The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-03-17
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Oath OF the Presidents-How Some Of
Thorn We're 1nausurated-Stato
mon-Not Afraid of Rain.
Especial Corrcspondcnce.l

Especial Correspondence
Do you know what oath the now
president took Oil the 4th Of March? The
constitution prcscribcs the oath which
the president is to take before he enter
on the execution Of his Office, :" and it is :
Il Go so!cnnly swear Cor atiirlr) that
will faithfully execute the Office o.
president of the United States and will,
to the best of my ability, preserve, pro-
tcct and defend the constitution of the
United Statcs''
When Chancellor Livingston of New.
York read this form of oath to Wash
iEgton i'll front of the Federal building
i'll New York city, April 30, 1889. the
first president kissed the book and muir
INJURED, Il swear so help me God y
And then the chancellor turned to the
throng gathered before the building and
cried, Long live George Washington,
president of the United Statcs!"
a limo Honored Custom.
Tho custom of having the president
elect take the oath in front of the capt.
tol dates from the time of Monroe
From the time of moving the capitol to
Washington until the Monroe inaurura
ton the inauguration ceremony was
held usually in the hall of the house of
representatives. This, in Monroc's time.
was the hall now known as Statuarv
hall. This hall would hardly hold the
members of the house of representatives
alone now, but of course the member
ship of the house then was not two.
thirds tic size of the membership TO-DAY.
The galleries were small, and us there
WAS great demand for tickets to see
the ceremony it is quite natural that
there should have been disasrcemcn;S as
TO the distribution of the tickets between
the members of house and senate.
Quarrel Between Senate and House.
The senate is Il continuing body. The
house ceases to exist ut noon of the 4th
OF March. Therefore the senators con
tended that any privileges given to the
members of the house in the hall Of the
house after noon of the 4th were gratui-
tous and were not rights which the
members could claim, while the NOM
bcrs of the house held that, as the hall
of the house was theirs to control until
the 1th of March, they could even shut
out the senators or the president elect if
they chose until the exact hour for the
inauguration to occur. This standing
quarrel between senate and house cul-
minated i'll 1917 after all the arrange
mcnts were supposed to have been made
for the inauguration III the hall of the
house. The order of exercises was print
ed Ill advance, and according to it the
senators were to have the seats in the
front rows and the members Of the
house were TO sit bchiud them during
the ceremony But on the day of the
inauguration the local newspaper, The
National mtclligenccr, published a
statement that the president elect would
be sworn III at the cast front of the
capitol.
No Stand Tor the Crowd
Tho cause of this change, - said the
paper, lis principally ascribcd, we be
lieve, to fears of the strength of the
building III which congress sits, but in
IL degree also is imputablc to difference
between the two houses and their Off
GERS Ill the mode of appropriation of the
representatives chamber to the purposes
OF the ceremony"
There WAS no stand erected for the
accommodation of the crowd ut the cerc-
mony. The president elect stood on the
portico ut the east front of the building
and i'll sight of IL great concourse of poo
pie III carriages and on foot was sworn
III by the chief justice of the supreme
court. -Four years later the inauguration
was held indoors again because there
had been Il heavy fall of Snow, and the
ont of door ceremony was considered
impossible. President Elect Polk did
not think heavy rain IL sufficient OK
cusc for holding the inauguration ccrc-
mony indoors, and neither did President
Elect Harrison. Eight years ago, how
ever, it WAS not determined until Il few
minutes before noon of inauguration
day whether the great crowd which had
gathered at the plaza was to be disap-
pointed or not. Senator Cockrell, one of
the members of the senate COMMITTEES
which arranged the ceremony, was fit
ting backward and forward between
the headquarters of the president and
that OF the president elect mp TO the last
minute trying to convince Mr.. Harrison
that it would not be safe to hold the
usual exercises i'll the open air.
Not Afraid of the Wet.
But Mr. Harrison, after asking how
many people were gathered in the plaza,
said he would not disappoint them
President Cleveland said ne was not
afraid OF the wet. So Mr.. Harrison was
inauguratcd III the cold, cold rain, and
MIR. Cleveland stood Gy and saw it done
Mr.. Pierce WAS inauguratcd i'll snow
storm, and so was President Cleveland
four years ago. Mr.. Pierce did one thing
out of the ordinary on the occasion of
his inauguration. He did what Mr.. Bry-