The Washington herald., 1908-04-22

Los Angeles. Cal. April a.-Los An
geles reached the. whirligig stage to-day.
She began TO spin around yesterday,
and to-day she got such a whirl on her
in the reception OF the battle-ship fleet
that warship madness attained the pro-
portions Of a small tornado. The town
took a day of You could scarcely buy
cigar, so tight was the business shut
up. Having closed all stores, banks
shops, and half OF the restaurants. the
place put on its best clothes, and then
went out on the streets 10 stand FOR
hours and hours and see a parade Of
automobiles go by.
That parade contained the admirals and
other officers in uniform who attended
last nights dinner. The town wanted 10
see real heroes, and a hero without a uni
form is as useless as a ship without a
rudder. So the officers had to get up
after about five hours sleep and be
shown in uniform to the multitude. Some
Of them were pretty weary, but they We're
game.
No joke 10 stay Up.
You see, it's no joke to sit up until 2
o'clock in the morning after most elab-
crate dinner and listen to speeches about
merchant marine, harbor improvements
California climate, regulation of trusts.
even IL you have had wine to drink that
Is 17S years old and costs $50 a pint, and
eordials that cost 81 a swallow That
was what they had at that dinner
II was the most Ostentatious dinner Of
[ 81
force. but they did not obtrude their call
ing and treated it as a joke Neverthe-
less, you were told that the only place in
which to live is Southern California, and
thar If you have money, here is the place
for you 10 bring it and the stay with 1t
If you want to keep it.
There were only about twenty automo-
biles in to-day's parade Fully 2O0, 600
people thTonged the streets 10 see them
so by. officers were CheeTed all along
the route. School children by thousands
were assembled in front of the school
buildings. Groups of children sang songs
as the machines whizzed by. Companies
Of young women pranced out into the
| highways and scattered roses by the
bushel in front of the autos.
Children Banked on Terrace.
Youngsters were banked on terraces
with effective groupings Of flags and
banners. Bands of boys and girls pelted
/ the guests with bouquets.
| The route lay through the choice resi-
Dental districts. Every house was ablaze
with flags and banners and alive with
| matrons and maids. all waving things
and shouting greetings. It was literally
| true that the town was In a mad whirl as
/ those automobiles swept through street
after street for nearly three hours. 1t
was a grand, big holiday, and every man
or woman who toiled unnecessarily was a
fit candidate for life Imprisonment.
There were 1900 bluejackets ashore
again to-day. They had their usual prize
| nghting. fencing, balloon ascension stunts,
with the side shows in full blast and free
| down at Chutes Park. James ]. Jeffries
again officiated as referee at the fights
| and was the center of a tumult OF en-
thusiasfn.
Arthur Rollins, of the Kentucky. bea;
Bert Compton. OF the Louisiana. for the
welter-weight championship Of the fleet
| Then the boys had another Spanish bar
becue luncheon. Again they marched to
Agricultural Park, between lines Of school
children and saw the wild west show.
More Dancing at Park.
Then they went back to Chutes Park
and danced with girls until it was time
to go back to their ships just before
morning.
| This afternoon there was a reception