The Cairo bulletin., 1908-09-09

| year lldt pd0SCSB
says London critic.
1T is an interesting development
and not less interesting than newt
able, he continues, Things simply
| could not 60 on as they were Twelve
! years ago, when first knew the White
/ House, 1t was museum Of horrors
| Young married couples visited it that
/ they might learn what to avoid in the
| way of furnishings and decorations.
| The entrance hall looked like the bar
room in a second rate restaurant,
TasteIessness and vulgarity had given
to the reception rooms the aspect OF
decaying boarding house Enter
tainments were bear fights, and din.
nars a long agony There were next
to no Hobbies or cloak rooms. or prop
er exits and entrances. The president
lived Just above his workshop What
should have been a series Of bedrooms
for himself and his family had TO he
turned over 10 clerks, No guests
could be put up because there was no
room for them At every moment Of
the day politicians, Office seekers and
callers overran the building Privacy
was as impossible as dignity,
"AlI this since Mr. Rooseyelts aC-
cession. has been revolutionized The
White House has been reconstructed;
new wings have been thrown out; the
Official quarters are to-day absolutely
separated from the residential; all the
rooms have been transformed in
style that is nearly the last word in
taste aud simplicity; $500 guests can
be accommodated at a state reception
without overcrowding; and both inside
and out the White House Is now all
that a Georgian mansion aud an Of
fetal residence should be
The change is symb0lical II re-
fleets the new passion which Washing
ton has developed for the forms and
observances Of social etiquette and
manners. 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 I'M
American things, leading an un-Ameri-
can life It lives simply for two
things 49, society and politics 1t
neither talks business nor thinks It;
the word conveys no more than re-
mote and abstract meaning to its
mind. Commerce and all its banalities
are refreshingly delightfully."- absent.
There is serenity, almost benignitv,
in its ordering of the routine Of life.
Nobody 'hustles' in Washington. II
Is the one city on the continent where
America Is really at leisure.
"That indeed Is its great attraction. !
That, together with the lure and gilt !
ter Of the diplomatic corps. is the rea-
son why Washington steadily tends TO
become the center Of American fash /
ion and the haunt of the nouveauy
riches 4 decade ago IL showed few /
signs of becoming q rich mans city !
But today mansions that are almost F,
palaces are rapidly rising and the |
men who build and own them care /
nothing for politics. and are simply /
intent upon getting a good social re. |
turn for their outlay ! imagine this /
tendency is one that will certainly |
grow. A few years hence it may be /
as much the thing to have a house |
at Washington and spend the winter
season there as It used 10 be 10 have /
a house in Newport; and fogesee the !
time when Washington will compete |
with and perhaps overshadow New |
York as the radiating center for the |
fashions and fOllies OF the smart set |
Being city Of leisure Washington |
must have something to amuse itself /
with. Being also the headquarters OF |
oficialdom. the seat of government. IL |
IL natural that IT should amuse itself |
with the problems Of a republican |
court and the miuutiae of precedence. |
! sometimes doubt whether any cant |
tai. even Vienna or Madrid. troubles |
itself so much about these questions |
as Washington They are debated !
with a heat an ingenuoUsness. and a /
bitterness that can hardly be matched. |
IT is inevitable ! suppose. that 1
this should be so. There is no court /
chamberlain in Washington. and few /
traditions The consequence is that |
D. is left for chance or individual bold /
ness and inSistence 70 settle the in
Vulnerable points Of precedence that 1
in Europe have long been decided by /
usage prescription and a fixed code. 1
Then. again. the citizens OF a republic j
are as a rule more and not less anx
joins than the subjects Of monarchy 4
Tor some mark Of distinction that will 1
separate them from their fellows"
Appearances Deceptive.