Date: May 19, 1925
Location: Washington, D.C.
(Original document available here)
I haven’t had a chance to confer with the War Department relative to what arrangements they want to make for the observance of a National Defense Day. The Chief of Staff, General Hines, I think is one of the referees that went to Honolulu with the fleet, so that I haven’t been able to talk with him; and Mr. Davis has been away quite a little and is away now.
I don’t know that there are any new developments in the debt on this end. I don’t know exactly to how many countries the suggestion has been made that the matter be considered at this time; I think several; it being thought that it was an appropriate time to take up the matter to see if it wasn’t possible to arrange some adjustments.
The Department hasn’t made any formal recommendation in relation to the appointment of a judge for New Jersey. But I think that they practically concluded their investigation and I expect to make an appointment there very soon, perhaps this week.
I am not certain of the day that I shall leave for St. Paul. It is somewhere around the 6th or 8th of June. I don’t think I will need to have a special train from here to Chicago. There are several very acceptable trains that run up there and very likely I might follow the same practice that I adopted when I went to Chicago last fall, which was to have an compartment car that was devoted entirely to the use of my party and myself. Now it may be that they will want to run a second section that will be devoted practically entirely to the Presidential party that goes up there, my official party, the press and other people that might be considered as a part of the party that goes up to take part in the celebration. Whether I will have to have a special train from Chicago or not, I haven’t made investigation to see. It may be that there won’t be any regular train that would be adapted to what I would want and that I will have a special train from there, though very likely I shall find that there are reasonable connections and can pursue the same policy there that I would from here to Chicago. That doesn’t seem to interfere with the desirable privacy that the President ought perhaps to have in travelling, nor can I see that it interferes in any way with the taking of the necessary safeguards to provide every possible means of safety.
I don’t think I shall be able to get to the horse show tomorrow afternoon. Mrs. Coolidge, I believe, is going. I doubt if I will have time to get over there.
I haven’t any special comment to make on the proposal of the Interstate Commerce Commission to investigate the affairs of the St. Paul Railroad, other than the general knowledge that the Commission would of course be taking such action as it thought necessary to protect the public interest and conserve and restore that road to its present and future usefulness as an important arm of transportation in the northwest. That includes a great deal. Primarily it includes necessary transportation, it includes the protection of the rights of the investors in the roads, and trying to devise a reasonable plan for the return of the road to its normal functions.
I didn’t have a chance to talk in any detail with Mr. Yoakum about his suggestions on international debt settlements. He very properly brought them to me set out on paper. I don’t know whether he gave out a copy. Did he give out a copy to the press? Well, then the press already has it. He came in at 9:00 this morning. I talked with him a little while. I have been tied up with conferences and the Cabinet meeting ever since then, and didn’t see the suggestions. Mr. Yoakum is a man of large business affairs and very likely may have some suggestion that would be helpful, but I don’t know about the details of the suggestions that he submitted. I have sent his communication to the State Department for consideration and a report to me, if necessary.
I haven’t done anything about calling a Hague Conference. So far as I have considered that, it hasn’t seemed that it would be feasible at this time, though I haven’t given it matured consideration. I haven’t looked into just what the suggestions that have been made by the Inter-Parliamentary Union may involve. I don’t know whether all the details of them have yet been brought over here. I don’t think it would have any relation to the adherence by this country to the Permanent Court of International Justice, either one way or the other.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge: Remarks by the President to Newspaper CorrespondentsÂ
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