The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-05-17
|WHIIE HOUSE THRIFT
Noticeable Chiefly In Reducing
Number Of Servants.
LINES oBuTERATED.

All Help Aaast New EsA II ons Tabis
instead Of Thrs-Roossvslt Lunch
~ Observation-Disclosures Taft Largo
" Rsspensibis For ths Change.
President and Mira TAFT are going On
the principle that II the government Is
to economize economy ought to begin
At home. Therefore the running ex-
penses Of the White House are being
cut down. Since March 4 savings and
curtatlments have been effected In va
mansion.
Mrs. Taft Is responsible in . large
easur for the savings hat have
been brought about. for n thing
when the new administration took
possession OF the l~aundresses. The
number: has been reduced to three.
Formerly there were an engineer, an
assistant engineer and a plumber
shout the establishment. One man Ia
now retained to do any engineering
work Or plumbing work that il neees-
sary-
Under the Roosevelt regime Pink
ney, the -colored stewart. was an i'm
-portant functionary about the estab
lishment. Now a vteward il no longer
kept Ptnkney has gone on b govern
ment rolls as q messenger. Mrs. Taft
has obtained q drst class housekeeper,
Miss Jefferson. The management Of
the White House in large measure
rests with Miss Jefferson, who attends
to the buying. Mrs. Roosevelt used to
much Of the buying for the estab-
ltshment herself.
One Of the important reforms
wrought about the White House con-
sists In reducing the number OF tables
at which the negro servants take their
meals from three to one. 1t used to be
before March 4 that there were three
tables for h colored help. One table
was for the high caste part OF the
force of servants. Here Charles Read
er. the coachman; Pinkney. the stew
ard, and q few of the elite of b serv-
antB assembled and dined on the a
Of the land. having what b White
House family had. The eco table
was reserved for the hef and the mid
die class of servants. The third table
was for the slaundresses and the scrub
women. Now. it appears. these dis
tinctions have been thrust aside, and
Miss Jefferson has caused all b col
ored help to eat at the same table.
The days of terrapin for some and no
terrapfn for Others have gone. All the
Servants are treated alike. Doubtless
this has caused some heartburninG
and dissatisfaction, but II there has
been any murmur1ng 1t a been done
under cover. The White House Ia too
good q place to work and the wages
too good to imperil a job by complain
ing about distinctions Of caste at the
dinner table.
These and other reforms have been
effected. Or curse 1t will not require
so big-a bill for supplies for the White
House table in this administration as
that luncheon is not made as much of
by, President Taft as Mr.. Roosevelt
used to make it. Roosevelt insisted OF
having q lot of people at lunch. He
hated to eat alone, and he liked to take
advantage Of lunch to extract an inf
mite amount Of Information out of a
v~ariegated assortment Of people. And
the amount Of information he got in
this way was astonishing. President
Taft does not eat luncheon himself
save an apple. and so the chief White
House functions now are the dinners,
which are quite up to the best White
House standard.
If the various departments and bu-
reaus go at the ecoEomizing business
as thoroughly as b White House b.
1t will be possible to make some re-
d%uctions IN observation-disclosures
ton Corr New York Globe.