Bisbee daily review., 1905-03-01
PREPARATIONS FOR INAUGURAL BALL
 Money Nor Art to Be Spared for Effect EVENT TO BE MOST BRILLIANT AFFAIR

Washington Feb. 2S.-The grea court in the Pension Building IS m dergoing a wonderful transformation
 and by the evening of March 4, whel it will be the rendezvous for twelve thousand guests at the inaugural ball it will present far different appear ance from what it did two weeks ago Usually, when elaborate social func tions are given in private ball rooms one man or one firm is selected to dc the decorating. For the inaugura ball a small army of architects and artists and florists and electricians IS working day and night to perfect 8 gorgeous decorative scheme. Roya palms are enroute from Porto Rico Their leaves are frob eighteen to twenty-five feet long and very grace ful. On the upper balcony, surround ing the court. will be a row of everg rreen trees twenty feet in height while smilax and laurel in wreaths and garlands will cling to the walls and the columns, and die away in delicate tracery of green until they join the festoons of roses and orchids. Much has been said about the inaugu' ral parade and it's unique qualities, but no feature of the days festivities will be more spectacular or more de serving of admiration than the lnaug- ural ball where the President and Mrs. Roosevelt will lead the grand march, and where will be fittingly celebrated the birth of another repub- lican administration.
 The decoration of the ballroom is a giant task in itself. The Pension of- flee is one of the busiest of all the de- partments at Washington and the court was filled with file cases and data of every conceivable sort. This had to be removed to a store house, and must be reinstalled in the exact order from which they were taken. The rooms occupied by the clerks had to be vacated and furnished and deco rated for the reception of the PreSi- dential party, and the members of the diplomatic corps. The color of the paint on the walls did not suit the hartistic eye of the gentlemen who have the decorating in charge, and consequently a score of painters have been scurrying around on scaffolds and stepladders, changing brown to gold and red to ivory.
 Electricians with the armament of pinchers and fuses and wires and plugs are climbing the massive onyx columns and clinging like flies to the hooks and corners a hundred feet above the ballroom floor. Tiny lights of one candle power are being strung from every vantage point, and around them will be twined the smilax and the laurel. Mir. James, Rush Marshall, a prominent Washington architect, Is chairman of the committee on decora- ton at the ball. and with his assist ants has determined upon a general plan which will make the decoration on the lower floor as brilliant as pos sible, to conform with the splendor- of the gowns and jewels of the guests. The color scheme as it ascends will be sbdued, until on reaching the roof which spans the court. the effect will be that of a beautiful Italian sky, with all it's fantastic shades and twinkling lights. The intent is to give the idea of an open air court.
 If the artists who decorated for the old Roman festivals could rise from their graves and be given a glimpse at this ballroom on the evening of the 4th of March, they would shrink in envious despair back to the protection of the sod. Much money is being ex- pended to make the appearance of