davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

eminent and who gave bond for S2OUO.
The cards of her guests will be brought
to the chatelaine of the mansion by
ushers and buffers paid out of the United
States Treasury. She will have to return
no calls whatever, unless some foreign
ruler brings his wife to Washington, and
all of the details of her social correspond
ence will be attended to by her own pri-
waite secretary.
When she goes upstairs she will be car
ried by an electric elevator. In moments
of leisure she can sit down at a golden
piano-a gift to the nation, which cost
$1,000.
AS she steps from room to room she
will inhale the perfume Of the rarest of
flowers. daily renewed in the vases. and
her eye will fail upon articles pre-
scented to the government by several
generations of the proud rulers of the
world. At her entertainments the Marine
Band will discourse whatever music she
selects. And many of the great musical
geniuses of the world will vie with one
another to entertain her guests, without
cost. Whenever she wishes a box at the
theater one will be provided for her and
her guests without cost. In fact. one of
the Washington theaters employs a
social attache" whose function it is to
invite the families of such high func-
tionaries as the President. Vice President
and foreign ambassadors to fill it's boxes.
The family which assumes possession
of the White House next year will enjoy
far greater living space than Mr.. ROOSe-
welt and his large family of children
found there when they moved in. Thomas
jefferson, the first tenant of the finished
building had the use of an office upon
the site where Mr.. Taft's now stands, and
the White House proper was used for
residence But later Presidents encroach-
ed upon the upstairs portion of the man.
sion for office space until Col. Roosevelt
called a halt and moved the offices and
cabinet room to the new western annex.
So the upstairs space now includes eight
bedrooms. with a private bath to each
former cabinet room-where the Presi-
dent may now HE himself to escape office
seekers and the daily delegations brought
to the executive offices by politicians
1t may be added that the presidency is
a safer Office than it was a decade ago.
An attack upon the life of the chief
ma gistrate is now federal offense, and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

upon the governments pay roll. He
draws the full pay of United States
senator or $500 per year, whereas all
Presidents until Buchanan had to pay
their secretaries out of their own wage
of $4,000. The first salary allowed Il
private secretary was S2,oou, or I'D per
cent of the Presidents pay-the same
percentage now allowed Mr. Hilles, the
Taft Secretary.
x
Thus the remuneration OF both the
chief executive and the head of his office
force have been trebled since Lincoln
and his faithful Nicolay occupied the
White House offices. Indeed, four of the
clerks and stenographers in Mr.. Taft's
office receive as much salary as was al
lowed John Nicolay, while above them is
an executive clerk receiving 5000, and a
chief clerk drawing $1,000 a year At
lower pay efficient men could not be
kept at their desks in these days. They
would soon be tempted away by outside
business and financial concerns recos-
nizing that men picked for the Presidents
own office are the cream of the civil
service clerical force
The pay roll of this force now amounts
to $Ii,S20 a year. and this does not i'll
clude a contingent fund of 50 GUo an
nualy appropriated for the stationery.
record books. telegraph and telephone
service, furnishings and conVeyanceS
used by the executive office, besides such
new hooks as are needed for the White
House library and miscellaneous items
at the discretion of the President. In
other words a sum total of $4,000 is an
nually expended at the chief mag1s-
trate's discretion for travelling expenses
and office maintenance
His business correspondence goes
through the mails free. He has to buy
stamps only for private correspondence
with his sisters, his cousins and his
aunts. or near friends When he gives
a state function there is a messenger at
hand to go about town, leaving invita-
tions at the doors of the invited guests.
He has men to read the papers for
him and clip such items as will interest
him. men to answer by formula thou
sands of letters which he never sees or
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03
PRESIDENTS PRIVATE WAITING ROOr1
UNION STATION WASHlN0I ON.

