The National tribune., 1909-08-19

Taft has been putting in some stren-
uous exercise in order to reduce his
-burdensome flesh. Last Summer he
gave it up as a bad job, and said that he
would let nature do her worst. Now
he is going to have another try at it,
and has engaged a masseur from Bos-
ton The President weighs 326 pounds
and he would like to reduce that by SO
at least. For half an hour each morn
ing the President is pounded and
rubbed, and then is taken in the rear
yard of his cottage in decided neglige,
where other avoirdupoiS- reducing stunts
are indulged in. The Presidents tend
ency to weight-increase is no longer a
facetious subject with him, and if the
doctor shows good results in his treat
ment it is likely that he will have
permanent position here in Washington
when the President returns.
Wireless telephony is running a race
with aeronautics for first place in the
attention of the Signal Corps. Shortly
the Signal Corps will begin experimen-
tai work in wireless telephony at Fort
Myer, but this may probably not be
done until after Wilbur Wright has
given to Lieuts. Lahm and Foulois COM
plete instructions in navigating the air.
Brig.-Gen. Allen and Mai Squire were
recently at Schenectady, n. Y, watch
ing the assembling of wireless tele-
phony instruments and gathering in
formation which they will make good
use of when the experiments begin at
Fort Myer. In the next few weeks sew
eral sets of instruments will be here
and with their use it is possible in an
ordinary conversational tone to talk
and be understood Is to 20 miles away.
These wireless telephone outfits. If sue
cessful, will be in general use in the
Army. They are not so cumbersome as
wireless telegraph outfits. owing to the
absence of the wires necessary and the
long poles used at wireless telegraph
stations. Lieut.. Lahm has invented
wireless outfit for d;rigibles and aero
planes, which takes up about as much
room as an ordinary suitcase. With it
the aviator can connect while in the air
with stations on the earth for distance
of Is miles or more.
1t is indeed disappointing to read in
some newspapers the reports that come
to us from Beverly, Mass, in which Mr..
Taft's Summer home is referred to as
the White House. That is the hight of
ignorance. T..ere is only one White
House, and thar is at Washington, d.
c., where it will remain. When it
was first painted white, after the Brit
ish burned it in 1914 to obliterate the
last black stain of that foreign power.
some one referred to the building as
the White House, and strangely enough
that appellation chung to it, despite the
efforts. official and otherwise, to have II
called the Executive Mansion and other
high-sounding names Perhaps il clung
from the sentiment expressed in the
white paint over the smoke-begrimed
walls as much as anything else. AT
any rate, it is the White House, as it
was years ago and will be during
years to come. However, it is not the
White House itself that has the deeper
meaning that will perpetuate it. 1t is,
of course, a real two-story and base
men+ freestone edif1ce, with Ionic porti-
.co--the home of the President, the
place where the executive business is
centered, where the Government is ad-
ministered-yet the real White House
is as unreal as the North Pole and the
longitudinal line that cuts the Capital
In two. The White House is the sum-
init of the United States, up to whose
nights SG-odd millions gaze with pride.
It is the seat and office OF Uncle Sam,
and it is just as real and unreal as
Uncle Sam himself. Here live with
him Columbia and Old Glory and the
Eagle. Presidents may come and go
for their short terms, but the White
House and Uncle Sam and his family
will go on forever, at least in history,
because they are inseparable.
One would think from the way the
President, his Cabinet, Congressman and
Others hurried out of town when Con-
gress adjourned that Washington was
the hottest and most d:sagreeable place
in the country, and that to spend the
Summer season here would be the hight
of folly. But nothing is further from
the truth than that. Washington is sell
dom excessively hot, and it compares
very favorably with almost any point of
similar altitude north of Mason and
Dixon's line. OF course, a great major
ity of those who hurried cut of town
have gone to their homes, but with the
others it is more or less habit. Wash
ington is never SO beautiful as it is in
the Summertime The broad avenues,
shaded with trees, are Incompatible for
driving or motoring, and these streets
lead one over macadamized roads out
side the city limits. where beautiful
scenes of nature abound on every side.
I. is difficult to imagine that President
Taft is any cooler or happier at Bev-
erly than was President Grant or Presi-
dent Lincoln when they used to drive
to the beautiful Soldiers Home, where
they had cottages especially adapted to
their needs. When President Cleveland
was in Washington he spent the Sum-
rners at a point on the Woodley road,
about three miles from the White
House, from which & Deautl1ui view Oh
the city and river may be obtained. The
other Presidents liked to stay in Wash
ington the greater part of the time, and
IL was not until President Roosevelts
Administration that Summer Capital
was established outside of the city.
President Mckinley used to go to his
home at Canton, o.. for short stays.
Cabinet officers ana the Diplomatic
Corps and resident society quarter Of
a century ago summered regularly in
Washington, and enjoyed all the com
forts of their homes and a climate just
about as good as is found elsewhere.
When It is broiling hot in Washington
you can depend upon il that ii is brcil-
ing hot elsewhere, and If IL were not
for a fad-thts going-away habit
Washington would be considered the
resort of resorts for the Summer season.
AT last the statue of Robert E. Lee,
yirginia's contribution TO Statuary Hall
at the Capitol, has been placed in the
HAL of Fame" Gen. Lees statue is
placed by the side of that of Robert
Fulton. the inventor of the steamboat
and that of former Gov. ]. L. Curry, OF
Alabama 1t stands within n few fee
of that of Nathaniel Green. Lee is pic
tured in the uniform of the South, and
in two lengths of the statue are the
statues of Gen. James Shields, of Hi.
nois, and Gen. Philip Kearny. of New
Jersey, with the uniforms of the UnioI
army. The statue of Gen. Washington