THE PRESIDENT IN AMBUSH

The Boston Herald remarks editorially that Mr. Coolidge would do well to step his conferences with Washington correspondents. It seems that some days ago the President took a stand on no less than ten public issues, but did not allow the correspondents to quote him except through that phrase: "A White House spokesman." The Herald fears that this form of anonymous government may soon degenerate into the President's sending up opinions like trial balloons, acknowledging these which are not punctured by the opposition, and disowning the rest.

During times of public danger, or when delicate matters are to be put through with some finesse, this mellow inconclusiveness may perhaps be justified, but Mr. Coolidge has majorities supporting him in both houses of Congress, and so does not need to rely on anonymity. The danger of these ambushed soundings of public opinion comes in making the President subject to every caprice of popular enthusiasm. The prepared statements issued by Presidents prior to Harding told the public just what the President intended to do without leaving him a loophole of escape when he advocated unpopular policies.

If the public is to know at all what the President intends to do, it should be informed authoritatively, not by means of equivocal statements vouched for by no one. This kind of government smacks too much of hide-and-seek politics.