viii escape public scrutiny during ths
coming months. All of their ancestors
will be dug up. and if any one of them.
even TO the remotest degree, WAS ever
hanged for stealing sheep, The public VIII
get full details. not to mention plenty
of establishment. I'm example II nov
far this interest is carried Is a newspaper
heading which | noted some years a2o. Ii
reads: Dies of DRUG in London. Di-
vorced Husband Of Roosevelt's tncles
StepdauShter "A Victim.
OF this public scrutiny into the affairs
of himself and family the man elected
President Especially if he be a new chief
maGistratep will continue to be a victim
during the four years OF his term
Modest Martha Washington had the
sanctity of her very bedchamber in
truded upon by inquisitive tourists who
inspected the first Executive Mansion in
New York, and the game has been going
on ever since
The presidency is. of course, an ex-
pensive office, in spite of the Increased
salary and allowances. Col. Roosevelt is
generally supposed to have spent his full
salary of $4,000 year on entertain
ment, and some think that he went be-
yond ii. The old state dining room, as
he found il, held forty guests. and by in
creasing its capacity 10 over 100 he
greatly increased the burden of hospitals
ity To fall upon men possessed OF less per-
sonal wealth. Each year there have al
ways been three state dinners, and Mr..
Taft has added one more. He has also
established the expensive custom OF serv-
ing a supper at each of the great state
receptions. Therefore he must spend
more for viands than any of his prede-
cessors. Not having country home Of
his own at distance convenient to
Washington. he has also been put to the
extraordinary expense OF renting sum-
mer estate at the seashore. that he might
escape the tropical heat of Washington.
The item of travel-money allowance given
to him and to President Roosevelt was
by no means comparative gain 10 them,
as for generations all of their predeces-
sorS We're hauled free 10y the railroads,
cial effect of the new arrangement has
been that felt by the railroads and the
federal Treasury.
1t does not take much of a genius to
figure out that the profits entaied by the
presidency tand we have not gone into
the items of everlasting fame and endur-
ing glory) more than balance the losses.
Thus it is that the most enthusiastic con-
testants are those who have already won
this goal of goals, have heard the chink
of the winners purse in their pockets,
and have felt the yictor's laurel upon
their brows.
Copyright, 1912, by John Elfreth watkins1
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

For treason the punishment runs usually
up to twenty years penal s"ryitude. For
elsn officers who spy not for money got
off easily. The British officer spies
French. and Brandon got only four years
III fortress, whereas the German Hip
Sich of Wlhelmshaven who for money
sold secrets to England, got twelve years
penal seryiiudo. The German general
staff proposes not only to alter tho law,
but also to take preventiv" measures.
Many trials bring out the fact that tho
average soldier knows othinG about
spies, and thus easily falls into their net
and gives away information without
knowing it. In future .regimentaI com
manderS are required 10 instruct soldiers
as to what spies are, how to foil them,
To catch them. and so on.
All of which will merely haVe the ef-
feet of increasing Europe's sponitiS."
copyright 1912. hy Curtis Brovul
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

even an unsuccessful attempt to kill him
is punishable by death. To prevent. as
far possible, repetition of the Gar
field tragedy. separate wing of the new
Union station is set apart for the Presi-
dents use when he passes through that
structure. and instead of mingling with
the public throng while waiting for his
train or conveyance he now has his
elegantly furnished private suite, includ-
ing a reception room and retiring rooms.
Moreover, the Mckinley tragedy has re-
suited in much more ingenious system
of espionage over persons approaching
the President upon public or state occa-
SiOnS. Since Mr.. Roosevelt succeeded to
the office the hands of every person ap-
preaching the chief magistrate upon these
occasions are carefully watched, and near
him is stationed a guard who insists that
all hands be taken out Of pockets and
whose argus eyes never leave any pack
age that is in evidence.
Nevertheless. no man. however brave.
can assume the presidency without being
haunted by the almost unceasing .knowl-
edge that somewhere there is a fanatic
or a lunatic cunning for him. Mr.. Taft
seems to have suffered less from this
dread than his predecessors-for he has
greatly reduced the White House police
guard-but the news that some crank
is apprehended at the White House al
most weekly cannot escape the members
of his household.
Another burden which will be placed
upon the back of November's victor.
when the laurel is put upon his brow, is
the suffering inflicted by calunny upon
even the most morally courageous of
mortals Washington: while President,
was openly charged with being murderer
and a thief, as well as having over
drawn his salary 5000, and the most
abe of his successors have been unjustly
Branded az bastards, drunkards, wife beat
ers. rouses and corruptonists. Jackson
used to say that the ISLANDERS uttered
against him killed his wife during his
campaign. At the White House, a dis
gruntled officeholder once pulled his nose.
Temperance agitators were forever hound
ing Cleveland, who. during his presidency.
denounced a preached-critic as "a dis
seminator of wholesale lies and calumnieS
not less stupid than cruel And Mci<in-
ley, despite his abstinence, was continu-
ally harassed by the same charges. Y
New York representative during the last
administration uttered in the House an all
surd calumny which had it that Presi-
dent Roosevelt had ansrily struck the
horse of young woman rider, alleged
to have crowded him on the road while
he was riding. The House eXpunged this
speech from the record and the mother
of the girl wrote denial of the story.
No detail of the private life of each
contestant in this presidential handicap
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

