This policy was vividly reflected in President Coolidge's recent appointment of Campbell Bascom Slemp as his secretary. Mr. Slemp, of Virginia, is the only Republican to have been sent to Congress from the South in the last fifteen years. He is a notorious political pawnbroker. As State Chairman of the Republican Committee of Virginia Slemp solicited contributions and collected money from aspirants to office in his State while he was a member of the House of Representatives. Here we have an open indorsement of political office jobbers on a grand scale.
Coolidge—the Bankers' Pet
With the advent of Coolidge into the Presidency the newspapers opened a strong barrage to prove that "Cal" is a poor man. In order to appease the discontented farming population, Coolidge was even baptized a "rock" farmer whose forefathers blasted the rocks to get bread.
Tho Coolidge may not be as wealthy as his predecessor, Harding, yet he is where he is today primarily because of his powerful banker-friends who have influenced, guided, and made his policies for years.
There is one friend of whom Coolidge prates a good deal and of whose friendship he is particularly proud. This friend is none other than Dwight Morrow, of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. This noted banker was a schoolmate of "Cal" at Amherst, and Coolidge never fails to acknowledge his debt to Mr. Morrow.
Apropos of the inestimable value of this "friendship," Barron's National Financial Weekly said on August 27, 1923: "That friendship probably now will prove valuable. The President is reported to think highly of the judgment and foresight of 'Tom' Lamont, (of the firm of J. P. Morgan and Company), but their contact has been entirely through Morrow as an intermediary."
Since the days of McKinley and America's entry into world politics as a full-fledged imperialist power every president is said to have had his own "Mark Hanna." Harding had his Daugherty. Coolidge has his Stearns. Mr. Frank W. Stearns, the wealthy Boston banker and merchant is the chief confidant of the president. Mr. Stearns has for years pushed Coolidge for the presidency. At the Republican Conventions of 1916 and 1920 Coolidge was Stearns' man.
The sort of influence Stearns has had on Coolidge is best understood thru a consideration of Mr. Stearns' standing in business circles. Frank W. Stearns is Chairman of the Board of Directors of R. H. Starns & Co., millionaire wholesale and retail dry goods merchants. Among his co-directors in this firm are such well-known New England financiers and industrialists as R. W. Maynard, Atherton Clark, W. B. Mossman, A. B. Chapin, and W. I. Wood of the Wool Trust.
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