The National tribune., 1909-02-11

PreSldent-preSumpti Taft-he ism
President-elect, so he declares, unit
after the electoral vote is counted-i
to he made a Mason at sight" Thi
interesting operation" will take plac'
at Cincinnati Feb. IS, in the presenc'
of most distinguished audience. Al
Masons, of course.
If only girls would profit i3y the ex
= perience of their mates. But they
won't. None of them ever did; none
of us do, for that matter We must al
have our finger burned before we Learn
any sense. Ruth Bryan is the lates,
example of burned fingers, but she
won't profit by it; not at all. She will
probably marry the next good-looking
man who comes along and promises tc
help her into the iimelight/Rut Bryan
is remembered here as a gypsy-lookins
kidlet when her father was in Con-
gress. She wore very short dresses and
seemed pretty much all legs, as girls OF
that age do. She shot up into young
ladyhood, and to prune her down a lit
tie was sent away to school She was
rather bright, but as undisciplined as
young colt, and she simply would
have her own way. She was pig-head-
ed. to tell the TRUTH and there was no
doing anything with her. She had the
big-head a good deal, because papa
had been Presidential candidate" and
they had trouble enough with her at
home. Then the good-looking. devil
may-care artist, Leavitt. old enough to
be her father, coaXed her to marry him.
Ruth was old enough to have had more
sense, but she insisted on marrying,
and her parents would not witness the
ceremony. Ruth had an idea that she
had literary talent, and she thought
she would have more chance to show it
off il she We're married and could travel
good as writer. Then came word of
unhappiness and possible divorce. Ruth
waited. however, until she found wheth-
er there would be any chance for her
to be "the daughter of the White
House" When that was a settled fact
that she would not be, she pushed the
divorce. 1t is unfortunate, for it ought
to be unnecessary. She is said to be
devoted to her children. and tho this
may be a fact, she is going about it TO
give them a poor heritage. Mr. Bryan
is heartbrohen over the thing. He loves
his children and has tried to make
them happy.
Mrs. Roosevelt, who is very fond of
art and is really a connoisseur never
misses an opportunity to visit great
collections. She was many years abroad
and visited all the famous galleries of
thing here to admire. She went up TO
Baltimore last week to tile opening of
the new Walters Art Gallery there 1t
was the first time the public had been
permitted to view the famous Massa-
rento collection. Mrs. Roosevelt was
the guest of Mrs. Chas. j. Bonaparte
wife of the Attorney General, who has
never given up her home in Baltimore
mr. Walters was the owner of the
famous Peachblow vase, which was
about six inches tail and valued at s30,
900.
The President is very frank about
most of his appointments. and one OF
his latest proves how true he is to those
whom he thinks should be recognized.
The announcement of the appointment
was made in an open letter. as follows:
81 have for some time been anxious
TO recognize in suitable fashion MIR.
Truxtun Beale's signal services TO the
community in which he lives. As the
end of my term is approaching. and a
suitable vacancy has not occurred. /
hereby appoint him on the Assay Com
mission, because was unwilling to re-
tire frofl Office without thus having
marked my appreciation of Mr.. Beale
as a citizen"
Mr. Beale did not need the appoint
fnent, and he has been pretty well hon.
ored by the Government having been
Minister to Persia at one time, and
again to Greece, Roumania and Servia
combined. He is a resident of Califor-
MIA.
, The Assay Commission. of which Mr..
Beale becomes a member, is charged
with the duty of inspecting the United
States mints and testing the weight and
fineness of all coins The commission
consists of the Judge of the District
Court for the Eastern District of Penn
sylvania. the Comptroller of the Cur
rency, the Director of the Mint, the As
sayer of the Assay Office of New York
and such other persons as the President
may designate. The commission Is re-
Guired to meet annually at the Phiia-
deiphia Mint, on the second Wednesday
in February.
On Feb. II, which is Thursday, Presi-
:, dent-elect Taft will be on American soil
sonce more. OF course. we recognize
Panama as american soil all right, but
there is a Mighty waste of waters and
some extremely undesirable land be-
tween this piece OF America and that.
Mr. Taft has had a delightful trip and
q needed rest in his sail to Panama and
return, and comes back home, reas-
sured as to the york on the Panama
Canal By the way, very few Presi-
dents have ever come TO the high office
as well informed as to the exact situa-
tion all over the world as Mr. Taft
He has done power of getting around
during the last feven years. and he
knows from actual superintendent OF
the work on the spot all there is TO
know about our colonial" possessions.
He is sure that all is well in the Philip
pines, and he now knows that all is
well in Panama. Nasty things come
back about how things are being done
down thcre-the gossips have mostly
let up on the Philippines-and Mr.. Taft
felt that he would like TO be able TO
speak of conditions his own eyes
beheld them. He can now do this. IL
ls. tho. likely that he will confine him
self TO the actual jurisdiction of the
United States while he is President 1t
was the unwrittcn law until Roosevelt
became President that President of
The United States shall not go outside
the limits of his own Jurisdiction while
ne fills the office. President Roosevelt
broke the precedent several times.
Oh. my, Oh. my, Paderewski was
20 play here one day last week. Paddy
Is pianist of some note. you will
doubtless recall. He is the pianist with
the poppy-colored hair which looks like
chrysanthemum sIaw Wei. he played
in New York City last week, and dis
covered Saturday night that there was
q slight abrasion" of the skin on the
end of one of his priceless fingers