The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-01
THE DIET OF STATESMEN.
Sociological and Political Significance
 of Cortelyou's Luncheon.
From the Borton Transcript.

From the Borton Transcript.
 Neither the sociologist nor the polti- elan will dismiss as unworthy of earnest thought and subtle speculation the an- nouncement that Secretary Cortelyou snatches a nasty luncheon of pie and half-and-half at a restaurant across the street from the treasury building. The socioogist will see in the secretary of the treasury's practice allegiance to the simple life for half-and-half in Wash
 ngton pariance means not the malt com pound familiar to the blbulous of the rest of the Union, but a pleasing and innocu- ous blend of cream and milk The poli- tician will not forget that to Vice Presi- dent Fairbanks is attributed phenome- nal appetite for buttermilk. The latter beverage enjoys bucolic favor to an ex- tent that makes it's comparative political potency against cider a theme for speculation which is beyond the reach of the statistician.
 Mr. Cortelyou is held by many in Washington to be a presidential possbill- ty. Vice President Fairbanks is regarded by an even larger number of observers as "the coming man." As such his habits have been closely scrutinized by those who give much weight to the daily ways of the available Even when he was a simple senator it was noted that his habitual luncheon was apples and milk The judicious commented on this fare, and reminded the thoughtless that there were millions of people who were par tial'' to apples, and probably as many who liked milk" Only the event can show which luncheon, that of MT. Cor
 elyou or that of Mir. Fairbanks, is the more appealing to the public sympathy. Each has ingredients in common, and the conditions of the two gentlemen are so different that the community of bases So essential to calculation does not exist. MT Cortelyou has never taken con- spicuous share in "the social gayeties' of the capital. He has lived quietly much after the manner of the old-time cabinet officers who kept very close to their of ficial emouments in conducting their household expenses. The Vice President, while his entertainments have always governed by the good taste and modera- ton to he expected of a cultivated man of the world, has become one of the am phitryons of Washington
 Putting aside the personal equation, and bringing speculation down directly to die tetics, the student will not fail to note the prominence of pie in MT. Cortelyous fare. There may be much in this appar- ently simple fact. MT. Corteyou is Ne'g Yorker by birth, but he received good share of his education in New Eng land Tn the most plastic period of char ac'er-formation he attended the Massa- ch..setts Normal school at Westlield, and appled himself diligently to books that must have reminded him that the pie caters Of New England wrought nightly in the field, and followed the strenuous life. He cannot have failed to be inn pressed with the facts that a regiment of Marbleheaders covered the retreat from Long Island and led the crossing of the Delaware. In Marblehead they are said to eat clam pie for breakfast Washing ton knew what he was about when he put a regiment of pie-eaters In the van in an advance and in the rear guard in a retreat. Pie. progress and promotion all begin with P