The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-03-01
WHERE SHOULD he SIT2.
The Presidents Place at the Table
When the Guest Of
Honor.
Unpopular Innovation Of Mrs. No
Bile. Who Vacated the Post
Of Hostess.
Absurd Imitation Of Sovereignty That Has
Not Rsasos, Keminiscencs or Flo
ton to Sustain II.

Because the rules upsn which rest tn,
obssrvances Of society arc like the laws o,
the Modes and tho Persians in their i'm
mutability it has gwen to the inner circles
something akin to a sensation that the wife
OF 4 cabinet officer should attempt tc
amend tbs code Of precedence. The inno-
walton made by Mrs. Secretary Noble at hel
dinner last Thursday in assigning to the
president the chair always occupied by the
host j. being talked about in society to the
exclusion of every other topic, says the
Washington Pest. One Of tho authorities,
a gentleman who moves in the highest
strata and is accustomed to look for the
reason of things instead of accepting them
a. they are dscreed. talked Interestingly to
a Post reporter Of the innovation.
II feel quite free to discuss this Incl
dent he said, because it has been given
to the public as q precedent established by
official soolal authority and has been
Landed by the newspapers as the proper
thing, quite consistent with what il due
the president. Any citizen has a right to
enter a protest n characterize the moi
dent according to its deserts. Some Of the
papers say that the wife OF the secretary Of
tho interior settled a mooted question of
table etiquette when she abdicated her Gus
tomary seat At her " table in favor of the
president and seated herself at his right.
TIL authority for the innovation ID said to
be found in an English custom.
me say, in the first place. that the
order Of social precedence in the United
States ia not a rule Of right, but a rule Of
convenience. There ia no written law on
these matters, and what may be called the
unwritten law has no official sanction or
recognition. But this action Of official au-
shorty doss not lessen the Importance OF
having ws~ll-established rules of social con-
duct, because We must avoid confusion, Sc
cure dscorum, and prevent lll-brsd intru-
sion. SO We have rules that rest on common
consent. There is a reason for every rule,
in both prescribed and agreed systems Of
etiquette. We agree to abide by the order
Of distinction in the law, naming them
whom We established the social positions of
our high government officials. and where
there i equality, or doubt We resort to some
secondary consideration or analogy. 4
LET me illustrate this. There can be no
doubt of course that the president is the
highest official named in the constitution.
Bat BY that same document the senators
and representatives. have the same power.
We find the senator has a longer term, and
that gives as a reason for distinction, be-
sides the additional fact that we modelled
our legislature on that Of the mother coun-
try, where the senator belongs TO the upper
house. The president goes into dinner be-
fore all, but the representative walks after
the senator. No ono has the right Of social
precedence as instituted by law under many
NJ ~ m NtQ A. (1NN CAENinn Aufahliaha
with us an accepted rule.
$50 much for the rules of precedence.
Now about the host. Among people of our
civilization the right hand Is universally
the PLACES OF honor whore there is a host,
and this rule prevails in England Just as it
the first law of heaven, we may say, with
out irrsversnce, that the place of honor il
given to M by our creed. Yhe new rule for
the president, it is announced, came
in responos to IN inquiry made to the
English court. The text of the reply il not
to the public. but it is safe to assume
that it indicated the seat given to the SOW
ersicn.
when tho queen Rraeiously informs q
that she will be pleased to dine at
his table,, in response to an invitation from
him, her acceptance is in the form OF a
that rests on the present fiction
she will simply partake of her own
under his loyal attendance. The host abb
when his sovereign il present.
''The queen would not be sovereign if she
recognized the proprietary right of q host.
She has the ultimate property in every
'hine, and he simply has this enjoyment.
there il no reason why tho American
lent to occupy. There is nc such fiction in
,ur political system. If our eminent do
main il the same thing AZ this royal pre-
of ownership it is not in the presi-
lent. It is in the people, and il We want to
this feature at our dinner We
he table for the people Of the United
States.
''ro place the p, esident in the place of
he host is an abused imitation of SOW
'~seienity that has not a single reason, re-
niniscence, or. fiction to sustnin it. No
'ther sosial aes could do more violence to
'ur political system. 1t is our distinguish
ng feature that sovereignty is in the body
4 our people, and not in our officers Of
government. To place the president in the
eat of the host can have no other signifo-
nee but that he has the sovereign right of :
as the queen has, and that in his !
ressnoe the host must abdicate. such q +
might be very unhappy for the :
of the interior-ths hand of :
may be his own, but his lands :,
castles would be subject to his sover- l
lgn's will, even to the quartsring on him
belligerent guests. I
.'Ihat this distinction OF. the president
OF an assumed sovereignty in the
of his office appears from the
circumstances that like honor was not {
to the presidents wife. 1t ia a (
established usage that the wife of the t
guest enjoys the counterpart
bestowed upon her husband. If she q
ts on tho right Of the hostess she sits on i,
's right Of the host. In all tho history of :
residential cntol tsinmSnt this is the b
rat instance | remember where the wife of t
le president did not receive the cerre- q
honor accorded to him. If it was c
IMPLY a warm gushing over of devoted no. =
Eeness that was without further Significance y
10 presidents wife would not have boon 9
splaced IN this way. II the reason for I.
acing tho president was of such official !,
that the honor could not be ex- =
nded to hiR wife. the reason was one that :
Is no foundation in this country. o
Would it not be rather interesting To n
low what the president thinks of this new =
himself? As r euest he might =
81 compelled to take the seat OF, honor Of z
red him, but the host who indulros in j