Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1907 — AN AMBASSADORIAL SWELL. [ARTICLE]

AN AMBASSADORIAL SWELL.

• Only very rich men —or men with very rich wives—will dare apply for ambassadorships hereafter until the United States government returns to something like the decent simplicity of which we once were proud. Whitelaw Reid has set a pace at London that is totally at variance with American traditions and customs. The London papers say that Mr. Reid has raised the American embassy to “its present eminence at great personal expense.” He has hired the son of a Lord something-or-other to act as the “controller of his household,” and this personage performs duties similar to those of the king’s controller. A wed-known American woman, describing a recent visit to Dorchester house, declared that the splendor and formality which characterized the occasion could not have been more marked at a royal dinner party. Speaking of Mr. Reid’s great “success” the London Express says: “He has the run of the peerage and despite his official duties he finds time to entertain practically all the smart people, to say nothing of members of the royal family. Americans who have been fortunate enough to visit Dorchester house have been awed and impressed by the splendor of this vice-regal establishment. The house itself is one of the most magnificent private residences in London, and yet the rental paid by Mr. Reid, 5,000 guineas (126, 250) is a mere trifle compared with histotal expenditure. “His salary of £3,500 a year •($17,500) hardly pays for the floral decorations for his state dinner parties. His retinue of welltrained servants is the envy of more than one American multi* millionaire who has been Mr. Reid’s guest. The household it-

self is managed on almost royal lines, the ambassador having created the novel post of controller for the Hon. William Walsh, son of Lord Ormathwaite.” « A When Whitelaw Reid withdraws from London it is quite likely that a Democrat, the appointee of a Democratic president, will take his place. And then the Britishers will see a change. It will be a wholesome change, too, and will be approved by the sensible people on both sides of the Atlantic. Reid is merely making a vulgar display of his own and his wife’s money. That is all.