The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-09-07
By Ernest G. Walker.

The Presidents golf games were of
great local interest for time and the
newspapers paid as much attention to
them daily as to the affairs of state
which the President transacted every
afternoon following luncheon. But the
news interest in those games has now
Jagged. There are several golf clubs
in this section of Massachusetts and all
of them wanted the President. He has
played only at Myopia and at the Es-
sex County Club, and apparently will
not play anywhere else. There was a
great rush of expectancy to participate
in golf games with the President, but
as a matter of fact, he has had very
few partners and has shown no dispo-
siti0n to take in outsiders. The Presi-
dents foursomes, mostly played at the
Essex links, have comprised himself
and John Hays Hammond, on the one
side, and w. j. Boardman, of Washing
ton, and Gen. Adelbert Ames, of Lowell,
ON the other side. The Boardmans are
oldtime friends Of the President, and
he and Mrs. Taft have been down there
to luncheon since their arrival on the
North Shore. Recently John Hays
Hammond, who was at Yale with the
President, and who has summer home
down Gloucester way, fell i'll, and there
have been no foursomes since the ply
stefan advised Mr.. Hammond to desist
for a while. The President has played
golf with Mr.. Hammond more than
with any other since he arrived here,
but he personally likes the big mining
engineer and is going to take him along
on the Western trip. A few days ago
he went down to Gloucester to take
Presidents brother, Charles p. Taft,
and his wife, have been here for about
a week, and Charles was taken into the
golf game. Then one day, when the
partners such as the President wanted
seemed to be few, Robert Taft, the
Presidents son, was given chance to
show his skill. Captain Butt, the
President IS aid, plays an occasional
game with the President. When Sec
rotary of the Navy Meyer returned
from his fishing trip on the Resta-
gouche River, Canada, to his home at
Hamilton, hard by here he became a
golfng favorite and has been playing
with the President. The lieutenant
governor of Massachusetts, Mr.. Froth-
ingham, limited that he would like to
play with the President and in a devi-
Gus way it was circulated that the
governor and lieutenant governor of
Massachusetts were to be the Presi-
dent IS antagonists at golf but, all the
same, no invitations from the Presi-
dent have been forthcoming.
There has been considerable trouble
with the photographers in connection
with the presidential 'golfng One of
President Roosevelt s maxims used to
be: "Never allow yourself to be
photographed at golf or tennis. The
people regard them as rich men s
games Probably no man in public
life was ever photographed more than
President Roosevelt. He reveled in
photographs. There were snap shots
the plains, in camp, at his desk in the
White House and so on through long
category. But no camera ever caught
the President playing tennis. He
kept big screen around his tennis
court. He did not play golf.
President Taft has not been so for
tunate. Some one caught him at golf
on the links at Chevy Chase, near
Washington. That picture got into cir
culation quite generally before efforts
were made to suppress it. He allowed
many photographs to be taken of him
and also of Mrs. Taft, when he came
to Beverly but he fought shy of
cameras on the golf links. All the same
they caught him. One part of the
Essex county course comes near to
the public highway where everybody
is privileged to go. The Secret Ser
vice men drove away the camera fends,
who swarm out from Boston, but that
did not entirely succeed. There is an
old barn near the Essex course The
camera fends one fine day secreted
themselves in the hay, made an open
ing through the boards and when the
President came down that way, they
snapped him and printed their pic
lures in the Boston papers.
Such annoyances as these and the
automobile speed criticisms have been
the exception and on the whole every
thing has been as the President want
ed it. Quite likely he will return here
and bring the summer capital with
nm next summer ana succeeding sum-
mers, because he is thoroughly pleased
with the North Shore, but he has en-
couraged none of the real estate peo-
pie to think he will do so. Hardly had
the President arrived in Beverly be-
fore stories started that he was inter
ested in a beautiful estate on Castle
Hill in Ipswich, some ten miles from
Beverly. He had driven there because
of the beautiful view to be had from
the top of the hill. The President
denied that he had any intention what
ever of purchasing that or any other
estate. He did not have available
money for any such venture. Then
it was put out that his rich brother,
Charles 2. Taft, was the prospective
purchaser and President Taft denied
that as stoutly as he could. He said
the Tafts were not going to purchase
any place along the North Shore. In
cidentally it might be said that real
estate for 80 or 60 miles along the
North Shore is quite as expensive as
lots in large city. There is very