Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-29
The Inaugural Balls Funeral Eulogy

customary inaugural bail-reccptiOn at the
pension building automatically prohibited
and rendered impossible an official in
augural reception to be held in the Capitol
rotunda or anywhere else. for under no
other conditions and in other place
could a governmental reception be held
where the expense TO the government
would not far exceed that incurred in
connection with the use of the pension
office
The bulk OF the calculat ted loss to the
government in the use of the pension
building by the inaugural committee has
always been in payment of salaries 10
clerks who are for a few days idle. II
does not take the shape OF direct outlay
from the Treasury or of failure to per-
form the current pension work. involving
an accumulation of arrearages of upper
formed work. whose disposition compels
the expense of additional clerk hire In
inaugural years as in ordinary years the
money appropriated for pensions has been
fully distributed by the pension bureau TO
the intended bene1ciaries at the same cost
In salaries. The loss to the government
IS thus largely indirect and technical. in
volving no increased expenditures of
money. II is a loss like that which Uncle
Sam may be figured to suffer when Con-
gress takes long recess, with salaries
running and no work done. But who shall
say whether such a recess means loss or
gain?
The loss to the government in a recep-
ton given by it in the rotunda is the
contrary a direct unmistakable diminution
of the funds in the Treasury TO the full
amount of the sum expended in reception
arrangements, an expenditure met in the
case of the pension building by the in
augural committee. This expense was fig
ured by Secretary Fisher at 100000. and
by the House appropriat atoms proposition
at $4,000.
While the reception in the pension
building would have been held in a suit
able building, designed for this very pur-
pose. at a minimum cost to the govern
ment. if there were any real expense at
all. the reception in the rOtunda would
have been held in an absolutely unfit
building at maximum of direct expense
TO the government and minimum of en-
joyment to all participants.
Obviously. therefore. the decision that
the paramount purpose of the occasion
was the saving of a few dollars to the
government to make record of economy
and "Jeffersonian simplicity" il it elimi-
in consistency forbid an official reception
in the rotunda or White House or any
where else
When the government at the Inaugural
ton of Mr.. Wilson's successor attempts
the successor of the citizens inaugural
committee to provide some popular re-
ception for the evening of March 4. 1t
will begin to appreciate the meritorious
features of the misunderstood, grossly
misrepresented and ignorantly or mali
ciously abused inaugural ball. This func-
ton was democratic in that any one
could attend who paid his five-dOllar sub
scription for ticket and thus became
one of the hosts of the occa sion; and
every Washingtonian who attended did
pay for his ticket. from the chairman
of the inaugural committee all through
the list of a thousand or two of working
committeeman. who contributed in addi-
ton to their money, time. expert service
and unappreciated drudgery.
The effect Of this small subscription
charge was to reduce the 10000 who
would try to attend free public recep-
ton, and who in considerable percentage
would be carried away on stretchers in
ambulances, to the ten or fifteen thou
sand who could assemble without dan
ger TO life limb in the pension build
ing. Another effect was to distribute
the cost of inauguration arrangements
more widely among Neutrality-suspicious. than
if it We're met from the guarantee fund
advanced by comparatively few citizens
The bulk OF the money paid for ball tick
cts is paid by Washingtonians for them
selves. their families and their guests
In either case the Westinghouse pay:
htlf no M nv 10
widely distributed is wiser and farer.
Under the program of procedure estab-
lished by custom in the citizens nau-
Gural ball-reception there is a maximum
OF care and consideration for the Presi-
dent. a maximum of comfort and honor
enjoyed by him with a minimum of en-
barrassment. annoyance or fatigue If
Mr.. Wilson as President had held the
proposed free public night reception in
the rotunda he would have painfully
realized the difference between the presi-
Dental experiences in the two events
The pension building hall in inaugural
array seen from the balcony is a wonder
ful and inspiring sight, and remains
among the unforgettable remembrances
of an historic occasion at the capital in
the minds of tens of thousands of visiting
americans.
II he real burden bearers in the in
auguraI ball-reception have been the
citizens of the District who have hurnbly
petitioned periodically for the use of the
pension building. Every four years Con-
Sress has granted this use, but grudgingIy
and sometimes insultingly, and coupled
with conditions that made the inaugural
committeeman responsible for any dam
age to the building during the inaugural
period II the building burned the re-
sponsibility OF replacing II was on them.
What did the mercenaries of the inau-
gural committee get out of the function
Nothing in compensation, not even a
ticket to the ball. Nothing but heavy
responsibilities and drudgery. a self
sacrificing outlay OF time and money re-
paid by the ridcule or scurrilous abuse
OF the ignorant or malicious in and out of
Congress who sneered at or denounced
them as mercenaries or snobs and
social climbers.
VIII the inaugural ball-reception, now
being committed to the grave, ever be
resurrected? Perhaps not, unless by a
miracle. II Congress and the incoming
President are unwilling on the score OF
economy to give q few clerks in the pen.