The Washington times., 1916-02-06
JEAN ELIoTeT
LETTER.

OFFICIAL dinner giving In washington ana
now the time when he who runs may
sometimes-between the lines Of
the lists of those present" A man who
Is quite close to the President tells
me- that he always reads the
society columns regularly. and that
often he discovers therein the first indi-
cations of a political combination which
may have momentous consequences
When l see." he said. that Mrs.
Secretary Brown gave a luncheon for
Mrs Senator Jones. that two days later
Secretary and Mrs. Brown were the
guests OF Senator and Mrs. Jones at
dinner. and that between times they
have been motoring and teaing to-
Rether. / always feel that the Secretary
and the Senator will bear watching.
And sometimes the watching is most
fruitful"
All of which helps to make life in
the Capital interesting even to the
spectator.
The series of dinners which the Sec
retaTy of the Treasury Is giving with
the members of the House and the
Senate as the principal guests Is of a
frankly political character. There are
matters of no little moment brewing In
his department, and an opportunity to
talk over ways and means in a friendly
fashion is not to be despised And II
wouldn't surprise me II a good many
functions on the surface purely social
were stirred by political undercurTents.
IS
The Garrisons' dinner for the Presl-
dent, which had been set for Tuesday
evening. was perforce postponed ow-
ing to Mr.. Wilson's preparedness jaunt,
but 1t is fair to assume that the Sec
retary of War is as much Interested
in national defense as the President
and accepted the situation with good
grace. Really it hardly seemed possible
that the trip could be arranged with
so little disturbance of the announced
White House program. But think of
stepping straight from the train to the
head of the receiving line at one OF the
most important of the state functions! (!
And this is practically what the Presi-
dent and Mrs. Wilson. did.
q
Next weeks program includes. in ad-
dition to the dinner to the Justices of
the Supreme Court on Tuesday evening,
the Attorney General and Mrs. Greg
ory's dinner for the President tomor-
row evening. and the party the Post
master General and Mrs, Burleson have
arranged for Friday evening. For
tunately there has been a complete
shattering of the time-honored custom
of confning the guests at the Cabinet
dinners to members of the Cabinet
and their wives, 1t was all very pleas
ant when Vice President and Mrs. Mar
shall entertained the official family.
for they had scarcely come together
this season. but think of seeing exactly
the same faces at ten consecutive din
ners.
At the Lansings, however, the only
"Cabineteers'' were the Lanes, who have
probably more in common with their
hosts than any other members of the
Cabinet circle. And the McAdoos went
them one better. They left out the
Cabinet altogether. Their list read more
like a Judiciary dinner than anything
else; and 1t Is whispered that although
the President was nominally the guest
of honor, 1t was Louis Brandeis. whose
nomination to the Supreme Bench had
q few hours earlier burst bOmblike upon
the Senate, who was the real lion OF
the occasion.
Speaking Of MIR. Brandeis-and every
body is speaking Of him these days
hasn't his appointment stirred up a
pretty row. He has such marvelously
warm friends and his opponents are
also. well. rather ardent! Indeed, |
have heard 1T whispered that one OF
the distinguished Justices is positively
sick a-bed over the whole business. An
ha
preme Bench is enough, but an upstart
haillng from the sacred precincts OF
Boston. This is too much!
=
1t is too bad that the illness of her
small son kept Mrs. Frank Polk away
from Washington so much of late. for
in a few short months she has made
herself so popular that her absence is
noted and sincerely regretted 1t is quite
remarkable the position that Mr.. Polk.
the counselor of the State Depart
ment, and his wife have achieved not
only with official people, but with that
portion of washington society which ig-
nores or affects to ignore that official
society exists. OF course they are to
the manner born, but nevertheless it is
tribute to the social genius and the
attractive personality of these two
young people, that they should have ac-
complished so much in so short a time
-
Do you know that Mr.. Polk il the
man who is in charge of the running
down of all the conspirators. plotters
and bomb throwers we read about in
the newspapers? 1t is his task to CO.
ordinate all the secret investigating
agencies of this Government with the
object of bringing to a maximum ef-
fciency all efforts in the detection OF
crimes growing directly or Indirectly
out of the war in Europe
Frank Polk is a good man for thi.
particular job. In the first place he IS
a hghting man in the several senses oI
the phrase. Both his father, DR.. VIII
liam MecklenbuTg Polk, dean of the
medical school of Cornell University
and his grandfather, Gen. Leonidas
Polk, saw service under the Confeder,
ate flag; and when the Spanish wal
broke out the soldier blood in tn,
family manifested itself. Young Franz
Polk went to the front with the New
York National Guard, went through the
Porto Rican campaign. and came ou
with the rank OF captain Of VoIuDteers