Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1908-06-19
ISQTYUNAMERICAN?
LONDON WRITER 80 pEscR,sEs
WARRINGTON.
Capital Declared to 1e tho One Place
In the Country Where America
10 Really at Leisure
Official Etiquette.

The London Daily Chronicle recent
~ contained an article by Sydney
Brooks entitled "Monarchical Amer
ica," 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 it's
sister cities in America. It is an
American community, doing un-Amer.
lean things, leading an un-American
life. 1t lives simply for two things
society and politics. It neither talks
business nor thinks it; the word con-
veys no more than a remote and alb.
stract meaning to it's mind. Com.
merce and all its banalities are re-
freshingly, delightfully."- absent. There
is serenity, almost benignity, in its
ordering of the routine Of life. No
cody 'hustles' in Washington. It
is the one city on the continent where
America is really at leisure.
Being a city of leisure, Washing
ton must have something to amuse It.
self with. Being also the headquar-
tiers Of oficialdom, the seat of govern.
ment and the center of diplomacy. it is
natural that it should amuse itself
with the problems of republican
court and the minutiae of precedence.
l sometimes doubt whether any cap.
1tal, even Vienna or Madrid, troubles
itself so much about these questions
as Washington. They are debated
with heat, an righteousness, and
bitterness that can hardly be matched
anywhere.
1T 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.
nitely fixed. Thus, too, it is now
pretty well understood that an invita-.
ton to lunch or dinner at the White
House Is the equivalent Of com.
mand: Thus, also, it is now accepted
that the president should on all occa.
s1ons 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 foreign flag, and that If he has
consented to dine at the house of one
OF his cabinet ministers, list of the
proposed guests should be submitted
to him in 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 adj
miral of the navy rank above the sec.
rotary of the navy What is the rela-
tive position of the speaker and of the
secretary of state? The vice-president,
being sort of heir-apparent, ought
ambassadors to follow or precede him?
What is the exact place of the judi
ciary in the scale of precedence?
These and hundred similar con-
undrums are debated in Washington
with more than monarchical fervor.
The mere fact that they can be pro-
pounded shows that the American cap.
ital is still in the embryonic stage Of
social development. Etiquette, for in
stance, prescribes calls as the first Of
social duties, and calling is INDUCED
in by the Westinghouse on a scale
that puts Londoners and Parisians,
who pay their calls not in person but
by post, hopelessly to shame
THAT, too, is sign of society that
has not yet found itself, THAT is at
tempting the impossible and that has
not yet learned to limit and regulate
its activities. But time and expert
ence are teaching it order and self-re-
straint."