Jay Lovestone

“ What the Government's proper functions are in the eyes of Coolidge was made clear in a speech he delivered at the commencement exercises at the Holy Cross College, on June 16, 1920; President Coolidge said in part: "Unless property owners had proper safeguards of constituted authority, transportation would clash, industry would shrivel up, all property be destroyed, and all incentive to effort perish. All our freedom comes from the support of the constituted authority." ”

“ Coolidge's loyalty to the open shoppers and capitalist reactionaries is given the blanket indorsement of our financial and industrial overlords in the following estimate of the country's chief executive by the president of one of New York City's greatest banks: "Coolidge is a man with a thorough knowledge of basic economics, and in his public life has demonstrated the fact that he is a sane and constructive force in government." ”

“ If we put all the emphasis on our prosperity, that prosperity will perish, and with it will perish our civiliation. Employer and employed must find their satisfaction not in a money return but in a service rendered."
In answer to the vice-presidency notification speech of Gov. Edwin P. Morrow of Kentucky, in 1920, Pres. Coolidge further said: "No one in public life can be oblivious to the organized efforts to undermine the faith of our people in their Government, foment discord, aggravate industrial strife, stifle production, and ultimately stir up revolution. ”

“ Indeed, so finished a product did Coolidge turn out to be that Judge Field, his law partner in Northampton and a first-rate politician himself once said: "Calvin Coolidge is a shrewd politician. He has learned the game of politics from the bottom up."
A Machine Man
President Coolidge is a firm believer in the party machine and party loyalty. In actual every day life, loyalty to the Republican and Democratic Parties means loyalty to the employers and financiers who operate and finance them. ”

“ When the capitalists were laying their plans to drive the American workers and farmers into the infernal slaughter in Europe, the Massachusetts employers did more than their bit. And in the Bay State's preparedness drive and other activities to insure the maximum force to save Dollar-Democracy, Coolidge was more than there. ”

“ Tho the Democratic Party was about to face a national election Woodrow Wilson, then President, thus wired Coolidge on his gubernatorial re-election: "I congratulate you upon your election as a victory of law and order. When that is the issue all Americans stand together."
The New York Times of November 4,1919, said editorially: "The one vital election, the one in which the whole country takes a keen interest, is in Massachusetts. Governor Coolidge's energy and courageous action in the Boston police strike gave him a national reputation and won him national respect. ”

“ A government which does that is a reproach to all civilization and will soon have on its hands the blood of its citizens. I have resisted and propose to continue in resistance to such action."
Such bitter hatred did this revengeful attitude of Coolidge engender among the workers that on July 21, 1920, the Executive Board of the Boston Telephone Operators' Union voted, in special session, not to participate in any Labor Day parade which was to be reviewed by the Governor. The workers expressly stated that they took this attitude because of Coolidge's conduct in the police strike. ”

“ Addressing the "Boston Business Men" in November, 1920, he boasted that his election was the best proof of the fact that "Labor" has been laid low in its aspiration to power. He reminded his friends, the Boston Bankers, that in January, 1920, he had, in an address before the Dartmouth Alumni, warned organized labor to keep in mind that it could not live without the law and that the election results bore out his contention one hundred percent.
Finally in the recent anthracite coal miner's strike, President Coolidge pursued the same strategy he followed in the Boston Police 5trike. ”

“ It is my desire that each citizen of Massachusetts should have the equal protection of the laws and be supported to the extent of the power of the Commonwealth in his right to pursue a lawful occupation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Workers Know Coolidge as Enemy
In explaining his refusal to reinstate the policemen Coolidge boasted:
"There is an obligation to forgive, but it does not extend to the unrepentant. To give them aid and comfort is to support their evil doing and to become an accessory before the fact. ”

“ There are many representatives and champions of Labor imprisoned today because of their loyalty to the working class. President Coolidge has not raised a finger towards releasing these innocent workers. ”

“ In so far as the assets column of the ledger goes and in so far as profitable business connections are concerned, there is no more lucrative office one can hold than that of the Attorney Generalship.
Mr. Butler, a class mate of Coolidge in Murray Crane's school of New England politics, is one of the leading textile manufacturers of the country. He is the president and director of a half dozen mills running about 10,000 looms and almost 500,000 spindles. The Butler Mill, Hoosac Cotton Mills, New Bedford Cotton Mills Corp., Quisset Mill, Nemasket Mills, and West End Thread Co. ”

“ Delivering an address on Founders Day at the Carnegie Technical Institute in Pittsburgh on April 28, 1921, Coolidge spoke of Andrew Carnegie as "a man who represented American ideals."
How closely President Coolidge is living up to the late Steel King's "ideals" is seen from the following portion of his address to the Massachusetts State Legislature inaugurating his second term as Governor: "It is fundamental that freedom is not to be secured thru disobedience to law. Government must govern. To obey is life. To disobey is death. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Even tho Coolidge was not yet considered marketable presidential timber in 1920, yet the big capitalists openly invested, according to the Senate investigation committee, from $60,000 to $100,000 to sell Coolidge to the Republican voters in the primaries prior to the Chicago National Convention of 1920. ”

“ These efforts are a great public menace, not thru danger of success, but the great amount of harm they can do if ignored. The first duty of the government is to repress them, punishing wilful violations of law, turning the full light of publicity on all abuses of the right of assembly and free speech. ”

“ Commenting on the importance of this attitude of Coolidge, a Boston publication. "Practical Politics," sometime ago wrote: "He knows how to hustle for votes and realizes what the party owes to men who give their time and energy to party work." ”

“ 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. ”