: "The department was then (following the taking of a mine June 30) informed that the commander of the special service squadron had directed the commander of the marine forces in Nicaragua to inaugurate operations to disarm Sandino as soon as possible...
...It is necessary...
...The homes of members of parliament, professors, writers, journalists have been invaded, pillaged, burned...
...Thus far the only official attempt at explanation or justification of the bombing of Ocotol is a letter from Secretary of State Kellogg to William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor and also President of the Pan-American Federation, which had opened its Fifth Congress on the day that the Ocotol catastrophe was reported in Washington...
...They are bludgeoned, imprisoned, murdered, deported, deprived of property and citizenship without any justification whatsoever...
...I must take upon myself," he announced, "the task of governing the Italian nation from ten to fifteen years longer...
...Opposition in Parliament has been done away with...
...The Marine casualties were one dead, two wounded...
...His government in Italy is an absolute despotism...
...effort to turn Mus-cle Shoals over to the Power Monopoly...
...The town occupied by Sacasa, the legal successor to the presidency, was made a neutral zone, his forces were ordered to disarm or move out...
...that his acts for the remainder of his term will be placed above suspicion and that all opposition to him has been done away with by this clever stroke of the President's pen...
...There will be no room for a moribund democracy, and anti-Fascists, soon reduced to their last gasp, will cease to exist...
...Coolidge will take the nomination if it is handed to him...
...I tell you," he said, "that in ten years' time Italy, this Italy of yours, will be unrecognizable to itself and to foreigners...
...It seems manifest that the failure of the President's trip to the Black Hills from a political point of view has had much to do with his announcement...
...Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, regarded by many as the President's favorite Cabinet Officer, does not accept "I do not choose" as final, and wires from California that the President should be renominated and reelected...
...He had to carry the burden of his record for the past four years, some of the important issues being: keeping of Daugherty as Attorney General...
...By the simple device of a statement that he does not choose to be a candidate it is argued by his supporters that Mr...
...In announcing that he does not "choose to run" the President has loosened his grip on the Big Stick, his most effective weapon in securing the 1928 nomination, without escaping the responsibility for his record nor the blame for the results of his policies...
...This sharp attack on the administration's Latin-American policy was emphasized by the news of the bombing of three hundred Nicaraguans at Ocotal by American troops, on the day the Pan-American Labor Congress convened...
...Thus it is argued by the President's followers that by issuing an equivocal statement he has escaped the direct attacks which an avowed candidate would have to face, while at the same time his friends can proceed to gather in the necessary number of delegates to assure his renomination...
...In the coming session of Congress he will have to face the issue of organizing the Senate which involves the cases of Smith and Vare with Mellon and Reed of Pennsylvania supporting the latter...
...Probably their international prominence has saved these moderate liberals from the more humiliating and barbarous treatment accorded less well-known members of Parliament...
...The President's stratagem leaves him in the attitude of a receptive candidate...
...Then, between 1935 and 1940 when we shall reach the crucial point in European his...
...It will not prevent the repassage of the McNary-Haugen bill nor will it absolve the President from responsibility for the neglect of the Mississippi flood victims or the disastrous results of his imperialistic policy in Latin-America...
...Bombing of Ocotol AT the very time the public was being assured that the Coolidge-Kellogg administration of affairs had resulted in the pacification of Nicaragua, came news of the bombing of Ocotol...
...After the battle Captain Hatfield of the Marines and his men, according to a Managua correspondent of the New York Herald Tribune "counted and assisted in burying 360 members of Sandino's force and attended to about 100 wounded...
...Almost simultaneously with the realization that the agricultural west refused to compromise on farm relief came the denunciation of his foreign policy by the Pan-American Federation of Labor of which William Green, head of the American Federation of Labor, is President...
...The King has been set aside and the constitution ignored by the Fascists under Mussolini...
...He realized that he would face a vigorous attack on his foreign policy in the coming session of Congress...
...Since the announcement, many interpretations have been placed upon his carefully selected words...
