Evening Star Newspaper, March 4, 1929, Page 36

4 SSPECIAL IN AUGURAL SECTION. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON. D. C. MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1929. SOCIAL ETIQUETTE PROVES VEXING PROBLEM FOR PRESIDENTS HOOVER IS EXPERIENCED ERRORS IN PRECEDENCE OFTEN CAUSE TROUBLE Code Devised by State Department After More Than Diffic BY SALLIE V. H. PICKETT. T is not politics, statesmanship or great national affairs alone that be- set a President when he assumes office, but- the apparently trivial question of social eitquette that f¢ the fly in his ointment. He may perform the other duties to the absolute satisfaction of the American people and the world at large, but if he is remiss in giving to each man that meed of social glory which his position demands, or if he ignores well defined rules, h s all but lost. From the very inception of the Gov- ernment this has been the question paramount to no other. and men on the pinnacle of official life have found it the cart across the road to impede | their progress, or at least heckle their effairs of state. You would scarcely believe it, but cabinets have been in a terrible state of ruction over the question of who came first and where and when they were to be invited and where they were to sit at table. For an early British Minister the food at the White House table tasted badly and he almost took his things and went home because he could not have just exactly the chair at table—counting to the right and left of the President or, the right and left of the Pirst Lady of the Land—that his position, according to court eti- quette, demanded. Mr. Merry of England, who came to represent the person of the Queen, was quite certain that the man who wrote “all men are created equal” was not thinking of dining out or making calls in Washington. President Reprimanded. Within a session or two of Congress | the question of precedence came up when the head of a practically newly created office under the Treasury de- manded a recognition beyond that of some of the oldest officers of the Gov- ernment, and for a time it looked very much like he would really rank above the body that confirmed his office. A Chief Justice haited the arrangements of a state reception to the judiclary in the White House within the last 20 years because when he arrived there he found that he was not the ranking guest, and no less a personage than the stanch old politician and one time Speaker, Joseph Cannon, reprimanded the President for not according to him the full honor of his position. Many amusing stories and jokes are told and constant fun is poked at offi- cials on this subject, but, after all, no matter what the established rule is, anything is better than being thrown into chactic state with the passing whim of some bigot. It is very con- venient to have a rule at the State Department that tells him when to go back and sit down. % There is a suspicion that it is the ladies who always throw the social boomerang into the official midst. It is almost always a mere man. The great question is not whom you are to invite, but where you are going to seat No less a personage than George ‘Washington found this out, and imme- diately after he was made the choice of the people for the first time he faced the problem seriously. He was a Vir- ginia country gentleman, a financier, & general on the field of battle, a tip-top sportsman who loved his horses, dogs and good whisky—manufactured in the Mount Vernon stills—and he could step right merrily and gracefully in the dance, but when it came to acting as master of ceremonies for one countr” to another he was remiss. It was a far greater and more serious problem than | merely extending hospitality at his: country seat. Code Is Enacted. Tt was not a primrose path for any of the first Presidents who had not esperience to guide them, and only | aftet throwing the new Capital into & state of turmoil over the calling code and the matter of seating guests ac- cording to precedent, peeving diplomats until they refused to speak to cabinet members and witnessing the disgraceful st-te of a Pirst Lady of the Land keep- | ing open the doors of the White House and receiving a mere half dozen guests, that the real situation dawned upon the new-born Capital and the some- what faulty first code established for George Washington in New York and Philadelphia became active in Wash- Rumors are afloat that neither the President nor Mrs. Hoover care for so- ciety, and that the White House will experience a Wilsonian relapse into in- activity, but this is not likely. Presi- dent Hoover, more than almost any President who has preceded him, has had opportunity of knowing what & social alliance means, and had the Latin American countries he visited after his election merely opened the doors of their factories and great man- ufacturing plants and other utilities to him instead of their drawing room doors and extending to him the glad hand of hospitality, his trip would in- deed have been in vain. Pixing the social code for the Pres- ident of the United States has been fraught with, almost as many disasters 8s any other phase of life that surrounds him and especially