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When the party reached the Hull-Rust mine, the President walked out on a platform erected for the occasion and gazed down into the hole that the iron diggers had made after 36 years of steady work. It was a mile and a quarter in diameter and a quarter-mile deep. Small figures moved about at its bottom and all around the sides, operating toy machines—steam shovels which take 16 tons of ore ($100 worth) at a bite. Spiralling up around the sides of the hole were railroad tracks, with miniature locomotives dragging out trainloads of Steel Age protoplasm. The President stood and gazed, for five minutes. Then he inspected the Hibbing high school; proceeded to Virginia, Minn., to see more mining and the Rainy Lake Lumber Mill (world's largest for white pine); returned to the Brule.
¶ Leaving Virginia, Minn., John Coolidge, who had accompanied his father and mother to see the iron mines, put on a black slicker, a red bandanna, a cap and goggles; climbed into the cab of the locomotive; handled the throttle on straight stretches of track.
¶Two sunburned young gentlemen in nobby sports clothes called at the executive offices in Superior and were introduced to President Coolidge as Johnny Farrell and Gene Sarazen, respectively, present and onetime (1922) national open golf champions. President Coolidge said: "John is the golfer in our family."
¶ President Coolidge approved a schedule of pay increases, between $60 and $400 per annum, for some 5,400 employes of the Navy Department in offices outside of Washington—employes overlooked by the Welch Act, which Congress passed last Spring (TIME, April 2; May 21).
¶ President Coolidge made known that postal rates might have to be raised again in view of the Interstate Commerce Commission's ordering the Post Office Department to pay to the railroads of the U. S. a 15% increase in carrying charges (retroactive to 1925). Rates were restored to lower levels by the Griest Act, passed only last Spring by Congress (TIME, April 16; June 4). This matter was one of many which the President wanted to discuss with Brig. Gen. Herbert Mayhew Lord, Director of the Budget, who arrived at Brule for a visit.
¶ Brigadier General Lord, Director of the Budget, personally gave the President his estimate of national expenses for 1930. It called for $3,700,000,000. The President spent a day studying it.
¶ Senator Porter Hinman Dale of Vermont asked the President questions. The President answered fewer than he asked himself. He told Senator Dale that he considered Nominee Hoover's popularity with the electorate more than sufficient to elect him.
¶ President Coolidge was presented with stuffed animals to decorate his office in Superior—a deer's head, a fox, a fisher, a wall-eyed pike, a white owl. The fisher (weasel family) reminded its recipient of an ancient trapper whom he had known in New England. The trapper had said he would catch a fisher, sell the skin for $10, buy a set of false teeth for his wife. The President's reminiscence concluded: "He was successful."
¶To King Alfonso of Spain went a message signed by President Coolidge conveying appreciation of a royal visit aboard the U.S.S. Detroit (cruiser) after the trans-Atlantic yacht race last fortnight.