Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-12

send Its sons and daughters here, prin-
cipally to fill government positions, there
began to spring up in Washington such a
| mixed throng Of Americans. those from
| the north. south, east and west, that
they became merely "Washingtonians.'
And so Washingtonians they are today,
with one exception. To be q native
allegiance to that state. And so 1T is
here. Washingtonians they are, but If
Montana, Mississippi or Maine Is the
native state. It is to it that a Wash
ingtonian' is likely to give the warmest
| loyalty And then. too, there is ever pres
| ent that phase of human nature which
| finds such keen pleasure in meeting some
one from home" No matter how broad
and lives of its people, to be from a
home" state awakens a mutual comrade-
ship and subject Of conversation such as
no other topic could bring forth.
But with the growth of Washington
and especially Of the government the
chance. of meeting casually some one
from home grew smaller. So many
states were created. with so many people,
that the population has become thorough
ly mixed. But there has ever been a
strong tendency to cling to fellow-man
from the same state. Often this desire
found expression In informal gatherings
at which all present were from a single
state. Or again 1t might develop into
nothing more than a lifelong friendship
between two people.
Within the last few years this desire
has taken a more definite form. and today
there exist in Washington
Societies numerous state societies.
Formed These. purely social in char
acter. are composed almost
entirely Of government employees. In ad-
dition there are some political groups,
but these are In no way affiliated with
the social organizations. In the main. it
can be said that all state societies are
similar Each Is inspired by the desire to
bring into closer touch those from the
state for which it stands. Each. too,
stands ready to render such aid as may
become necessary in the case of it's men,
bers. And in each the senators and rep
resentatives of the particular state are
| the special members of the society's list.
In point Of number. those societies
| which are formed of the natives Of the
various southern states lead. as for ex-
ample the Tennessee and Mississippi So
cieties. both of which organiza tons have
an unusually large membership roll. The
Tennessee Society, its age taken into con-
S1deratiOn, has perhaps the largest men,
bership of any, in addition to having an
interesting history
To begin with. the. Tennessee Society
was organized by a woman who is not a
native OF Tennessee. Her husband came
from that state. and consequently their
friends were many Tennessee people.
They would talk of forming an organiza-
ton, but never really got together
Then this woman said that if she was
Tennessean she knew what she would
do. To this remark came the answer
Well. do 1t anyway" And she did, with
ha hot thn
| there was a Tennessee society. with a
membership of more than two hundred
That woman was Mrs. /. N. Hammer,
and 1t was in 1910 that the Tennessee
Society was organized. 1t was April 5
| of that year that the first gathering was
held in answer to the summons sent out
by Mrs. Hammer to all Tennesseans.
More than two hundred were present.
grand commander of the Supreme Coun-
Gil of the Scottish Rite, presiding.
~
Six out of the ten Tennessee represent
atives and the late Senator Taylor were
present. most of whom
Distinguished added to the evenings
n.,L pleasure by eulogizing
NAeADSAo' Tennessee "Col Bob
spoke of Tennessee as 1.-The land where
the horses are fleet, the women are fair
and the clover smells sweet" At this
| meeting committee was appointed to
draft a constitution. At the second meet
ing. April Is. the constitution which had
| been drafted during the interval was dis
cussed and adopted. James D. Richard
son was elected president and 159 charter
| members were enrolled.
At the same time four honorary men,
bers were elected, the two Tennessee
senators then serving, Taylor and Fra
zier: Justice Lurton and the then Secre
tary Of War, Jacob NJ. Dickinson. Since
that meeting, more than year ago. the
Tennessee Society has been active.
The society held its annual election Of
officers last Tuesday. and the incumbents
were all reelected. with the exception Of
w. J. Cawthon, secretary; who declined
| reelection, declaring his objections to
the third term" idea in even social, to
to say nothing of political. Office.
| The officers are: James ID. Richardson,
president; Greed M. Fulton, first vice
lpresident: Laps D. 'McCord, second vice
president; H. T. Tate third vice presi
dent: Mrs. 1. N. Hammer, secretary; Wal
| ter Lanning, treasurer; Mrs. A. E. Keel
| ing. historian: w. ]. Cawthon, chaplain.
| Activity along organization lines is not
| confined to the south, however. and in
the far northwestern corner of this coun-
| try is state well represented here by
| the Society OF the Oregon Country This
| first simply the Oregon Society: But
gradually 1t grew to include those people
| who had lived in what had originally been
| the Oregon country, now comprising Ore
gon, Washington, Idaho and Montana,
and so in time the name changed. too
| 1t was the early part Of December. 1903
| that a meeting was held, with D. C. Sher-
man acting as temporary president. at
| which an organization was formed. At a
later meeting the same month HI. HI. Gill
| frey was elected the first president and
| Mr.. Sherman the first vice president.
+ y
| Like all the other state societies. this
has for its object the same principles Of
| closer friendship and
Oregon aid. Its membership
Country. includes many promi-
nent people. such as Senator George T.
Chamberlain and Col. j. A. Straight. One
of the members, Max Pracht, has the
distinction of being a native of the orig
| inal Oregon country as well as the
owner of one of the finest peach orchards