where international hospitality is concerned. Through more than a century of discarding this or that subject thought to have been thoroughly settled and adopting a newer and better way, the State De- partment has come to a tolerable under- standing of the social duties of the President. There are many discrep- ancies in the code, as even the highest authority in that department will attest, but until some real open ruction occurs the real cause of all reforms, the matter must stand just as it is and the same rumblings of dissatisfaction be heard. Rule of Precedence. Sinee the Government pays all th: expenses of the White House manage ment except that of the grocery bill, it behooves a President fo sit pretty and start nothing to upset affairs, unless, indeed, it becomes a vital question. There is none of the grandeur and ceremony of Old World courts in the etiquette of our White House, but a rule of precedence that must be re- spected The master of ceremonies of the State Department knows this subject, and while he canrot administer it to a President, even jn broken doses, he is there to be called upon. Of late years it has been thought best to place some man accustomed to the most formal rules of official etiquette at the dis- posal of the President and the First Lady of the Land, that they may with- out trouble to themselves steer clear o‘r the pitfalls that beset their posi- tion. Two men connected with the White House for many years and who as- sisted in guiding the wives of Pres: dents through many intricate highways were Mr. Warren 8. Young, who for more than 30 years was the soclal ex- ecutive officer, and Col. W. H. Crook, who became the chief custodian under Lincoln in 1865 and held the office until a few years ago. Mrs. Taft found them there when she became the mistress of the mansion and she declared them in- dispensable to the perfect running of social affairs, 8o big and burdensome management of social life the diplomatic corps and the Century of ulties. of the Government grew in size it was realized that men with a multiplicity of duties—and both Mr. Young and Col. Crook were regular clerks connected | with the President’s executive offices— | couid not fill the post. Dunn Social Arbiter. It was with this realization that Mr. J. Plerrepont Moffat, now secretary of | the United States legation at Bern, | Switzerland, was appointed to the place, or rather the role in its new form. | Succeeding him is Mr. James Clement | Dunn, who now holds the place and | who befors his present appointment | from the State Department had filled | other posts there and in the Diplo- matic Corps. He is a gentleman of culture and has a proper sense of what is due the President’s position not only from American citizens who ask social recognition but diplomats and others who come to our shores. For many years there has been a master of ceremonies at the State De- partment whose duty it is to look up precedent in enterteining royal and other distinguished guests who visit this country, look after the funeral arrangements of diplomats who while on’ duty in Washington, arrange the important subject of = guests at high mass said at re“tain times in Catholic churches, and on other occa- sions where the matter of precedence is required. Mr. Charles L. Cook, officer of ceremonials coming under the De- partment of State, has long held this position. and one of the most delicate tasks allotted to him is making the introductions when the Secretary of State receives diplomats. Mr. Cook, it is saild, knows every member of the | corps by sight and, from long cultiva- tion, the name and country accompany his immediate recognition. So pre- senting them to his chief in proper ceremonial form is not a difficult task to him. Gen. Washington, the soldier and country gentleman, found many vexa- tious questions confronting him when he was chosen President of the new Republic, and it was Alexander Hamil- ton, his Secretary of Treasury, who was best able to advise him. Tobias Lear, who went calling with Mrs. Washing- ton, also advised the first President on many polnts. However. the knottiest questions arose in John Adams' administration when he attempted to be a little more democratic than was the first Presi- dent. He kept his son, John Quincy Adams, in hot water trying to satisfy the Diplomatic Corps, the Cabinet and Congress. Coolidge More Democratic. Much of the form and ceremony established by President Wt n in New York and Philadelphia, under the advice of Hamilton, obtains today, ex- cept that President Coolidge and many gentlemen who him__were much more democratic. Gen. Wash- ington also established the fact that a certain amount of form and cere- mony relieves a President of much waste of time in unnecessary conversa- tion and gives him more time to devote to affairs of the Nation. President John Adams wrote, in con- 3 Gen. Washi Adams followed with 3 held levees once a week that all of my time might not be wasted with idle visits. Jefferson's whole eight years was a levee. I dined a large company once or twice a week. Jefferson dined a dozen every day.” ‘Then he added for further contrast: “Jefferson and Rush were for liberty and straight hair. I