Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1905 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Gossip of the National Capitol. Special Correspondence to The Democrat: Theodore Roosevelt twenty-fifth President of the Uuited {States, was inaugurated shortly after noon Saturday, Chief Justice Fuller of the United States Supreme Court, administering the oath of office. No sooner had the President completed the solemn yet simple ceremony of taking the oath than all Washington reverberated with the boom of the great 10 inch guns on the Monitor Puritan which lay anchored in the Potomac. Once, twice, thrice, the great guns boomed from the monitor when there sounded a medley of roars from up and down the river, the seige guns at Fort Myer, opposite Georgetown, and these at Forts Foote and Washington below Washington taking up the salvo; each fort firing tthe presidential salute of twenty-one guns. As the guns roared their stentorian greeting, the great crowd on the Capitol piazza sent up a mighty cheer. t t t As soon as the noisy demonstration ceased the President stepped forward to the front of the rostrum and, apparently addressing the classic statue of George Washington, delivered his inaugural address. For but ten minutes he spoke, rapidly but with clear enunciation. At the conclusion of his brief address the President decended from the platform and returned to “the President’s room” in the Capitol where he received the congratulations of Senators and Representatives, of diplomats and jurists and a host of personal friends. t t t It was almost two o’clock when the President accompanied by the picturesque enthusiastre Rough Riders who followed him in the famous charge up San Juan Hill, and by Troop A of the New York National Guard, drove rapidly up Pennsylvania Avenue, followed slowly by the greatest civic and military pageant that has thus far assembled in Washington to do honor to a newly inaugurated President. At the White House the President received the two hundred guests who had been invited to the buffet lunch. Mr. Roosevelt ate a hasty mouthful and then proceeded to the handsome stand erected in front of the Executive Mansion, from which during the next three hours, he reviewed the procession saluting the flag each time it passed before him. From time to time he turned to those about him commenting on the notable features of the parade, exchanging jokes with cabinet members and friends and in every possible manner displaying that almost boyish exuberence which is one of his characteristics. t t t When the last of the procession had passed the stand the President returned to the front portico of the White House and there received informally the members of the Rough Riders troop which had served as his escort in the day, as well as a number of “the boys” who had known him in his ranching days. Among those at the luncheon and at this informal reception was big “Bill” Sewall, the Maine gnide who has been the President’s companion on so many hunting trips, together with Bill’s wife and eons and daughters and innnmernble grandchildren, for “Bill” is no demonstrator of

raoe suicide. Another notable figure at the White House luncheon was Seth Bnllock, the Wyoming guide whose laoonic warning, “Mr. President, I smell Injuns,” was the first intimation the the President received of the incipient rebellion against his nomination whioh occurred in the National Committee, a little over a year ago. Another notable character who greeted the President on Inauguration day, being the first to grasp his hand under the White House portico, was a gentleman who had left his native State, Missouri, for that State’s good, who once played a somewhat important roll in a successful effort to escape the western penalty for horse stealing, but who is a “good Injun” and a loyal Republican now. Still another piratical looking gentleman the President recalled with the remark, “I believe the last time we met, we engaged in a little gun play, J . "Yes, Colonel, and I never got through thanking God that you drew quickest,” was the obviously sincere reply. t t t In the evening the President accompanied by Mrs. Roosevelt, Miss Alice and his military and naval aides, attended the inaugural ball in the great hall of the Pension Building, but did not dance, contenting himself with looking down on the throng of beautifully gowned women and brilliantly uniformed men, and responding to their salutes with smiles and bows. The ball room presented a picture of exceptional beauty with its profusion of flowers, its artistic arrangement of tiny electric lights and the magnificient assemblage which had gathered to see and be seen. Throughout the day there was evident that spirit of good fellowship which is the chief characteristics of Amer - ican crowds. tt t ' Democrats and Republicans forgot politics and joined in rejoicing over the inauguration of a man whom all can respect, however much they may differ with him politically, of whom Americans can be proud, even when they believe he is mistaken, whose personality, whose courage, whose purity and whose Americanism appeals to men of all parties, and all nations. t t t The inauguration of Vice President Fairbanks, according to custom preceded that of the President and occurred in the Senate chamber. As the hands of the great clock indicated the hour of 12, the President pro tem of the Senate, Mr. Frye of Maine, administered the oath of office to the Vice-President elect, VicePresident Fairbanks then mounted the president’s stand and delivered a brief address, occupying barely five minutes in so doing, although he spoke with great deliberation. When he had concluded the newly elected Senators were sworn in and then the entire assemblage, including President Roosevelt and his Cabinet, proceeded to the Inaugural stand on the East front of the Capitol. t t t The procession which moved slowly from the Senate chamber to the stand was led by the President and Vice-President, the foreign Ambassadors following. Then came the Justices of the Supreme Court, followed by the members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, then the members of the Cabinet, followed by the members of the Press, and they in turn by the invited guests.