The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-01
1T is all READY.
Preparation for the Inaugural
Ceremonies Complete.
The Event Promises to Eclipse
All Previous Ones.
A RECORD BREAKER.
Biggest Crowd Ever Seen in
Washington Is Expected.
Committee Has Spent 100000
in the Pension Building.

Washington, March 1.-Prepara-
tions for the induction of William
Howard Taft into the presidency are
complete and the various committees
make the prophecy that the cere-
monies of the day Will be the most
brilliant and picturesque of any pre-
vious inaugural event.
Predictions are made also that the
crowd of visitors who will come from
ever nook and corner of the United
States will be a record breaker.
The work on the great court of
honor, one of the most beautiful fea-
lures of the Inauguration, received it's
finishing touches today, and this focal
point of the national function pro-
| duces color and decorative scheme
which is said to eclipse all previous
efforts in this direction
The task of getting the pension
| office inreadiness for the inaugural ball
will be finished tomorrow. The
| beauty which will attend this brilliant
social event will be unsurpassed. the
| committee having spent $4,000 for
| decorations alone.
| The large crowds that have already
| arrived were augmented today by
many more thousands reaching the
city on every incoming train. There
| was also an influx of many organiza-
| tions from the different states.
Thousands Come to Town.
| President-elect Taft is not the only
| big man in town for the inauguration.
| The great American citizen is here.
| There are thousands of him. He has
| brought his wife and children. They
\ propose to have a corking good time
all week. The national capital Is al
ready in holiday attire in honor of Mr..
| Taft and the great American citizen
and his wife and children. 1t is going
| to be a splendid Inauguration, pro-
vided the weather clerk does his duty.
| Two inauguration days out three are
! abominable, but Mr.. Taft may have
4 luck.
No misfortune in weather can chill
| the ardor of the great throngs which
are already pouring in. Certainly the
most prominent feature of the in
auguration, the Illumination of the
city, can not be stopped by blizzard
or cold rainstorm or ary of the
| usual inaugural weather. The illu-
mination of the national capital by
| means of myriads of electric lamps
promises to be a show of itself. Wash
| ington hopes to make the Chicago
Worlds fair and the Great White Way
envious. The programme calls for:
1. Illumination of Pennsylvania
avenue and Fifteenth street from the
peace monument to New York avenue
by means of festoons of electric lights.
2. Private illumination of buildings
along the avenue by the owners or oc-
cupants.
Illumination of the dome of the
caplCOl with SearCnl1SnIS.
4. Outlining the architecture of the
treasury building with electric lights.
5. Illumination of the municipal
building.
6. Fountain showering the Peace
monument at the east end of Pennsyl-
vania avenue.
On Pennsylvania Avenue
Each of the festoons of the avenue
will be in quadruple, having three
peaks. the middle one about thirty
feet above the pavement. They will be
about fifty in number. hung squarely
across the avenue and about $50 feet
apart. Some twenty or thirty of the
principal buildings along the avenue
will be privately decorated with cleo
trio lights. Much interest in such
illumination has been manifested by
the occupants of the buildings, and a
number of especially beautiful and
elaborate designs have been prepared.
BY means of two thirty-inch power
full searchlights the dome of the cap
itol will be steadily Illuminated on its
west side, facing the city. The iIlumi-
nation of the treasury building will be
such as strongly to outline the upper
portion of the architecture, including
the pediments, all around the building
in manner similar to its illumination
on the occasions of previous Inaugural
tions.
The municipal building will be illumi-
mated by six eight-inch theatrical spot
lights so disposed and set as beauti-
fully to reveal it's white marble archi-
lecture, and this effect will be height
ened by lighting all the front rooms.
The Peace monument, according to
the inaugural press agent will be made
"a fountain by means of jets of water,
which will shower it in such a way as
to give beautiful. strong and changing
colored light effects, produced by three
twelve-inch searchlights symmetricaHy
located around it. 1t is expected also
that the fountain will be continued
through the days as well as the
nights
The plan provides for the continual
ton of the various illuminations from
dark until midnight of each of the
four nights from March to March 6.
The Parade the Big Thing.
OF course, che inaugural parade is the
great thing. To the multitude that is
the big show. This years parade is to
be a whopper. Thirty to forty thou
sand men are to be in line. The pa
rade will continue from 1 p. m. till
front of the White House. where Presi-
dent Taft is to review it. 1t is to be
a great day for the governors of states.
Nearly all of them are to be here in
uniforms on prancing steeds, accom-
panied by their gorgeous staffs.
The Inaugural Ball.
The inaugural ball is another great
to be especially brilliant. In beauty of
design and execution 1t will be in a
class by itself. The color scheme is
ivory and white, and when the work
is completed not an inch of the sew
eraI miles of corridors or of the great
of this. the greatest brick structure in
the world, will be left in its original
state. The arrangements for the great
national dance and promenade are in