The Washington times., 1912-06-07

hall against Roosevelt, as the Lincoln
people packed II for "Old Abe back In
1S6o-why. you couldn't find enough Taft
people In the population of this place to
Things are SO different here. Three
minutes after statesman gets regis
tered at his hotel, he Is seized by the
cappers for six Photographic art
studios and dragged away to have his
picture taken. He sits in seventeen diff
ferent poses, looking all the way from
pleasantNto dead sore. Toward the last
of the performance, the dead sore ex-
preston comes easy. They certainly
do appreciate having some real people
come to this town now and then!
Having been photographs arted," the
eminent person hurries away for his
ordeal with the newspaper artists; he
gets snap shotted and is mighty lucky
to escape being half-shotted into the
bargain. The hotel clerk claims to be
glad to see him and gives right good
imitation of spontaneous Joy. They GER
tainly are long with the bunk in little
old Chicago. A man with the bored,
nonchalant, unimpressionable air that is
recherche in N'Yawk, ye know, wouldn't
last as long here as a celluloid dog
chasing an asbestos cat through an
Iowa prairie fire at the end Of an ali
summer drought:
Then there's the climate; one of the
most thoroughly usable meteorologic
CONNECTIONS now on exhibition. This Is
the place where the man was born who
always Is ready with that cheerful It.
may get a-while-in- the-middle
of-the- day y-but-you always have to =
sleep under -blankets-lie about the cli-
mate of his home town.
He has gone out to infest the whole
wide world, but Chicago started him.
because his story Is true in Chicago
some nights. The part about it.may-
get-hot for wilhelm the middle of the
day is true always except when It's as
nnld q q
Wiley and Willie Moore would call alb
solute zero. Anyhow. II averages up
pretty well. So do Sitka and Ceylon.
Not What 1t Used To Be.
You can't snook around the hotels
these days without seeing that politics
isn't what it-or aren't what they-used
to be. Either you have grown lot
older since you first went to national
conventions-which after all might have
something to do with it-or else there
aren't so many.grave, reverend and mel
as used to do II. The Roosevelt aggre-
cation especially looks like a lot of
youngsters back to the old college for a
reunion of the fraternity on the tenth
anniversary of graduation. There isn't
a single sample of the frock coat that
craftsmanship used to wear. on exhibi-
ton in the hotels. A plug hat would
cause a riot: panamas with a rakish
of linen and serge. and everybody looks
as II he had left the dignity blum at
home and was here for business and
comfort.
There isn't any other place where you
can find such impressive proof that get
ting old Is no longer fashionable. as
at national convention. The old fell
lows don't admit 1t, don't dress It, DOM /
feel 1t. and. therefore, aren't 1t. And
with the disappearance Of the dignity
stun. has gone most of the mystery
that used to be 50 effective Nobody
points out Murray Crane or Boise PEN
rose, Joe Dixon or Bill Mckinley, and
with bated breath and awe-struck mien
confides that " there's a wise gink that
could tell us all about 1t II he wanted
TO-" Nobdy believes in anybody's else
wisdom any more; and this time, be-
lieve II or not as you like, nobody ts
making a mistake. The wise guy has
had his day; this Is no convention for
him. All wisdCm m bets are hedged as
fast as made, and at that the book
makers are starving to death.