Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-03-22
The President and the Speaker
Dancing in the White House

The chief executive and the speaker are
the two leading men in the United States.
All legislation in congress is directed by
the speaker and all authority is conferred
in the president to execute the laws.
So it would seem that we. as nation,
are in a hilarious mood, and driving dull
care away if the late hop in the White
House is an indicator. The chief men
in the nation have been doing dancing
stunt and the newspapers have an item
that will be copied all over the United
States and across the ocean. The cartoons
are something worth while to look at,
and we are advertised as dancing race
of people, whatever else we may lack in
lesser and more common practices.
The speaker, who is away up in the
70's, has shown to our younger men that
he can dance a regular hoe down." q
guess il is the niger name for double
shuffe'O and the president danced the
Highland fling" or something of SINH
lar agility. Men and angels! Whit a scene
in high official life!
Here we go, up, uppy.
Here we go, down, down, downy.
On! what dear, sweet creatures we be
AS here we go round, round, roundy!
hllS EOWdTO sets the ldSnlOH III Ine
clothes he wears. He is presented with
fine hat by some one of the notable
hat makers. He wears it as he drives
about London, on some sunshny day. I'M
mediately the news Is telegraphed to
Paris. Vienna and the United States and
the hat is at once the fashion, and the
hat-man comes into his fortune.
The president and the speaker have
opened wide the doors to all the dance
L, -,
suddenly entered upon lively crusade for
and against dancing. All the pulpits in
the United States have had a setback
the preachers must now hunt some new
topic, some other thing to warn with,
some other evil to thunder against, for
Terpsichore has come into her own,
Because I am an. old lady and have
lseen a good many days in life and have
had many experiences, good, bad and in
different, l. hope /. may be INDUCED in a
few words in this connection, for, OF
course, shall not dare to further rebuke
this pair of world-famed statesmen and
politicians, who are dancers, per Sc, and
have set the fashion.
TIL trouble with dancing halls is tho
Ipromiscuity of the people who congre-
gate and continually participate. A
ldance in your parlor may be a perfectly
harmless recreation, while dance in a
enter by favor or through moneys power
or by any other scheme. good or other
wise, exposes the people, men and women,
who go there to many and various (well
will say the world passions.
To make the dance very animating you
must have the two sexes and unless you
have women dancers the men will not
care to dance longer than the continuance
Iof a "hoe-down" or a double shuttle,
at single performance. The president
and the speaker were careful to lead off
alone, although as rival dancers they
have set the fashion and the pace for all
sorts of dancing in all sorts of places, and
with all classes of people. With trip
ping fantastic toe they have kicked away
all the barriers against dancing in public
that were built up by a century of warn
ing and entreaty by the pulpit.
The question that comes up now is
serious one, for we must ask ourselves
in all seriousneSs-was it prudent-is II
ssfe-to thus enthrone Tepsichore? An
excitable people who have been under
the domination of Bacchus-for so long a
time and who could not overthrow this
domination of liquor-so long as dance
halls were In alliance are now flung
back to dance halls, again-and the re-
straining effort is again to be recon-
menced.
The objection to pool rooms-less in the
infatuation that begins and grows and
continues, until it develops the insatiate
appetite for gambling-in these pool
rooms-among men and boys.
The objection to public dances. lies in
the infatuation-that begins, grows and
continues until any sort of company is
acceptable if based on superior dancing
land nothing else) and young men and
women who do continually dance togeth-
err will in time (and short time very
often) become very familiar and pro-
foundry infatuated with the dance and
the nimble dancers.
Some time ago, the police raided a mag