The Washington herald., 1914-03-08
Mr.. McAdoo Leads Officials in Tango
SENATOR H0KE SMITH ALSO KNOWS NEWEST STEPS
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Both Have Pretty Dancing Daughters
From Cabinet to Congression-
al Circles Official Washing
ton Is Tripping Gaily Up
to-Date.


tration In Washington. The era Of new
freedom-in the dance at least-has bat
tened upon Washington and apparently
Is here to stay.
The dancing bee is buzzing in the bon
nets Of officieldom from the Cabinet circle
through the Senate and likewise through
the House of Representatives into the
ranks Of the assistant secretaries, COM
missioners, and assistant commissioners
throughout the civil military, naval, ma
rinc. and unclassified services.
From the Cabinet group clear down TO
the most insignificant military or naNai
attache of the most obscure nation repre-
scented in the diplomatic corps at WASH
ington the modern dance has pervaded.
II is true that the Cabinet-numbering
only ten--has furnished but one proselyte'
Mcsdoo Leads siay Set.
Secretary OF the Treasury William
Gibbs McAdoo, is the one striking and re-
markable instance of Cabinet onicer
who has been infected with the modern
dancing craze His daughter, Miss
Mona II. McAdoo. is a fsvorite guest at
all smart affairs and the Secretary usual
Iy is seen with her. Possibly her infiu-
ence set his feet to tripping lightly In the
new style.
Secretary McAdoo Is ably seconded in
his devotion by commissioners. assistant
secretaries, Senators, bureau chiefs,
bureaucrats subchiefs. chief clerks, and
clerks-in-ordinary.
II is the belief of Surgeon General Ru-
pert Blue, of the Public Health Service
(himself a devotce of the tango) that the
development of the dance as the chief
amusement of official Washington is
symptomatic rather than chronic. But
nevertheless the symptoms assert them
selves not once a week or twice a week
but nightly with the exception OF Sunday.
There are numbered among the dancers
of the administration set in addition to
the Secretary of the Treasury, Commis-
sioner of Corporations Joseph E. Davies,
Assistant Secretary of War Henry b
Breckinridge, Assistant Secretary of the
Navy Franklin d. Roosevelt, Surgeon
General Of the Public Health Service Ru-
pert Blue, and Judge Advocate General
of the Navy Ridley Mclean.
Hoke Smith Dances, Too.
Thus far in the Senate the only con-
vert to the newer school of dancing Is
the Hon. Hoke Smith, OF Georgia Sen
ator Smith. who has several pretty daugh-
tiers, was inveigled into q study of mod
ern dancing when he wasn't looking.
Maybe Mrs. Aston Simpson, who was
Lucy Hoke Smith. could tell how the
Senator got started. In his simple Geor-
gian way. the Senator had not realized
that something progressive, altogether
new and ultra-modern. was being put
over on him."
But nevertheless he learned. and today
is reckoned among the most proficient
heavyweight tango artists in Washing
ton 1t is true that Senator Smiths spe-
cialty is the one-step, but nevertheless he
tangoes. and tangoes well, considering
certain physical handicaps in the way of
a Senatorial girth measurement and -
pounds normal weight avolrdupois.
In the House they are simply mad
about the modern dances. The list of
habitues of the dancing centers Of Wash
ington include Representative Kenneth
d. McKellar of Tennessee. Maurice Con-
molly of Iowa, Henry Garland Dupre Of
Louisiana, Lathrop Brown Of New York.
Peter Goelet Gerry of Rhode Island, ].
Willard Ragsdale of South Carolina,
Henry ID. Flood of Virginia, William p.
Rorland of Missouri, Jefferson NJ. Levy
of New York, and Thomas U. Sisson of
Mississippi
The last two of the foregoing list of
members of Congress are beginners.
Those preceding are proficient. Repre-
sentative Levy, who owns Monticello. the
one-time home of the original apostle OF
simplicity, Thomas jefferson, is being
coached in the gentle art of one-stepping.
two-stepping. and side-stepping by David
s. Barry, the most proficient modern
dancer in Washington.
His Ear to the Ground.
Mr.. Sisson is taking his lessons in pri-
vate. As the most ardent exponent of
Democratic simplicity in Washington.
Representative Sisson is awaiting the
verdict of the ''peepul." He has let il be
known to a few of his closest friends"
that he is taking lessons, but with an
ear to the ground he waits the verdict OF
grand old Mississippi and the first
murmur of disapproval Is expected to re-
suit in a suspicion of gout or housemaid's
knee or Quaker leg, which will render
the watchdog Of the Treasury hors de
danse Mr. Ssson has been watching with |
interest the Underwood Hobson fight, |
where sociability versus socialism has
been the issue among the old-fashioned
Southern Democrats.
Representative McKellar. first citizen |
of Memphis. is real dancer. He would |
have danced even in a Republican admin |
istration. He was born that way. Rep |
reseutative Connolly of Iowa dances be- |
cause he is-weIl, why explain-isn't the |
name significant enough? Representa-
tive Dupre Of Louisiana is a creole-the
blood Of a millennium Of castanet clink- 1
Genoese flows in his veins.
Other Gay OficiaIs.
Representative Lathrop Brown of New
York is young. Representative Peter
Goelet Gerry of Rhode Island is mod
ern. The first syllable of Representative
Ragsdale's name indicates his natural
predisposition. Representative Flood of
Virginia is chairman of the House Com
mittee on Foreign Affairs and is per-
force cosmopolitan. Representative Bor-
land of Missouri has the prettiest head of
hair in Congress, which explains much.
But the merry dance. the modern dance.
the dancy-dance. has gripped Washing
tor from the western limits Of George
town University campus to the south
eastern wall of st. Elizabeth's Insane
Asylum. The town is mad, crazy, wild
over the modern tendency toward express
sion of what is in the mind through the
of the pedal extremities,
and William Gibbs McAdoo, Secretary of
the Treasury, is the high priest Of the
newest social cult.
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