The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-03-10
WASHINGTON LETTER.

WASHINGTON LETTER.
This has been a great day in Washing
ton, with blowing of trumpets, beating Of
drums, roar of cannon, and sounds oil
revelry lat the inaugural ball) by night,
great crowds and much confusion! But
what contrast to the tragedy enacted on
the plains of Manchuria on the other side
of our planet, grown so small and neigh
borly since the Harvesting of steam and
lightning.
1 have Just returned from the Capitol
where with due formality President
Roosevelt has been inaugurated in the
presence of greater mass of Americans
than ever before assembled for like
event. The entire ceremony was ar
ranged and carried out with the great
est precision.
~
The President left the Capitol at II
O'Clock precisely. His carriage was sur
rounded by group of his own Rough
Riders, those who had been with him in
Cuba and at San Juan Hill. In about
twenty minutes thereafter he reached the
Capitol and went to the splendidly deco
rated Presidents room, where he was en-
gagged in signing bills as fast as they were
presented to him from the Senate and
the House. At ten minutes before II, &C.
companied by the members ofhis Cabinet,
he entered the Senate Chamber, where at
precisely IL the Vice President-elect
Senator Fairbanks, approached the Pre-
siding officers desk and took the
oath of Office Then the President, arm
in arm with the Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court. and followed by the
Vice-President, the Speaker ofthe House
the members of the diplomatic corps, the
accredited members of the press, both
Houses of Congress, and finally by the
occupants of the reserved galleries of the
Senate, proceeded to the great stand
which had been erected in the plaza east
of the Capitol.
The President assembled the platform in
the center of the stand, the Chief Justice
administered the oath of office. and Presi
dent Roosevelt for the first tune became
president by the direct choice of the
people of the United States.
His address was very short, and you
have doubtless ere this received copies of
ofit.
AS soon as the President was sworn in a
telegram was sent to the Navy Yard
and the Monitor Puritan, with its ten
inch guns, sent forth its laundering
salute. The Presidents salute is 81 guns
fired at two minutes intervals, and the
guns at Fort Myer, across the Potomac,
and at Forte Foote, 7 miles down the
River took up the roaring refrain and
answered each with twenty one guns.
*x*
Pennsylvania Avenue has been the
scene of many military pageants since
Sherman's war-worn troops marched
down it at the close of the Civil War, but
no pageant, it is claimed, except Sher-
mans has ever surpassed the one of
to-day.
Along Pennsylvania Avenue from the
White House to the Capitol, an exact
mile in length reviewing stands had been,
erected. These were rooted in expecta
tion of rain or snow and tens of thousands
of people found seats upon them and
were able to see the great pageant with a
degree of comfort. The larger number
however stood on the wide sidewalks OIL
of others looked from the windows of the
houses that line the thoroughfare. Rooms
looking on the Avenue were all rented at
prices of from ten to hundred dollars &C.
cording to their size, windows and want
age. Elaborate and tasteful decorations
of flags and statuary from the St. Louis
Exposition adorned that part of Pennsyl-
vania Avenue between the White House
and Lafayette Square and indeed the
stands in their architecture and decora-
tion as we'll as the parade in everything
that tended to make an impressive
pageant have never been equalled on any
former inaugural event.
~
The ball in honor of the occasion was
held in the Pension Office, an immense
rectangular building with an enclosed
court and with wide balconies, tier above
tier running round the great quadrilateral
of the enclosure. No better place and no
better design could be imagined for
great gala occasion. 1t has advantages
over the Colseums of the ancient Roman
period in that it is rooted in, perfectly
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