New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-07
A Crest Dining Clubs History.

and what was the 1aSn10n mere DeChiIle uho
fashion in other cities. When Chauncey
NJ. Depew was at the height Of his repu-
tation as a post-prandial orator, when
Joseph H. Choate, Mark Twain and Cen
cral Horace Porter scintilated month in
and month out at festive gatherings, when
the speeches at the annual dinner of the
New England Society filed couple Of
pages In The Tribune, this form Of enter
tainment enjoyed popularity, which can
be looked back to now with something like
astonishmeht. IL also served in a notable
degree as medium for influencing pub
lie opinion-a function which It has nearly
surrendered with the passing Of the years.
The old public dinner was too formal.
too serious, too ponderous for the taste OF
the present generation. So the new style
came In. in which vaudeville has taken the
place of oratory and the tired business
man" refreshes his senses instead of tax
ing his intellectual receptiveness. The
guests Of honor used TO pay their score
by entertaining their hosts. Now the
hosts do most Of the entertaining them
selves or else hire outsiders and pay the
bill.
Each style has its merits and dement's.
We are not partisans of either. The con-
trast between them and the great change
which has come over public dinner customs
could not, perhaps, be brought home more
clearly to the student Of such matters
than it is in Mr.. Arthur w. Dunn's most
interesting "Gridiron Nights" just pub
lished by the Frederick A. Stokes Com
pany. Mr.. Dunn tells the story of the
most famous dining club in America, that
maintained for the last thirty years by
the newspaper correspondents stationed
in Washington. The Gridiron Club has en-
tertained Presidents, Ambassadors, Sena-
tors, Representatives, Cabinet officers
Governors and men of distinction in
all walks of life. An invitation to its
board has always been priced by the dis
corning, and it is only the bare truth to
say that no entertainment it has ever
given has disappointed those who were
lucky enough to figure on the invitation
list.
In this volume of nearly 400 pages the
development of the American public din
ner can be clearly and accurately traced
from the earlier simpler model, accord
ing to which the speeches of the guests
were the dominant feature, to the later,
more sophisticated practice, under which
elaborate burlesques of personages and
events have taken the first place on the
programme.
The Gridiron dinner has never been a
public dinner in the proper sense. The
first rule of the club in its earlier days
was: Ladies are always present; report
ers are never present" In those days no
one spoke except under the strict seal Of
privacy and confidence. In recent years,
when criticism Of men and things had
sharpened, it became impossible TO keep
what happened under the sign of the grid
iron out of the newspapers. Summaries
of the burlesques were given out, and even
what public men said about one another
slipped into print.
The most conspicuous instance of this
change of policy was the publication in
"The Washington Post" of the famous
verbal encounter between President Roose-
welt and Senator Joseph B. Foraker at the
time when the shooting up Of Browns
vile, Tex, was being investigated in the
Senate All that happened was not told.
But so much was told that Mr.. Dunn re-
tells the story in his book-and it is well
worth retelIing as a part Of the personal
politics Of the second Roosevelt admins
tration.
Dozens Of interesting incidents might he
cited from these records Illuminating the
personal side of politics at Washington.
We have not space for them here. They
only emphasize the intense interest Of
gatherings of this sort, where men of note
lay aside formality, see themselves
laughed at and join in the laughs created
at the expense of others. On such occa-
sions everybody gets pretty well down 10
human nature. Ridcule is leveller, and
little harm is done by its caprices If the
spirit behind 1t is kept clean and kindly.
The Gridiron Club has kept its record
clean in that respect. It's dinners are
still what entertainments of the sort ought
to be-gay, wholesome and lacking in
malice. 1t could not maintain itself if they
were not. Political and social Washing
ton respects the club because it maintains
its own respect. 1t is an institution known
far and wide, and it's influence, both on
the press and on public life, is salutary.
The record of its activities which Mr.
Dunn has compiled is one which will in
terest thousands outside the clubs long
list OF guests. II must appeal to all who
want to see maintained at a praiseworthy
level the now somewhat neglected art Of