thought ;l:fled hair was as Republican iy " According to the arrangement made by Alexander Hamilton and evidently agreed to by’ Washington, we find: “1. The President to have a once a week for recelving visits; an hour to be fixed at which it shall be understood that he will appear, and consequently that the visitors are to be previousl; bled. The Pr may converse cursorily on different sub- jects with such persons as shall invite his attention, and at the end of that half hour disappear. * * * A mode of introduction through particular offi- cers will be indispensable, No visits to be returned. Formal Entertainments. “2. The President to accept no invi- tations and to give formal entertain- ments"—nowadays called state recep- tions—“only twice or four times a year, the anniversaries of important events in the revolution. If twice on the day of the Declaration of Independence and that of the Inauguration of the President,which completed the organiza- tion of the Constitution, to be preferred. If four times, the day of the treaty of alliance with France, and that of the definitive treaty with™Britain be added. The members of the two houses of the Legislature, principal officers of the Government, foreign ministers, and other distinguished strangers only to be invited. * * * The President on the levee days, either by himself or some gentleman of his household to give informal invitations to family dinners on the days of invitation. Not more than six or eight to be invited at a time, and the matter to bs confined essentially to members of the legislature and other official characters. The ar;sldent never to remain long at the le.” As President Adams, the second President, would not see his very Demo- cratic friend, Thomas Jefferson, induct- ed into office, and the latter remained in his boarding house on Capitol Hill to let the ceremonious atmosphere of Adams vanish from the White House before he lon, it is not strange that the third President should set himself about establishing a social custom of his own. A survey of the two | administrations of Jefferson would lead |one to believe that the ways of his predecessors were easler. Nothing so {irked the third President as that the obtain in the White House. He had lived for some time in Paris, officially, and had no keen liking for forms of | court etiquette, sympathizing as he did | with the revolutionary party. He at once abolished the weekly levees, refused to have his birthday anniversary celebrated with blare of ‘rumpets and a great ball, such as had attended the natal days of his success- ors. His official edict was that only July 4 and January 1 should be cele- brated. On_ these days the White House was thrown wide open and the people took possession and dignitaries and those in the humblest walks of life rubbed shoulders. Ranked as Guests. In the Jefferson papers one finds his zutline of a social code which, after go- nounces “when society, all are perfectly equal, whether foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in or out of office.” He insisted that his too democratic ideas be carried out in his cabinet. All members of the diplo- matic corps when invited to the White House ranked alike, simply as his guests. Mr. Jefferson’s rosy idea of men | being born equal and remaining equal l did not strike diplomats as bel.n“mlma at all and Mr. Merry, the British Min- forms and ceremonies of Europe should | through many paragraphs, an-| ] s ht together in | visiting. Virginia and Ohio With 15 Presidents Lead Entire Nation Eight American Presidents were born in Virginia and seven in Ohio. No other States can equal that record. Six were residents of Ohio when they were elected, five of Virginia, five of New York and three each of Massachusetts and ‘Tennessee. President Hoover, whose home is in California, and who was born in Iowa, is the first native” and resident of the vast terri- tory west of the Mississippi River ever elected President. Jefferson escorted a lady who stood near him to dinner, and Mr. Madison, Secre- tary of State, took some one else out, while Senators and Representatives, prefes family custom to court eti- quette or perhaps any etiquette at all, took their wives to the table. Th shocked Mr. Merry ordered his carriage, then escorted Mrs. Merry to the table, and, of course, did not enjoy the food, leaving immediately after the repast. Mr. Merry and other diplomats had a hard life while Mr. Jefferson - was President, for the customs of the White Huse obtained in the cabinet, and so they refused all invitations, Mr. Merry going to the White House when neces- sary, but not to dine. Still another ignominy was heaped upon Mr. Merry when the matter of where he should sit when visiting the upper house was debated in the Senate and it was de- cided that he could not occupy the chair at the right of the Vice President, an honor accorded in the two previous administrations, the question being put to vote and carried against him by a large majority. Jefferson Lavish Host. However, Mr. Jefferson was not a par- simonious host, though he lived in bachelor style, for the wines of his/first year in the White House gost him $2,622.33 and his best wines were or- dered