Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1911-01-31
How President Taft. Shakes Hands with 2,Ooo People
 In Single Evening.
WIPES INNOVATIONS
Mrs. Taft Has Buffet Supper For the Quests and Goes Hayes Ad-
 ministration One Better.
(By Jonathan Winfield).

Washington, Jan. 30.-It is no easy
 task to shake hands with two thou sands people Or more ill a single ev
 ing. To steer them without a tangle
 through the corridors of the White House, and to send them homeward
 without having trod on the tees of some sensitive diplomat, or offended 5he Wife U some powerful politician
 These are the things tnai must be met by every president and bis wife at ordinary official receptions and the job is generally all that the White House staff can handle with out trying to put any new wrinkles s on the entertainment.
 When it was announced that Mrs Taft had decided to add to her recep- tions a buffet supper for the guests, realized that she had un- dertaken a great task In the days of the Hayes administration this had been attempted but though the crowd then was not as large as now, tine trouble of providing luncheon for so many guests proved so great that no other administration attempted it, un- til Mrs. Taft came to the White House.
 Mrs. Taft has gone the Hayes
 administration one better. At the Diplomatic Reception this year, not only was luncheon served, but the big East room was cleared for dancing, and waltzes favored at European courts were mingled with the sBos-- ton,' the Dip and the Two Step" In fact, the Tafts are not giy- ing receptions, they ale giving real
 parties, where everyone has good time.
 This genial hospitality on the part of the Taft administration throws ln- to strong reliet the methods in vogue during the RooseVeltian White House occupancy Ill those daps the visi- tors were rushed into the East room, malshalled il double line, hurried the hand shaking ceremony, then hustled on to the cloak room and home. Or if it happened to be diplomatic reception a portion of the great room was roped off and the civilian guests were herded behind the lines of plush, while the diplomats, resplendent in the finery of foreign courts majestically strode about the open portion of the room for their and amusement Formal ly one went to view spectacle-noW one goes because it is pleasure.
 Today the guests gat ther in the East room as formerly and the same hand-shaking takes place, but instead of being ushered to the cloak room they are led to the supper tables where the flowing bowl and heavily laden table of the colon- ial days has again made it's appear ance. The hand-shaking ceremony over the Marine band srtikes up a popular waltz and the floor is soon filled with whirling couples. Et1- nuettes edict demands what the pres ident open the dances by being first on the floor, but as personal inclina- tion and an avoirdupois far above the average make the occupancy or a larger chair much more preferably he usually delegates that honor to his daughter, Miss Helen.
 Among the many who come to en- iov the dance is 'Uncle Jce' Can mon. whose feats upon the waxed floor seem to put to naught Dr. os- ler's theory regarding age. scarceiy have the first strains of the fnuslc through the great room when "ITncle Joe may ba seen splnn!hs about the ball room flcor with some fair partner whose laughing race bears witness both to his aollltE as a dancer and the wit fer which ne ls famous. There are mary old men Ill Washington who danct but Ill most cases it is either for the amusement of their friends or as a mater ol formalitv. 'sUncle Joe'', however, goes on the floor for his own amuselle h' and throws formality to the winds None of those, old fashioned wrinkles for him. He is in touch with the very latest thing in dancing and learns es- erv new step invented.
 The diplomatic reception Is 'n7 most showy of all. for the dipiohlaelc corn;s of foreign countries are re ouired by their governments to naol' themselves in a uniform whose every gorgeous detail is prescribed With the ,,t,,,os+ ovactitude. Some Of them so