...Senator Capper of Kansas, who was visiting at the summer White House when the President issued his statement, and who has been very friendly to him, had just informed the President that the West was in dead earnest in its demand for the McNary bill...
...Then Mussollini, probably as a palliative to Italy's distress and as a cover to actual conditions, made- a speech in the Chamber of Deputies...
...We found the service very satisfactory," replied my father...
...In New York and New England it is expected by the President's friends that the Big Interests will remember their faithful servant in the White House and insist that he accept the "call" of his party...
...we must strengthen our navy, while aviation, in which I believe more than ever, must be on such a large scale and so powerful that the noise of its motors must surpass any other noise and the wings of our airplanes must obscure the sun from our land...
...that all criticism of his policies will have no effect...
...The outlines of his head and countenance gave the impression of power which seemed to me contradicted by the twitching of his rather large, loose lips...
...The standard of living is of necessity very low...
...and he went on to say: "Instead of its 40.000.000 of today Italy by that time should have 60,000,000...
...But none of these things, nor even the greater regularity in train service, closes his keen, philosophical mind to the meaning of the silence and suspicion which characterize the Italian people under Mussolini's dictatorship...
...Sooner or later, like every government which is founded on dictatorship, Mussolini will go the way of all despots...
...They are regarded abroad as an expression of the imperialistic ambitions of the Italian dictator...
...The statement is a clever piece of political maneuvering whatever may be one's point of view, but it is also a significant indication that the President does not care to resist a frontal attack which he would have to meet as an avowed candidate for the nomination...
...Violation of this law carries a heavy penalty of fine and imprisonment...
...United States airplanes doing "routine" work of observation discovered the attack, carried the information to the U. S. commanding officer at Managua, who d i s p a t c h ed five bombing planes to Ocotol which resulted in converting the little town into a graveyard...
...His most intimate friends evidently think the announcement is pure political buncombe...
...They dare not utter a word of discontent, much less of criticism...
...No, I 'draw my conclusions from what they do NOT say," answered my father...
...It is plain that United States forces had been ordered to get Sandino with the approval of the State Department...
...Then, as if this time limit might raise a false hope in the breast of the Italian people of the return of liberty and constitutional government in the future, he quickly added, "My successor is not yet born...
...The Liberals under Sacasa refused to accept the terms dictated by Mr...
...In spite of all the publicity stunts, the agricultural West has reiterated its demand for genuine farm relief legislation...
...Italy under Mussolini is no doubt a serious menace to world peace...
...It has been maintained since then by increased repression, violence and terrorism...
...No one could be more appreciative of the beauty of the Italian skies, or of the advancement in agriculture or of improved cleanliness in living conditions than Dr...
...The great army of Federal job holders, the party henchmen and the hangers on, have taken their cue from Chairman Butler, and the campaign is on to create a "demand" for Coolidge which will be "irresistible...
...The armed invasion of Nicaragua is war...
...It seems quite plain that the first advantage which has been gained is to take the President out of range of the opposition's guns...
...No further effort will be needed to get the delegates from the Solid South...
...Those who know the President best have little trouble in placing their estimate upon the now famous statement...
...Sacasa advised his forces to yield to the supeiuor strength of the United States...
...Stimson, representative of President Coolidge, was a most high-handed piece of imperialism, unwarranted in law or morals...
...The second advantage is to take the edge off from the third term issue...
...We have no more right to occupy Nicaragua with an army than Great Britain would have to invade and occupy this country...
...No further proof is needed of the unhappy mood and the deplorable situation of the Italian people...
...He was aware of the fact that an investigation of the southern patronage situation would be tremendously embarrassing to him...
...Confronted with this situation, Dr...
...They are silent...
...His refusal to call an extra session of Congress which would have put all the power of the Government back of adequate relief of the 600,000 people made homeless by the Mississippi flood and to start immediate work for prevention and control of the great river is a dereliction of duty which can only be measured by its awful consequences...
...Today," he declared, "we bury solemnly all the lies of universal democratic suffrage...
