The new President of the United States, who was Vice-President,
and therefore becomes President as a matter of course, is Mr. Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts. Mr. Coolidge's name was hitherto not widely known, as there is a tradition: n America that the Vice-Presidency goes either to some- unexceptionable politician who has not become eminent or else to someone who has been a thorn in the flesh of his party and who is put in a position where he can no longer prick—and Mr. Coolidge is of the former type. There is an old story in America that a widow when describing the fortunes of her family said, " I had two sons. One ran away to sea and the other became Vice-President of the United States, and neither was ever heard of again." Mr. Roosevelt, who became President through Mr. McKinley's death, was heard of again, of course, and no one can safely predict that the same thing will• not hie true 'of Mr. Coolidge. He has something solid to his credit.
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