from Madrid through the Spanish Minister, the Marquis Casa “Yrujo. In the eight years he was lent his"bill for wines and liquors ted to $10,855.90, while in addi 1o his enormous market bills in Geor wn, wagons_were constantly employed be- tween Washington and Monticello in bringing supplies from his plantation. Charming Mistress Madison, “wife of the fourth President of the United States, seemed to smooth the way be- tween diplomats and officials to a great extent, the onslaught of the British when they took and burned the Capitol and White House and other buildings apparently taking the mind of the pub- lic from such subjects. Or if social ructions existed there was no time in which to record them. John Quincy Adams had rather a difficult task before him while serving as Secretary of State in the Monroe administration and his diary attests the way in which he solved knotty ques- tions, or at least attempted to. It took a cabinet meeting before the President would adopt Mr. Adams’ sug- gestion to receive diplomats a half hour ahead of other guests in holding his first New Year day reception. The cabinet consented and messages were dispatched to members- of the corps, thus ending a long argued subject. Life, soclally speaking, however, was just one darned thing after another, and as soon as precedence for the dip- lomatic corps was settled there arose the question of making calls—a matter that to this day agitates certain branches of society. Dolly Madison brewed trouble for future First Ladies by her free way of making calls and receiving visitors and Mrs. Monroe and her daughter, Mrs. Hay, wished to changs the custom. Mrs. Madison had even taxed herself with first calls on | all newcomers. Recorded in Diary. Mr. Adams records in his diary of { January 22, 1818, that Mrs. Adams, as | the wife of the Secretary of State, re- | turned all calls, but made no first visits, i and she advised Mrs. Monroe, who sent !for her to visit the White House, to iadhere to her principle, but that she— (Mrs, Adams—did not exact of any lady to visit her. Mrs. Hay, therefore, assumed the duties for her mother and made calls and excuses at one and the same time, the proxy visits not at all satistying the official set. However, the question of paying calls and attending entertain- ments continued all through Monroe’s first administration, John Quincy Adams distinctly saying that Mrs. Hay was “one of the principal causes of raising this senseless war of etiquette At each turn poor Adams had more lto do with State etiquette than with his real duties as Secretary of State. The Prench Minister, Mr. Hyde de Neu- ville, was to givea grand ball in honor of the evacuation of France by the allied troops of Russia, Germany, Great Britain and Austria and he wished to glorify it by having the President and Ihh family attend. Mr. Adams went to the White House to talk it over. Presi- e M%u. | ister, and Mrs. Merry stood completely dent Monroe said that if any Presldem,l Ty nch shocked when at a State dinner Mr. before him had @ccepted & forelgn Min- | with his “gold and silver administra- Upper: North front of the White House. Second row, left: The President’s private library. Right: The cabinet room. Third from top: Private dining room at the Executive Mansion. Bottom: The east room. ister's invitaticn, he would do so. A messenger was dispatched to Maj. Jack- son, who had been private secretary to President Washington, and the word was conveyed back that President ‘Washington had never indulged in such a pleasure. ‘The President go! No. But why not the President’s wife? The invitation was extended to Mrs. Monroe, but she sald, according to Mr. Adams, she did not think it proper for her to go any glace where it was not proper for her usband to go. So she, too, declined. Mrs. Hay, the President’s daughter, had been at dagger’s points with the diplo- matic ladies on the subject of calling and she had to do some deep thinking. She discussed the matter with her mother. They sent for the Secretary of State and informed him that Mrs. Hay would attend the party at the particular requesi of her father, the President, but that no attention was to be paid to her rank, and it was in no wise to affect the visiting code. It was i‘us! at this time that Mrs. Monroe told Mr. Adams that the ladies of some of the Senators did not visit her because she did not return calls. Trouble Over Dinner. Mr. Monroe gave a dinner to the diplomatic corps, and to do away with the wrangling of his cabinet invited a few lesser officials and those out of official life. The diplomats objected and wished the Secretary of State to be invited. It was considered a slight to the Secretary of State to be omitted from the list. Mr. Adams, who had become grand master of ceremonies as well as the Secrctari(l of State, advised the President on such occasions as dip- lomatic dinners to invite him and one other cabinet minister. This worked pretty well, or at least there were no more open ructions on the subject. Then the ladies of the Capital were cool toward Mrs. Monroe, and it is re- corded that only five females, and three of those were foreigners, attended one of Mrs. Monroe's drawing rooms and at another