was a hospital nurse. Last November
there We're arrested in Posen Else Pf1tzner
and a non-commissioned officer named
Schroeder on the charge of selling plans
of the fortress to Russia. The story was
that Schroeder had tattooed the plans on
his sweetheart's body. The Russian colo
mel Dodonoff, arrested at Lemberg
about the same time, admitted having
obtained drawings of Przemysl fortress
from woman. Three women We're at
once arrested. Another case is that OF
the pretty and youthful French soverness
Mile. Thrion, who was sent TO JAN III
west Germany. The evidence showed
that Mile. Thiron was led into spying for
France without at first knowing what she
was doing.
The material wanted from spies is In
most cases not what the public is toid.
The German Godfrey writes that in
formation about mechanical inventions IS
seldom required or given. Nearly all Such
"secret" information leaks out without
the help Of spies or traitors. IL leaks
through the technical newspapers, ana
through persons engaged in the manu-
fa cture of the invention. III France, says
Godfrey. decides on a new gun IN Jan
uary the details are known in Germany,
without any spies, by March: that Is,
long before France can turn out enough
of the guns to constitute danger. COD
frey adds that mechanical superiority
alone has never decided war. he nee
dle-eun enabled Prussia to defeat Austria
NJ
Prussians were superior but the mitrail-
leuse did not help the French in lSO-I,
because the French We're inferior. For
that reason new inventions are not so
imnortant from the spy point of view.
And the same for another reason Is true
of Notifications.
Every power has already plans of its
neishbors Notifications You can buy
good drawings of kronstadt and Belfort
in Berlin The unknown factor is the
gun positions; but these count for little.
because in any case they will be changed
in time of war.
The things for which spies are paid
highly are signal books. wireless teleg
raphy codes. keys to ciphers and plans
of mobilization, plans of campaign, the
strength of garrisons, the provisioning
of fortresses: and finally, military
automatic secrets concerning the stra-
tegical agreement of allied powers.
Information is also sought about de-
fects in the mechanism and organization
of ornaments. The naval Staffs want to
know what ships steam at under their
nominal speed; what defects they show;
whether they are good as gun platforms;
and SO on. The German marine depart
nent has Il particularly good stock of re-
ports on these points; and knows the de-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03
The Average Boy.

T ORD TANkERVILLE, OH the pier
l. in New York. said of the interna-
tional school question:
1.-THE subject of the American versus
the English school has been too much dis
cussed. The good got from a school de-
pends after all. on the schoolboy chiefly.
and I'm afraid the average schoolboy
is well reflected in that classic schoolboy
letter home which said:
".Dear parents-We are having good
time now at school. George Jones broke
his leg coasting and is in bed. We went
skating and the ice broke and all got
wet Willie Brown was drowned. Most of
the boys here are down with influenza.
The gardener fell into our cave and
broke his rib, but he can work Il little.
The aviator man at the race course kick
ed us because we threw sand IN his
motor. and we are all black and blue.
broke my front tooth playing foot ball.
We are very happy.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

Vienna general staff. The Austrian
reichsrat made trouble over their fate.
They We're acquitted In north Germany
spies also were busy. Two men Were
arrested at Lubbock. The army lieuten
ant. Steinreich, left at Hamburg baggage
office box containing Il secret lecture
on military institutions. Five minutes
later spy armed with a forged coupon
claimed it, and got clear away.
The general StaffS now complain that
the law is insufficient to keep spies in
check. AS fact spying in time of peace
is relatively modern, and twenty-five
years ago 1t WAS not even punishable
offense. Germany, in 1893. was the last
state To pass an anti-spy law. The laws
usually distinguished between spying
that is. unawfully getting possession Of
military SecretS-and treason, which is
doing the same thing with the aim of
selling the secrets to a foreign power.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03
The Greater Need.