...Mussolini and the Italian People MAX OTTO in his article which appears in this issue of our magazine, makes an illuminating comment on conditions in Italy which appear to escape the observation of many turists...
...It is illegal war waged by order of President Coolidge without action by Congress, which under the Constitution has sole authority to declare war...
...The fact was known to Nicaraguan delegates to the Pan-American Labor Congress and was probably a matter of common knowledge in Nicaragua...
...indifference to the oil scandals...
...If the great majority of the Italian people were happy and contented under Fascist rule—as is claimed—they would be talking freely, discussing politics openly and everywhere voicing enthusiasm for Mussolini and his policies...
...Here lies the crux of the matter...
...Since the adjournment of Congress two things have occurred which have gone far in destroying public confidence in President Coolidge and for which he will be held strictly accountable in the public mind regardless of his attitude toward renomination...
...They contend that all opposition to a third term has been silenced...
...This plan of neutral-zoning Nicaragua by military force has been carried to such an extent that the United States is now in a position of armed occupation of the country...
...Following this extraordinary ultimatum to Italians, Mussolini served notice on the rest of the world that Italy is a menace to its peace...
...The St...
...attempt to destroy the federal inheritance tax...
...The Coolidge administration has for months been engaged in an unlawful war in Nicaragua, without the consent of Congress and in the face of public indignation and protest...
...He should be held to strict accountability...
...In the meantime, of course, the Federal Patronage Machine will continue to function as before gathering in delegates who will demand Coolidge on every ballot...
...How long he may be able to hold the opposition at home in check by force and violence no one knows...
...It seems evident that the President sensed the growing strength of the opposition...
...The reason why no one talks in Italy is because there is a law which forbids anyone to speak ill of Mussolini...
...With the rise of the lira it is now about a dollar and a half, real wages in 1927 being virtually lower than before the war...
...In his letter to President Green previously referred to, Secretary Kellogg says "at the time an agreement was arranged through the good offices of Colonel Stimson providing that both the government forces and the revolutionary forces should lay down their arms, General Sandino alone of the revolutionry commanders operating with Genera] Moncada refused to accept this agreement...
...Members of the legislative body, whether radical or conservative, who do not agree with the dictator, or who are even suspected of disagreeing with him, are summarily disposed of...
...From what we saw and heard at that time during our brief stay in Italy it appeared to us that the Mussolini dictatorship was but a temporary phase of government usurpation incident to post-war chaos...
...So long as he chooses to maintain that position his renomination is a possibility and he cannot avoid facing the issues which will arise during the coming session of Congress nor the responsibility for his record since he took office...
...The President has been received in the West with the respect to which his great office entitles him, but this section of the country has not been won over to the belief that its economic fate can be intrusted to the great eastern industrial and financial interests or to a President dominated by them...
...You see what the papers say about me," countered Mussolini...
...While the occupation was taking place, the United States War Department was engaged in selling on credit at a very low price, munitions of war to Diaz...
...The President's statement will not prevent the Slush Fund Committee from completing its work nor will it stop the investigation of the "rotten-borough" conditions in the Republican party of the South...
...The President's supporters contend that he has greatly strengthened his position by his mysterious announcement...
...It is common knowledge how all opposition newspapers have been seized and put out of existence, except when published outside Italian boundary lines...
...Otto...
...This agreement, resting as it does on the threat of the use of the American Marines, is the justification which the administration offers for the slaughter of 300 Nicaraguans at Ocotol...
...veto of farm relief legislation...
...he asked...
...When the liberal forces could not be suppressed by these extraordinary measures, Colonel Stimson was sent as representative or agent of the Coolidge administration to secure disarmament of both parties...
...President Coolidge and His Record Still An Issue in 1928 "I Do not choose to run for President in 1928...
...Kellogg that the officers and members of the Pan-American Federation of Labor were deeply concerned because of the exceedingly disturbed condition which exists in Nicaragua...
Vol. 19 • August 1927 • No. 8