time only two ladies bent suffi- ciently to attend. However, in the sec- ond administration of Mr. Monroe the social friction gradually wore away. President Adams, No. 2, the satisfaction of seeing his social secre- tary work put into practice in his own administrations, and dignity marked his four years' House. He had, however, the supreme dissatisfaction of seeing all of his work undone by his successor, Gen. Andrew Jackson, who not only turned the public | loose in the White House, transform- Ing receptions of State into events where mobs ran riot, but completely upsetting the tranquillity of his cabinet, the dip- lomatic corps and soclety in general by championing the cause of pretty Peggy O'Neil, daughter of an innkeeper, whom his Secretary of State, John H. Eaton, married. The President gave them all the choice of accepting the lovely Peggy or staying away from the ‘White House. Many accepted the latter alternative, at least for a time. And then followed Martin Van Buren, residence in the White| tion,” as the plain people dubbed it be- | cause Congress was asked to appropri- ate $27,000 for refurnishing the Execu- tive Mansion. President Van Buren imported a chef from London and start- ed giving sumptuous dinners. He sus- pended the open house of many of his predecessors and curtailed levees open to the public to simply one—that on New Year day. Great form and cere- mony obtained, and his daughter-in- law, Mrs. Van Buren, wife of Maj. Van Buren, who made her first appearance before the public as a bride at the New Year reception, 1838, became the mis- tress of the mansion. She revived the custom established by Mrs. Madison of having the guests announced. James Buchanan and his handsome niece tried their hands at'reforming a somewhat mixed code of etiquette in the White House, their most flagrant move being on New Year day, 1858, when they attempted to pay due re- spect to diplomats and give to officials a recognition of their rank. Diplomats were to be received by the President at 11 o'clock, justices of the Supreme Court at 11:20, Army and Navy at 11:45 and the public at 12 o'clock. The lice were put in charge to see the order | carried out and assist in arranging the | guests for presentation. This dictation so incensed many of the visitors that they left without seeing the President at all. To turn the President’s draw- ing room into a businesslike transaction was exceedingly offensive, but the order remained, giving greater comfort in the administration. The President also took matters into his own hands and at- tended social affairs outside the White House. Only minor criticism was heard of the management of White House social affairs through several administrations, the Civil War interrupting the routine of entertainment to some extent. It was President Arthur, the New York gentleman, who, when Vice President, was called upon to fill the unexpired !term of President Garfleld, became un- usually independent in social affairs. He broke over the rule of most of his predecessors of dining only with the | cabinet, the Speaker and the Supreme Court, and visited friends. Precedence Revived. | dence anew while his sister, Mrs. Mc- | Elroy, was the real mistress of the White | House, by choosing Mrs. John G. Car- lisle, wife of the Speaker, to stand in line next to him at his first New Year 'dhy reception. He considered this the strict rule of precedence. At his state |dinner a little later in the month he jchose Mrs. Frelinghuysen, wife of the Secretary of State, to occupy the seat 1 of honor at his right. The Secretary of State followed with Mrs. McElroy. President Benjamin Harrison raised anew the subject of precedence by choosing to walk down the state stair- way with his daughter, Mrs. McKee, His first wife was then living, and to have his daughter cede the Vice President and Mrs. Morton raised eriti- clsm, President Kinley had Mrs, | _ He also started the subject of prece-| 23 Presidents Lawyers, But Not All in Practice ‘Twenty-three of the men who have been chosen Presidents of the United States have been lawyers, although all of them did not make their living at that profession. President Madison was a lawyer and a planter with independent means. Monroe was a lawyer and a soldier. Arthur was a lawyer and a teacher. Roosevelt is not remembered as a lawyer, but he raduated in law. His fame be- fore he became President rested chiefly on his success as a soldier and Governor of New York. Wilson is recalled as the president of Princeton University and a historian prior to his entrance into public life, but he, too, was a lawyer, Washington, although he was the most famous farmer of his day, §5 remembered more as a general who led the ragged Con- tinental Army to victory and for his statesmanship. President Taylor entered the Army as a youth and was a typical soldier- President. So was Grant, who was a graduafe of West Point. One President, Willlam Henry Harrison, was both a physician and a soldier. Andrew Johnson was a tailor before he entered public life. Warren G. Harding was a newspaper publisher. Herbert Clark Hoover is unique among American Presidents since he devoted almost his entire career to engineering and