MISS BEATRICE HEREFORD, whose
ASA huinor bids fair to eclipse her broth
er divers, was talking, al tea at the
Colony Club in New York, about weddn.
presents.
Its a great mistake" she said. 'for "a
to give our friends wedding presents thu c
are above their station and their means.
This mistake was well brought home TO
me the other day in the exchange de-
partment of big Broadway store.
"A pretty creature. a bride evidently,
sdled up to the manager and said:
DO YOU exchange wedding presents?'
Certainly madam, If they were
bought here he replied.
Then she said blushing "A little, III
like YOU please, to take back a set OF
Russ leather automobile trunks. III
take the amount out i'm canned goods
from your delicatessen counter.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

casions of exposure or overstrain. If, by
any ill fate. the victor of this years con-
test should die in the presidential office.
the government will pay for his state
funeral and. besides granting his widow
a pension Of 5000 a year, will carry her
letters in the mail free of charge.
Wherever he goes he will be entitled to
the services of an army or naval officer
detailed as his personal aid,' such as is
always attached to the admiral of the
navy or commanding general of the army.
This officer will be at his right hand
day and evening, if he so directs. Maj.
familiar figure in the background of all
snapshots of President Taft, has filled
this post with fidelity during the past
three years. He is the guardian of the
chief executives memory string. the
keeper of his priyy purse and the GUS
todian of his engagement calendar The
presidential household is entitled also to
the services upon state occasions. OF a
detail of young officers, who act as
ushers at the official ieyees. In command
MONIES the same colonel of engineers
who exercises mechanical supervision
over the house equipment and appoint
ments.
Whenever next November's victor and
his family desire to go out for a spin
they will find two big automobiles-one
of the limousine and the other of the
touring car type-ready and waiting for
them in the executive garage. The head
chauffeur who will drive them about re-
ceives 500 a month, and he has the as
sistance of second man also upon the
government pay roll. When the cars wear
out Congress will appropriate for new
ones. The two now in use cost $500
4
She who assumes her station as first
lady of the land next spring will be re-
leved of all petty details of housekeeping.
The government will give her her choice
of a bonded steward or housekeeper to
take command of the domestic force and
supervise the marketing.
A housekeeper is in command of the
Taft cuisine, as was the case during the
Mckinley regime. while Presidents Cleve-
land and Roosevelt selected a steward,
who received 1,SOO a year from the gov
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03
A Witty Roast.

TOIIN SLOAN, the well known artist OF
J New York, takes the same intelligent
interest i'm architecture, as in painting.
A New York architect, aware of Mr..
Sloan's excellent taste, took him in his
motor car to see a huge and costly coun.
try house that he had erected for mills
lionaire on "a bluff overlooking the Hud-
son.
As the architect stood with Mr.. Sloan on
the terrace of the new property he looked
mn AT the mansions SNOWY facade and
said thoughtfully:
"Stupendous! But haven't decided Ner
what kind of crecper 10 have in front. s.,
The Virginia creeper,' said Mr.. Sloan.
..wouid cover it up quickest.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03
The Literary Wage.

