The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-02-10

WALTER ~ELLMAN, PRESIDENT OF rHI
PRESS CLUB.
! BILE Then we lay aside the cares Of Office
crack jokes at each other about our expert
ences with the office seekers and with the
newspapers and contrive for short time to
forget our miseries."
Two Lively Clubs.
It is dull night in Washington that
does not show at least half dozen big din
ners in progress. The greatest of all dinners
at the national capital, however, are those
! given by the newspaper correspondents.
| The newspaper dinner has become one of
the well recognized institutions of Wash
ington. 1t is doubtful if any other city in
the world is able to present its like. There
are two organizations Of newspaper men
here which give each an annual dinner, and
wonderful dinners they are too. They cas-
lily eclipse everything else in that line known
to the people of this country.
! The oldest of these organizations is the
| famous Gridiron club, of which Frank Hat
ton of the Washington Post is president.
1t is composed of 40 correspondents, wheth-
er with an idea of initiating the 40 immor-
tails of the French academy or not is I'M
known. But at any rate the number of &C
tive members is never permitted to go over
20, and candidates are always waiting for
the vacancies. Inasmuch as the objection
, of two members of the club is sufficient to
black ball candidate, some of the best
men in the ranks of the profession, on ac-
count of having enemies in the club, have
found it impossible to gain admission. This
has naturally produced some irritation. and
among the younger correspondents of the
capital there is disposition to sneer at the
Gridiron men as journalists" and as chaps
who imagine themselves little bit better
than any one else in the world. The aver
| age newspaper man of Washington, as else
where, believes in and practices the most
| rigid democracy, and anything that sayors
of high mightiness at once rouses his ire.
Fun That Is Furious.
The open to all and up to date newspaper
organization of the capital is the Press
club, of which Walter Wellman is the pres
i5ent. Unlike the Gridiron, it has club
house and is club in the full and proper
sense of the term. But nearly all the mem
bers of the Gridiron are also members of
the Press club, so such a thing as rivalry
between the two organizations is impossi-
bic. While the Gridiron has but 40 mem
bers, the Press club has nearly 200 active
members, all connected with the press, the
great majority of them Washington CORE
spondents. Once q year each of these Or
CARNATIONS gives big annual dinner and it
is difficult to say which club carries the ban
ner for originality Of ideas, for fun and for
good times. The Gridironers go in rather
more for roasting their guests and for
burlesques upon public questions and char
acters, while the Press club has a more dig
nifed dinner, usually with accessories of
decorations and novelties that are beauti-
full or picturesque. The dinners of both
clubs are highly enjoyable, and public
men are very glad of a chance to attend
them.
Those of my readers who have never at
| tended one of these big dinners will not
find it easy to imagine what they are like.
Seat from 100 to 1875 people at great table,
loaded with costly flowers, with ported
plants and palms all around, the walls
iridescent with electric devices, the menu
cards always something highly novel and
| unique, and you get in the minds eye
| a glimpse of the scene. Then remember
! that these men are the flower of the ma
tional capital. the men who rule the nation
either through the lawmaking power or
| through the press. and you will the more
surely grasp the significance of the occa-
sion. The newspaper men are the hosts;
the members of the cabinet, senator's rep
resentatives, generals of the army and ad
mirals of the navy are their guests. Even
presidents have attended these dinners
AFearful Ordeak
The dinners Of the Gridiron club and
those of the Press club to lesser extent
are modelled after those Of the famous Clo-
yer club of Philadelphia The Clover club
of which Moses Handy was the early con-
trolling spirit, originated in this country
the idea OF asking men to dinner for the
purpose of roasting" them on the gridiron
of ridicule. To such an extreme was the
process carried in the Glover club that at
| length it became q contest of bravery. The
! men who accepted an invitation to the Clio
yer club banquet did so with fear and trem-
! bling, and only the bravest of the brave
were equal TO the facing of second ordeal
1t finally became necessary 10 tone down
the ferocity of the '.roasters" for things
had come 70 such pass that public men
would not in any great numbers subject
| themselves TO the fires of ridicule and guy
| ing. The Grijiron club, made up wholly o:
| newspaper men. as it Is, has had the SAINT
| experience, and as the years go by it is
| found more and more difficult to inducs
public men OF the highest reputation. par
| tirr,lsrly those who are ambitious of tnf