The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-04-07
CALLS WASHINGTON
UN-AMERICAN CITY
ENGLISH WRITER SEES CUSTOMS
APPROACHING THE MONARCH
ICAL AT THE CAPITAL.

LONDON, March 3.-This mornings
Daily Chronicle contains an article by
Sydney Brooks entitled "Monarchical
America" in which the author makes
some interesting remarks about the
growth of etiquette in Washington. In
the course of his article he says:
THE beautiful and spacious city on
the banks of the Potomac is unlike any
capital in Europe, or any of its sister
cities in America 1t is an American
community, doing un-American things,
leading an un-American life. It lives
simply for two things-society and
politics. 1t neither talks business nor
thinks it; the word conveys no more
than remote and abstract meaning to
its mind. Commerce and all its bana-
litiCs are refreshingly, delightfully."- alb
sent. There is serenity, almost be-
nightly, in its ordering of the routine
of life. Nobody 'hustles' in Washing
ton. It is the one city on the CONT
nent where America is really at leis-
ure
That indeed is its great attraction.
That, together with the lure and gilt
ter of the Diplomatic Corps, is the rea-
son why Washington ~teadily tends to
become the centre of American fashion
and the haunt OF the nouveaux riches.
Being a city of leisure, Washington
must have something to amuse itself
with. Being also the headquarters of
officialdom, the seat of Government,
and the center of diplomacy it is natu-
raj that it should amuse itself with
the problems of a Republican court
and the minutiae of precedence. |
sometimes doubt whether any capital,
even Vienna or Madrid, troubles itself
so much about these questions as
Washington. They are debated with
a heat, an righteousness, and a pit
terness that can hardly be matched
anywhere.
POSITION OF THE PRESIDENT
ct is not, however, all chaos. Ger
tain rules have been evolved and GER
tain customs established, which serve
to guide each successive occupant of
the White House. Thus the number
of State dinners and receptions that
the President has to give is now def
initely fixed. Thus, too, it is now
pretty we'll understood that an invita-
ton to lunch or dinner at the White
House is the equivalent of command.
Thus, also, it is now accepted that the
President should on all occasions go
in first, that nobody should sit down
until he has taken his place, that he
should always be served first, that he
cannot accept hospitality under a for
eign flag, and that if he has consented
to dine at the house of one of his lab
met Ministers, a list of the proposed
guests should be submitted to him III
advance.
But beyond this narrow region
there is a whole wilderness still to be
surveyed and staked out. Should Sen
ators. for instance, be given the pass
over Cabinet Ministers? Does the Ad-
miral of the Navy rank above the Sec
rotary of the Navy? What is the rela-
tive position of the Speaker and or the
Secretary of State? The Vice Presl-
dent being a sort of heir-apparent'
ought Ambassadors to follow or pre-
cede him? What is the exact place OIL
the Judiciary in the scale of prece-
dence? If two Senators were elected Oh
the same day, which of them should
make the first advance? And wha'
about the status of the unmarried
daughters of the great officials?
"These and a hundred similar conun
drums are debated in Washington WIFI
a more than monarchical ferVor' I'M
mere fact that they can be propounue'
shows that the American capital II
still in the embryonic stage OF socla
development. But the intensity o
emotion devoted to their discussion
shows also that Washington when l
finally evolves a protocol Will set al
inordinate value upon 1t. lndeeu
wherever a point in the code IS del
initely established it is adhered u
with an almost comical tenacity. Etl
uuette, for instance, prescribes calls a
the first of social duties, and calling i
INDUCED in by the Washingtonians ol
a scale that puts Londoners and Parl
slams, who pay their calls not in per
son but by post, hopelessly to shame.
ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE.
THAT, too, is a sign of society tina
has not yet found itself, that is at
tempting the impossible, and that ha
not yet learned to limit and regulate
its activities. But time and experience
are teaching it order and self-restraint
Just as the tumult OF the Whit
House has been reduced to dignity
Just as the old type of presidential re
ception at which all were welcome Wh'
chose to come is giving way before tn
principle of selection, so Washington
in time will abandon its indiscrimin
ate calling habits and will reproduc'
one by one the outward forms and Gus
toms and ways of doing things tina