Date: May 3, 1927
Location: Washington, D.C.
(Original document available here)
There is no foundation for the reports, so far as I know, that Mr. MacMurray, our Minister to China, has resigned. I think it probably wise to look with more or less suspicion on reports concerning the attitude of this Government toward China and its representatives in China which originate out of our country. I have happened to see a number of reports of that kind which had a foreign origin that didn’t have any foundation. I do not think, too, that it is true that the other four governments, the British, the Japanese, the French and the Italian, have agreed on a note that they wish to present to the Cantonese association. It is possible that the representatives of those governments in Peking have agreed on something, but I do not think that the governments at home have made any such agreement. So fa r as I know, they are in agreement with our own position. There may come a time when it looks to us to be advantageous to present another note. Speaking for our Government, I don’t see any advantage that could be derived from such presentation at the present time. Of course, we should consider any suggestion that came to us from the other four governments and would naturally be inclined to cooperate with them in so far as we could. The different governments, however, have different interests in China. There are certain fundamental things on which we are all agreed for the protection of life, the security of property, but we all recognize that in time of disorder like the present those are more or less in jeopardy. That is why we have sent out forces over to he prepared to extend protection to our own nationals.
I do not anticipate that it is going to be necessary to have a special session of the Congress. I am asking, as the press has reported this morning, for an increased response from the country to the appeal of the Red Cross. We raised, I think, over $11,000,000 for the relief of suffering in Japan at the time they had the earthquake. I am very certain that our people will make a corresponding response to the appeal for relief of our own people. We are organizing the different departments to give such assistance as they can. The Secretary of War is going down to that region. Mr. Hoover is going with him. I have requested the Secretary of War to have the Engineer Corps and the Mississippi River Commission make a special report to me on the problems that have arisen as a result of the present flood, which will be done before Congress convenes and will be accessible to Congress for their information, and I shall also have the benefit of it in deciding what recommendations may necessarily be made to the Congress.
I am not expecting at the present time to make any personal inspection of the flood area. Of course, if I went down there now I wouldn’t be able to see much of anything of it. I could only go up and down the river in a boat. That wouldn’t enable me to make much of an inspection. Perhaps in some small boat I could get outside the main current, but it wouldn’t be possible to get any information that I think would increase the knowledge very much of what I have as the result of reports.
I haven’t made any further determination about the appointment of judges and I haven’t made any decision yet about where I may spend the summer. I am expecting to send Mr. Starling of the Secret Service force into the West within a day or two to inspect some of the places to which I have been invited. As you know, I have to have a place for myself and my family, my servants, a place for an office, and there has to be some accommodations for my office force and accommodations for the press representatives, the writers and the picture men. I should like to have hotel accommodations —
Question: Would it be possible for you to tell us how far West you will go on this trip?
President: I don’t know. It will depend on the report I get from Colonel Starling.
Question: I thought perhaps you had a highwater mark.
President: Somewhere in the Middle West. There are some very attractive places in Wisconsin, Minnesota, a very attractive place in Iowa, in South Dakota, and in Colorado. Now that isn’t an exclusive list of those places that are attractive. My disposition would be to locate myself somewhere this side of the Rocky Mountains, perhaps on the slope that rises up to them, perhaps in Wisconsin or Northern Minnesota. There is a very good place on Lake Minnetonka that I am going to have inspected, and a place in the Black Hills, places around Colorado Springs. As I have indicated before, I want to get within as easy striking distance of Washington as I can and at the same time get out into the Middle West area.
Question: Will altitude have anything to do with your decision?
President: In so far as it may govern the temperature, it will. It would “be cooler for instance in Colorado or the Black Hills than in some other places. There is a very beautiful Lake in Iowa, which is 1760 ft. high, which is just about the altitude we had last year at Paul Smith’s. But I am also having some investigation made about the mean temperature of these places .
Citation: Calvin Coolidge: Remarks by the President to Newspaper Correspondents
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Vincent Scanlan who prepared this document for digital publication.