Evening star., 1909-03-05

John r. Mclean. ]. H. Small, jr.. president
Of the board of trade. and w. F. GUIDE,
| president of the Chamber of Commerce,
| had been added to the Washington mem
| berS of the committee. He also stated
| that the new governors of states and ter
! ritories inaugurated in January last would
| be asked to take the places Of their pre-
decessors who had been members of the
| committee.
| Mr. Maofarland said he saw no reason
| why a resolution providing for change
of day to the last Thursday in April, the
time agreed upon by the national COM
mittee on the proposed change of inaugu-
ration day and by the Senate, should not
| ginning March Is. The Senate judiciary
| committee. he said, would continue In
| being, and the Senate could act upon it
| even If the House deferred action. The
| sooner it was acted upon the sooner 1t
| could receive the necessary action by the
| legislatures of the states required for the
| adoption of an amendment to the Con-
| stitution; that it would take all the time
! between now and then to change the date
| before the next Inaugural tion. He said the
national committee had considered the
| question of asking the then President of
| the United States to advocate the change
| in a message to Congress and had deter
| mined that inasmuch as the change would
! extend the Presidents term from the 4th
of March until the last Thursday in April,
| he might feel delicacy in recommending
! it. However, he said, the question of
asking the President to consider the mat
| ter would come up again in the delibera-
| tionS of the national committee.
The Weekday Plan.
| The last Thursday in April he said
was selected on the advice Of Senator
| Hoar. then chairman OF the judiciary
committee Of the Senate. who took deep
interest in the matter. and day of the
! week rather than day of the month was
chosen because it would avoid all COM
| plications with Sunday. Even when in
auguration day came on saturday or
| Monday IL involved peculiar diff1cultieS
| for the local authorities in the admins
| tration of the excise and other laws.
| Thursday would give ample time for the
| final preparations in the inauguration
| week.
| Mr.. Macfarland hoped the experiences
| of yesterday would leave an indelible i'm
preston on the minds or senator's ana
| representatives, SO that the resolution
might receive favorable consideration at
an early day. He was very much graft
| fed to see the interviews with senators
and representatives indicating their Will
| lingness to support the proposition, to
| which, he said, he could see no valid ob-
| lection.
Mr.. Vests Views.
| Commissioner Henry L. West this morn
| Ing declared there should be no further
! delay In changing the inauguration date.
"No further argument Is needed. SAID
/ Commissioner West this morning. "for a
| change In the date of inauguration. The
| record OF the last twenty years SHOWS
| that favorable weather on the attn OF
| March is exceptional but yesterdays blz-
| zard demonstrated beyond any doubt tnat
| Washington at this season OF the ysaL
| is subject to weather conditions which
=; can be avoided by making the last Thurs
! day in April the date for the ceremony.
I Tnasmuch as George Washington TOOK
the oath Of Office on April 30. 1t would De
| very appropriate 10 return to th's iiiS
The lives and health of thousands of
| persons Yesterday were jeopardized by the
inc'emency of the weather, while the I'm, I'm
| pressive spectacle of the President of the
| United States taking the oath of office
| In the presence of the large cOncourse OF
| his fellow citizens was made Impossible
There should be no deiay IN prlhsins "
an effective result the movement which
has been long In progress for chang
Engineer Commissioner Spencer Cosby
also expressed himself strongly In favor
OF the proposed change
| THE 4th Of March as the date OF the
inauguration" he said. lis like yellow
dog that gets into your house and that no
body wants to keep, but which 1t Is very
hard to get rid of. There seems to be
only one view of the matter. All those
with whom I have talked about 1t have
been unanimous In their declarations In
favor OF the change"
,i William V. Cox, president Of the Sec
ond National Bank and an ex-president
of the Washington Board Of Trade. said
that he had been urging the change for
some time. and he declared that the
weather conditions which prevailed yes
terday were proof sufficient to establish
the need for prompt action on the part
OF Congress.
White House callers today were prac-
ticaliy unanimous for change Of date