finan- clal organization before his elec- n. McKinley on his right at state dinners instead of across the table from him, and at diplomatic dinners Lady Paunce- fote sat at his left. This innovation was caused by the invalidism of the First Lady and her desire to have her husband close to her in case of illness. It was in the Roosevelt administra- tion that the State Department code of precedence had another eruption, and Chief - Justice Fuller, arriving at the White House ready to be received by the President and thereby open the judicial reception, found the Ambassa- dors and their wives there to precede him. He held a controversy on the subject and threatened to leave the White House without being received by the President. The matter was adjusted by the Ambassadors passing into the blue room without stepping in line, and the Chief Justice won his point by being first received when the President and Mrs. Roosevelt assumed their positions. The Speaker of the House, the late Joseph Cannon, raised the point of precedence, and it was on his account that the Speaker’s dinner was added :) the list of White House state func- ons. Society is still wrangling over the bugaboo, but the State Department, while feeling several lame spots in its social structure, juggles the code to keep down open ruction. That is what Mr. Dunn, master of ceremonies of the White House, has to do. TAFT ENJOYS HONOR UNIQUE IN U. S. HISTORY Is Only Former President to Swear In Executive as Chief Justice. When Chief Justice Taft on March 4 administered the oath of office to Her- bert Hoover he had, for the second time, a distinction that no other man in the entire history of the Nation has had, the privilege as Chief Justice of swearing in a President. He swore in President Coolidge four years ago. The inauguration is much more than an official duty for the Chief Justice. It recalled the stormy day, 20 years 2go, when he himself stood in the same place, before a huge throng, and also swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Only in a Government such as ours jcould there be found such strange jevents and backgrounds incidental to the installation of a Government head. ]Afur Mr. Taft stepped from the presi- dential chair in 1913, he became & pri- ivate citizen. In 1921, upon the death of Chief Justice White, he was ap- pointed Chief Justice by President Harding. Four years later he swore Calvin Coolidge into the highest office in the gift of the American people, which he himself had previously held. Pawnees Are Modernized. l PAWNEE, Okla. (#).—The Indian ;’:’; ‘whoop ha.‘l given way to the;l:olle:; among e youn, neration o Pawnee Indians. Cnlf:;e ‘;udunm on the Pawnee Reservation have formed a Junior council to promote welfare of #ll Indian tribes in the Southwest, - ITH the taking of the oath ‘ N ’ of President of the United looked on admiringly and mil- lons of others heard him over engineer and man of action, formally entered upon the most important and life. The post of President of our Repub- ment was put into operation the duties of its Chief Executive have multiplied; multiplied apace; the work is more ex- acting; his days are spent in work, To a sensitive man the office of President is a severe physical strain, robust or who does not conserve his strength the job undermines his health. parable to life in a prison. Woodrow Wilson's constitution was shattered. bright spots during his terms, as did Col. Roosevelt, but they experienced idge has found very little time during his tenure for anything but hard work ing to his own admission, he has thrived physically on the job and is in splendid Probably no man ever entered upon the duties of President more familiar the bitter trials and disappointments awaiting him, than President Hoover. work as food administrator during the war period of the Wilson administra- with the White House. What he has !seen in the matter of presidential du- present duties. He should know sust what to expect, and from his ob- House intimacy and his experience dur- ing his connection with three admin- how to administer duties incidental to the presidency. The mere routine work of a President is in itself sufficient to keep him busy But the President in the matter of working hours is not so fortunate as Very frequently the most exacting part | of his day’s work is just beginning when important matters of state are up for decision and other problems of im- | must labor into the night. Many times | he is called upon to work into the early ‘The so-called routine work is mostly | physical—signing commissions, personal bills passed by Congress, as well as au- tographing photographs. Nevertheless, cation. Then there are his business en- gagements, cabinet meetings and con- Government officials, political leaders and the seemingly endless line of indi- BY J. RUSSELL YOUNG. States, as many thousands the radio, Herbert Hoover, the master most trying undertaking of his busy lic is a gigantic one; since the Govern- the demands upon time have affording little time for recreation. and to a Chief Magistrate who is not ‘Warren Harding described it as com- Willam Howard Taft found some many discouragements. President Cool- and intensive