A NEW YORK magazine editor was
talking at the Authors Club in
New York about the poor pay of novel
lists.
''In England he said. they pension
their novelists. Joseph Conrad now has
a pension of $40 week. Conrad, l un-
derstand, is rather bitter about the tinan-
cial failure of his books.
"A little girl in a Geneva pension once
looked up from a magazine and said to
Mr.. Conrad:
What is the meaning of penury, SIR
Perjury, my child the novelist an
swered, means the wages of the pen.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

that it was out of this annual fund that
Andrew jackson bought, at second hand,
the ancestral service of the Russian
Baron de Tuyll. All such articles, of
course, become the property of the gov
eminent and remain in the White House
when the purchaser moves out.
So Uncle Sam will take good care OF
him who carries off the grand prize IN
the presidential sweepstakes next sum-
mer. He will pay valet to shave him,
cut his hair and press his clothes; the
maid who waits upon his wife, the
groom of his stables, the laundresses who
care for the White House linen and the
corps of domestics which dusts, waits
on the table, washes the windows. scrubs
the floor and polshes up the handle of
the big front door.
If he keep riding horses he will. as
commander-in-ch chief of the army, be pro-
vided with an orderly to fetch and take
his mount and accompany him when in
dulging in equestrian pleasures.
Indeed, by virtue of his rank as COM
mander-in-chief of both the land and
sea forces. he will be entitled to several
perquisites not stipulated in the appro-
priation bills. Handsomest among these,
perhaps, is the authority to use at any
time the yachts Mayflower and Sylph.
The former, of 1900 tons, was originally
purchased by Mrs. Ogden Goelet for
$s000Oo. and was sold by her to the
government during the Spanish war.
Mrs. Roosevelt and her children availed
themselves of the use of this for cruise
to Cuba, and Mr.. Taft has used it in
connection with the naval ceremonies
off the Atlantic coast. The smaller
yacht. Sylph, is more frequently used by
the presidential families, especially to
avoid the intense heat of summer.
His military rank also entities the
President and family to the free medical
attendance and free medicines suaran-
teed to every officer in either branch of
the service. surgeon will be detailed
to reside near the executive household,
wherever it may happen to be, and pro-
tect it's health. When the President
travels, he will be entitled to the services
of this physician to treat his throat
after an ordeal of speechmaking or to
take his pulse and temperature upon oc-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03

by the Azeff case, even steal letters from
the post, open them and return them
Other nations hardly fall short. The
Spannochi case showed that Austria re-
ceived letters from Russian traitors in
Warsaw which We're ostensibly letters
about social matters, but when tested for
invisible ink revealed hidden military
communications. This means was reSorted
to because the traitors knew that the
Russian post habitually opens letters in
the hope OF entrapping political plotters.
For weeks after the Spannochi case the
Russian authorities tested Polish letters
for invisible ink by drawing over them Il
cross in copperas. This brings out the
secret ink writing. In a recent Vienna
trial it was sworn that certain letters
were opened in the Italian embassy and
afterward reSealed.
~
If military attaches do not stick at such
methods. naturally the unofficial spies go
further. Most of these unofficial spies are
civilians of doubtful character. They
often spy equally for or against their
own country. The number of them is ex-
aggerated. The best German authority
says that there are not hundred Ger
man spies in England. and not fifty
French spies in Germany. Frequent ar
rests indicate that Russia keeps many
spies in Germany and Austria, but Rus
sia's spying is badly done. A trial in
1909 at Cracow showed that Russian Of
ficer who was paid $3.50 a year to spy
in Galicia was giving his own country
worthless or untrue news, and at the
same time selling TO Austria valuable
facts obtained through his relations with
the Russian general staff. Germany and
Austria keep very few spies i'll Russia.
They can buy Russian military news di
rect from officers in the st. Petersburg
general staff. \ German named Godfrey
who last year published pamphlet on
espionage says that ".nere Is probably
not one secret document in Russia's war
office which could not be had for S12J.'
Women play Il considerable role in E.u-
ropes espionage Variety STAGE artists
often act as spies. That is easy because
they travel in different countries. A re-
cent Italian case revealed cafe chantant
artistic named Lucchiani in the dual role
of sweetheart to sergeant named
Lori and purveyor to Austria of facts
about the defenses on the Beiiuno-IoD-
ZACH road. In her spare time Slgnorina
Lucchiani made love to Italian officers.
and coZened out of them valuable facts
which Lori was ignorant Of This little
affair was hushed up, but it cost Italy
100000 to relay the mines or the 'moun-
tain road
A similar case took place on the Fran
co-1talian frontier. Here the lady spy