Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-22
PLEASED OVER ROOT
British Press Comment on
His Appointment
TO SUCCEED JOHN HAY
AN AMERICANS $1,000 GoNDoLA
DINNER ARoUSES SOCIETY.
Dwarfs from Africa Continue to In
terest Londoners-Financier and
the Japanese Loan.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
LONDON, July 8, 1906.
The appointment of Mr. Root as the new
American Secretary of State is welcomed
by the British newspapers evidence that
the United States will continue to hold
important position in world affairs as it
did under Mr.. Hays administration of the
Department of State.
Mr.. Root came into intimate contact with
the British governing class during the ses-
sions of the Alaskan boundary commission
in London and the Englishmen sized him up
as being of very great ability and
force. But more than this, Mr. Root has
reputation in Great Britain the man who
reorganized the American army and put
into operation the general staff system.
Englishmen have so much trouble with
their own army reform measures that they
have come to regard Mr.. Roots success with
the American army as showing him to pos
sess something akin to genius
The Morning Post today has this to say
about Mr.. Root: Mr. Roosevelts selection
of Mr.. Elihu Root to be Secretary of State
is the strongest possible. move in the direc-
ton of efficiency, for Mr. Root has an UNI
commonly clear head, has the habit of mas
tering every subject which he touches and
therefore knows his own mind Nothing
more remarkable has been done in our time
than Mr.. Roots reorganZat ton of the head
quarters OF the American army, carried out
during the four years for which he was
Secretary of War. The arrangement is prob
ably the best that has ever been made in
any country with representative govern
ment. Mr.. Roots annual reports on his
work as Secretary of War form a text book
of the larger aspect of military adm,nistfa-
ton which will be studied for years to .ome
not only as a record of work but as models
of lucidity.
President Roosevelt fully understands
what few British statesmen seem to nave
thought about, the relation between policy
and strategy, between the idea of right and
the power of supporting it. Mr. Root not
only understands this relation, but he has
proved himself a master of organization.
He is capable of supporting Mr.. Roosevelt,
not merely in the conception but in the exc
cution of policy. That the President has
called to his councils a man of Mr. Roots
character and intelligence is a fresh prouf
II further proof were wanted that the
American nation has found its leader For
the next few years America will count for
its full weight in all international questions
and Americas administration, long alert
and energetic, will increase in those quail
ties by leaps and bounds"
X
A pretty quarrel has arisen in connection
with a diplomatic matter which a certain
embassy here has had under discussion with
the foreign Office. There came stage in
the Moroccan negotiations a few DAYS ago
which could not be advanced without spe-
cial reference on the part of the ambassa-
dor to his government. The answer not be-
ing quickly forthcoming, his excellency re-
paired to the foreign office to apologize for
the delay, only to learn however that a
Weil-known parsonage who was formerly at
tached to the embassy and is now per
manently resident in London had made a
particular communication to Lord Lans-
downe on the subject that very morning
That this communication was official there
q nd
ance OF the ambassador can be easily mag
fned. And the incident is the more note
worthy because it appears that it is not the
nrSt or Its kind, the government of the
country having once previously emnIoyad
the parsonage referred to as a means of get
ting behind its own ambassador 1t is not
Ikel9, however, to be repeated from what
L can hear for Lord Lansdowne has come
to the conviction that he has Just as much
reason to feel annoyed as the ambassador
himself.
The ten thousand dollar "gondola din
ner' given by an American at the SAVOY
Hotel last week has been followed by a
less eXtravagant but more interesting BAN
quet to the Japanese royal prince and
princess. The idea was to give the Illusion
that the scene was tea garden In old
Japan, and for two days artists and archi-
tects have been engaged on the design and
its accessories.
The old courtyard of the Savoy was fitted
up with bamboo trellis work, hung with
Japanese silk curtains, decorated and en-
broidered most grotesquely. Fierce Samurat
warriors stood in the corners holding the
battle axes which were still the chief
weapon of the Japanese soldiers thirty
years ago. Hung from the roof were fes-
looms of sweet smelling smiax and roses
while the carpets lent for the occasion came
from the factories of Tokyo and Yokohama
But the table was the chief feature of the
scheme. 1t was laid out to represent a
typical japanese landscape. A tiny river
crossed by bamboo bridges trickled down
its center into a lake at the end. On its
banks We're gardens of those small dwarf
Japanese trees which are now so familiar
at our horticultural exhibitions
Only margin was left for the diners,
beautifully carved fence separating them
from the Landscape" The music was jap
anese; indeed, everything at the dinner but
the dinner Itself, was japanese. Rice a la
Japonaise was the only Japanese dish on
the menu. For this chopsticks were used
by the japanese guests, but the English
preferred their accustomed Implements
The dinner was given by the military at
tache at the Japanese embassy, and among
the guests, besides the Prince and Princess
Arisugawa. were Sir John Fisher, Sir WILL
lam White and DR.. Elgar.
The dwarfs from the Ituri forest In CEN
trail Africa, who are now appearing-they
are SO passive that they can hardly be said
to be performing'-at the London Hippo
drome. appeared before the king at Buck
ingham palace yesterday. Their toilet, for
people who have cats dislike for water,
was most elaborate. They arrayed them
selves in their clean white cotton loin-cIoths
with an attention to detail worthy of a
bride preparing for her bridal The gen.
tlemen pigmies do not shave, for their faces
are hairless, and their heads are covered
with a thick curly wool that is not amen
able to the discipline of comb or brush
but they have nevertheless, process of
personal establishment that is somewhat
novel to the European.
1t is the pruning of their eyelashes, and
judging by the solemnity and ceremonial
with which It Is performed, it seems to be
looked upon not only as producing deco
rative effect, but as rite of publication
The whole family, six In number, sit in a
circle on their haunches-they cannot yet
accommodate themselves to chairs-and cut
and clip their lashes In profound silence.
1t is done with a knife" which is nothing
more than a crude piece of sharpened iron,
and this instrument they win not exchange
for the brightest and sharpest of scissors.
The g,igmies have only reached the stage
A1H