application, but, accord- health. | with the tasks and labors, as well as His eight years in the cabinet and his | tion brought him in very intimate touch ties should have prepared him for his servations during these years of White istrations he should all the better know Works Many Hours. during the course of an eight-hour day. are thousands of Government employes. their day’s labors are at an end. When portance confront him, the Executive hours of the morning. and other letters, special orders and this routine calls for perusal and appli- ferences with members of Congress, viduals who have suggestions to make ment, and those seeking favors. Being a public servant, the President can never completely isolate himself and he must accept a certain number of invitations either to make speeches or else to be the honor guest at func- tions, not only in Washington, but in various parts of the country. The speeches he must deliver during the course of the year require much time and thought in their preparation. This sort of labor also includes the writing of letters and messages to gatherings which he is unable to attend or address in_person. In addition to this, there are the HOW UNCLE and Required Thomas Jefferson was the first Presi. dent inaugurated in Washington, but he was not the first President who occu- pied the President's Mansion, as the White House was first called. That was John Adams, second President of the United States, and Mr. Jefferson's im- mediate predecessor. Congress had directed that the new Federal City on the Potomac River be made ready for occupancy by the Gov- ernment by the Autumn of 1800. But the money to build the Capitol, White House and buildings to house the execu- tive departments was left to be raised by the Commissioners of the “Territory of Columbia” through the sale of lots. This plan did not turn out as well as expected, and the city was far from ready when 1800 rolled around. President Adams, nevertheless, issued the following order in Philadelphja, where the Government was then lo- cated, Ma{ 15, 1800: “To make the most prudent and eco- nomical arrangements for the removal of the public offices, clerks and papers, according to their own best judgment, as soon as may be convenient in such manner that the public offices may be opened in the City of Washington for the dispatch of business by the 15th of June.” Many Weeks Moving. It was the end of May when the first of the executive departments began to move to Washington. They all got here one way or another before Autumn. Officially, they all left Philadelphia for the new Federal seat between May 28 and June 6, but it was many weeks after June 6 before they were all ready to transact business here. e total number of Government clerks at that time was about 136. They and the heads of departments came overland by stage or hired conveyances. The papers, furniture and other articles belonging to the departments, for the most , came by water, the cost of remo everyl and everything mnneefii b;lth‘ G’{h&) Government being lrrqx ately ,000, according to the old records. . T 2 A building was ready to be occupied by the Treasury Department, but the Departments of State, War, Navy and Post Office had to find rented quarters or squeeze in where they could. President Adams decided to pay a isit of inspection to the new city. He rrived June 3, 1800, being met at the boundary line “by a large crowd of re- spectable citizens on horseback and es- corted into town, where he was re- ceived with puu;;ln Tcnld veneration,” as a newspaper chronicler of the da; described :?.' e Greeted With Salute. “The ml.lfl-lz of the City of Wash- ington,” he a , “and Marines stationed here manifested their respect by 16 disch: of musketry.” It should remembered that the “boundary” then did not mean regarding the running of the Govern- | IN PRESIDENTIAL DUTIES Familiarity With Last Three Administra- tions Gives Insight Into Govern- mental Operations. messages on the state of the Nation that he must send to Congress from time to time, the notes of greeting and condolences to personal friends and men and women of national jsomie nence in this country and to rulers in foreign countries. Patronage Handling Perplexing. But probably the most trying and most perplexing part of the President’s Jjob is handling patronage. Selection of his cabinet, preparatory to assuming office, might have seemed a huge task, but he will not have had but a few months’ experience with the handing out of iesser important Government po- sitions at his disposal without looking back upon the cabinet picking relatively as child’s play. He will be called upon to make more than 20,000 appointments to the Federal service each year. These are for the most part postmasters, United States marshals, United States attorneys, officers of the foreign serv- ice, departmental officials, members of commissions and heads of independent bureaus, as well as officers of the y, Navy and Marine services and members of the judiciary. It has been the custom of Presidents to divide the patronage as equally as possible within the ranks of his own party and among the States and at the same time to appoint the best qual- ified men and