Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-03-11
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent. i
WASHINGTON, March s, 1905

demonstrated than in the Inauguration
of the new President Thursday when
the elements gathered themselves to-
gether for the most disagreeable day
of the winter and succeeded i'll nullify-
ing to an almost incredible degree the
efforts that had been made to have this
Inauguration surpass any that had pre-
ceeded it. Wednesday, the day before
when the immense crowds had gath
cred in anticipation Of the ceremonies
and celebration, dawned wet and cold.
Rain fell all day and toward night
there were lightning and thunder and
heavy showers. Later the snow began
and continued to fall until the streets
were buried several inches deep. By
daylight the city was cut off from out
side communication, telegraph and
telephone wires were down and the
wind had brought down the poles and
left loose wires swinging in the streets.
Never before had there been such deso-
lation on Inauguration day. The seats
in the grand stands which had been
erected all along the line of the march
were banked with snow. The decora-
tions had either faded out in hideous
blurs of red, white and blue or they
had fallen to the pavements from their
weight of snow. The light wooden
pillars which had been stationed along
both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue lay
in the streets with their decorations of
flags and wreaths buried in the snow.
The cutters were filed with ice and
slush and it was impossible to cross the
streets without going over one's shoe
tops in the icy food. Comparatively
few had the courage to venture out in
the gals and storm so that when Mr..
Taft accompanied by Mr.. Roosevelt
was driven swiftly up the Avenue to
the Capitol there was only small
struggling shivering crowd to greet
them. Strangers in the city who had
shelter were glad to stay in doors and
the residents accustomed to the mild
temperatures of this semi-Southern eli
Zard that seemed more suited to the
Dakotas or Canada. Thousands were
Without adequate shelter. The troops
recently returned from Cuba were
assigned to canvas tents near the river
bank and after two years in a tropical
climate found themselves in a subarctic
temperature with no other protection
than these fimsy tents afforded. At
the railroad station all was confusion
and chaos. Wires being down there
was no communication with incoming
trains and these arrived unheralded
from three to thirty hours late. Many
of the passengers arriving at night did
not venture out of the station to find
lodgings and fifteen hundred people
spent. the night in the station. Humid
reds of others did not arrive in time for
the inauguration at all but came in on
the limping trains many hours late.
Many others reaching the city gave
one glance at the conditions and board
ed the next out for home. Baltimore
hotels were crowded by the inaugura-
tion visitors who got as far as the
Monumental city and divining the con-
ditions at the Capitol stopped off there
The West Point Cadets, did not get in
to the city until the next day and suf-
fered as many others from lack of food
and accommodation on the train
which had not provided for such an
exigency. 1t would take columns to
express the disappointment and dis
gust of the strangers who had come
from great distances to see the Inaug-
uration and Congress came in well for
the righteous Indignation of everyone
for not.having long ago changed the
inaugural date to later season when
better weather might be counted on
1t was impossible for Mr.. Taft to make
his address outside the Capitol and the
crowd that defied the weather to gather
in anticipation of hearing him shared
the disappointment that seemed to at
tend all the plans for the day. Even
the Senate galleries which had been
Shi OidlIJ lCSSINOd SSttU Wy oCou iOl eHo
families of the Congressman had rows
of vacant places when Mr.. Taft took
the oath of office.
After taking the oath of office and
making his address Mr.. Taft accom-
panied by his wife, (this being the first
occasion when Presidents wife has
appeared in the carriage with him on
his way to the White House for the
first time as President,) drove up the
Avenue along the line which was to
have been the route of the parade. A
few brave soldiers, civic club or two
from Ohio and number of stragglers
followed the Presidential carriage and