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Coolidge. After dark Citizen Coolidge motored down alone from Northampton to Springfield, went directly to the broadcasting studio in the Hotel Kimball. Refusing to speak over a nation-wide radio hookup, he had something to say only to Massachusetts. In the studio with him was an announcer, a piano, a xylophone. In a cool even voice he read his 15-min. speech into the microphone. Some excerpts : "Elections are not determined by the loudest noise. . . . The more I have seen of public office, the more I am inclined to rely on experience. . . . This Commonwealth has trained up its important office holders through various stages of experience until they have become experts. . . .* Wre have had a world-wide recession in trade. It has been due to a combination of causes no one yet comprehends. . . . No government worthy of confidence undertakes to guarantee prosperity. . . . I do not know anything the Federal or State Governments have failed to do which either would have prevented the depression or now would cause a healthy revival. . . . It is the duty of all citizens to refrain from groundless and reckless statements which can only retard the return of public confidence. . . . It is no time for rash experiments in men or measures. . . . We hold our salvation in our own hands. We should elect Mr. Butler because he knows the business of Massachusetts, he knows the Senate and he knows National Politics."† Stumpster Coolidge walked out of the studio. A patter of applause came from an adjoining room. Looking neither to right nor left he got into his limousine. was driven quickly back to Northampton. He had made his campaign contribution.
*To Calvin Coolidge no kin.
† Theme notes of the Hoover campaign in Massachusetts two years ago.
*A polite reference to the Republican "escalator" system in Massachusetts whereby a politician starts at the bottom in the General Court and is automatically carried to the top. That system made Calvin Coolidge a member of the General Court, State Senator, president of the State Senate, Lieut.-Governor, Governor.
&$134; In 1926 President Coolidge made a similar appeal for the election of Mr. Butler to the Senate. Massachusetts vogters, instead, chose Democatic Senator Walsh.