The Washington herald., 1913-03-05
Simple Ceremonies Ushered Taylor
Into Office Sixty Long Years Ago
Official Notification of His Election
Wiard Hotel Jefferson Dapis Was of Joint Com
of Two Houses of Congress-Three Balls Held

| Sixty-four years ago. on March 5. 1919
Gen Taylor was inaugurated President
| of the United States. The Capital a
| that time resembled more an unkemp
Southern village than a metropolitan
| city. Only its public buildings gave il
| architectural distinction. 1t was a city
| of sharp contrasts and strange incon
| gruities. Its avenues. which were lait
out on a grand scale. were lined with
! fimsy. comfortless dwellings and stores
Splendid equipages picked their way
along muddy streets. Plain. dull and un-
pretending officials went in and out OF
the palatial buildings OF the government
The Capitol, already a beautiful struc-
| ture. although the present dome. wings
and terraces had not been built, was
set in the midst OF sordid surroundings
An intelligent and interested observer
Of Taylor's inauguration wrote thus OF
the appearance Of the city in March,
1s49:
monument to him Of whom 1t has been
SO admirably said that providence made
him childless that his country might call
him father the slowly-rising walls OF
the Smithsonian Institution, the vacant
panels of the rotunda, the sculptured de-
formities on the eastern front of the
Capitol. and the very coin freshly minted
from California gold-awaken that pain
full sense of the incomplete, or that al
most perplexing consciousness of the
new, the progressive and the unattained,
Whlch Is peculiar to our country.
Was Army Omcer.
The new President had served for al
most half century as an officer OF the
regular army. rising from a lieutenancy
to generalship. and winning many
IT,, Y,,l;
conflict with Mexico. He was now an
old man. with care-worn. weather
bronzed features. He seemed more fitted
for life of retirement on his plantation
in Louisiana than for the strenuous
duties of the Executive at WASHINGTON
His figure was short and portly and by
no means imposing.
Toward the middle of February, IS49
Taylor left his home at Baton Rouge
for the seat of government. which, after
a long and tedious voyage up the Mis-
sissippi and Ohio, he reached on the
evening Of February g As the Presi-
dent-elect of the United States. and as
4 war hero fresh from the battlefields
Of Palo Alto and Buen Vista, he was.
during his pr, gress northward. every
where cordially welcomed and made the
recipient of MANY tokens OF respect. de
was a general favorite of the people,
who were wont TO call him Familiarity by
his nicknames, Rough and Ready and
''Old lack
His arrival at the Capital was an
by the burning of honfircs the
discharge OF cannon, and the shooting
IF skyrockets. He was escorted to his
lodgings at Willard's Hotel by commit
ees representing the government of
Washington and the local Rough and
Ready Club and by a large crowd of
spectators. The interval between his ar
'ival and the Inauguration he spent
.hiely at the hotel resting from his IA
iguinG journey. On March l he attend
& a dirner at the White House given
n his honor by President Polk. Pre-
rious to this event the joint committee
II the two Houses of Congress, of which
Jefferson Davis was chairman, called
Ipon him at Willard's Hotel and official
V notiried him of his election. The OBJ
server from whom We have quoted
lbove witnessed this interesting cere-