women to office. The pressure of politics and inability on the part of the President to give his per- sonal attention to the selection of all those whose commissions he must has made this somewhat difficult. In the mater of distribut! patro age one recent President, after so disheartening experiences with ap- pointments, remarked that he had found that with virtually every ap- pointment he made a score or more of enemies. Considerable of President Hoover's time during his first month in office will be taken up in disposing of job hunters and in making appointment: to the major positions in the executive departments. Prominent among the other kinds of work cut out for the Executive is the preparation of the budget. To impress upml-xt th'; :ep-ruflmn heads the ne- cessity eep Wi the budget pre- scribed by him, the President mm';e- sort to rather harsh tactics. Somewhat the same insistence must be shown to keep Congress from reckless appropria- tion of money not provided for in the budget. Besides the daily horde of business callers and seekers of patro: or other presidential favors, the President must receive daily many personal callers and others who merely want to shake hands and wish him well as they pass through his office. Receiving the latter class is something of an innovation. Presiden: Coolidge has averaged more than a hundred a day. On occasions more than a thousand “handshakers” were received by him. ‘White House Duties. Aside from such duties and demands upon his time and patience during his long hours at the executive office, there are the duties to be performed within the White House itself. The President must officiate at a prescribed number of state functions as well as receptions. the most notable of which is the New Year reception. There are par- ties to be given, musicales and ether entertainments, as well as the formal reception of newly arrived foreign dip- lomats and representatives of foreign governments. Enumeration of these high in the daily work of a President clearly establishes the fact that a President, no matter how early he arises and how rapidly he works, has only a very lim- ited time to call his own—to spend as he chooses. His annual salary is $75,000, plus $25,000 annual allowance for traveling and entertainment, but the | President of the United States earns every dollar he is paid. SAM MOVED Transfer of Seat of Government From ‘Philadelphia to Washington Began Under Adams, in 1800, Several Weeks. town and the City of Washingten, lying between the Potomac River and the Eastern Branch, was the County of ‘Washington and continued so to be for many years. The western boundary of ‘Washington was Rock Creek, the north- ern was Florida avenue and the east- ern was the Eastern Branch. President Adams came somewhat in state. He had his own carriage, which was drawn by four horses. His secre- tary accompanied him. After spending a few days at Tunnicliffe Tavern he drove to Mount Vernon and paid his respects to Mrs. Washington, widow of his illustrious predecessor. “I congratulate you,” sald President Adams at a reception in his honor giv- en in the chamber of the House of Representatives, June 5, by the eiti- zens of the District, “on the blessings which Providence has been pleased to bestow in a particular manner on this situation and especially on fits destination to be the permanent seat of Government.” ‘White House Unfinished. ‘Whereupon President Adams left for his home in Braintree, Mass, not to return until November 1 of that year. He had been defeated for re-election by Thomas Jefferson, and entered the partly-completed President’s Mansion, which was to be his home only until March 3, when Thomas Jefferson moved in. Neither the Capitol nor the Presi- dent’s House were finished. Mrs. Adams, who followed her husband here about two weeks later, wrote to her daughter, however, that the latter was constructed on a grand scale not “very velll proportioned to the President's salary.” ‘There were no call bells in the house and there was a scarcity of firewood to keep the big rooms warm. Mrs. Adams did find some use for the un- finished east room; for she used it to string up & line on which to dry her washing. The City of Washington was a city in name only. It consisted of a few public buildings and private dwellings, for the most part only partly completed, sticking up between the forests and connected by unpaved roadways which were frequently impassable. Most of Pennsylvania avenue was a morass in wet weather. Marooned by Mud. Members of the House and Senate found a few boarding houses fit to live in on Capitol Hill on New Jersey avenue in the vicinity of C street southeast. abode in Georgetown, with that in bad weather they would be un- able to reach the Capitol and attend nof . boundary of the District of “Territory” of Columbia. Wi City for many oeeurled only a smal r- tion otygen . Georgetown wfi a separately inco ted city, The po ton of the Distriet eutsida of Gaares. ™ the sessions of Congress. But Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant had laid the city out on broad lines. President Washington and Thomas Jef- ferson, who closely had observed the eities of Wurape, wrgsd that