Date: September 18, 1930
Location: Northampton, MA
(Original document available here)
So far as the primary election results disclose anything it seems to be the presence of a rather large protest vote. This has not been directed in general at any particular issue, but appears to be in the nature of dissatisfaction with present conditions. The German elections and the revolutions in South America indicate that it is not confined to this country but is worldwide.
The dissatisfied have not always been victorious. But, beginning in Illinois and trailing along through California, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin, they were sufficient to defeat the incumbents in state or national office.
A situation of this nature is especially difficult for organized society to meet. When there are specific abuses they can be reformed. But when there is simply a general complaint that the government is not doing things that can only be done by the hardest kind of work and the most skilled management of the people themselves, the answer is so long and involved that the voters are slow to grasp it.
It is a time when the conservative and constructive influences of the world, without regard to party lines or international boundaries, must co-operate.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge Says: Dispatches Written by Former-President Coolidge and Syndicated to Newspapers in 1930-1931 (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation)
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Craig Eyermann who prepared this document for digital publication.