Judsonia weekly advance., 1917-02-14

included in the freak class. The horses are thoroughbreds and every man and woman is a fine rider. Moreover, they are all undergoing little preliminary military drill which will enable them to keep the line perfect and to de- part not from the order of formation unless perchance some luckless hound in the street crowd should start its hue and cry, and habit, stronger than the check rein, make the horses mo- mentarily forget themselves.
 Wilson Again Does Unexpected. President Wilson's appearance in the senate wing of the capitol as per sonal prOponent of the legislation which he desires the majority party in congress to pass, was not the aStound- | ing surprise to senators and members
 that the country generally seems to 1 think that it was.
 | Ever since he has come into office the president has been doing the un- i expected along dozen different lines of endeavor. The result of this has been that when something new comes surprise, if not minimized, is, so to | speak, ameliorated.
 The determination of the president to address congress at the opening of
 each session instead of sending writ ten message, as had been the custom for years upon years, was a sort of
 bombshell of surprise in itself. There was an immense amount of discussion | over the presidents action at that time. He was criticized severely by | good many senators and members | irrespective of party, although, of course, the severest criticism came from the Republicans, while such of | the Democrats as objected to the pro-
 ceeding said sharp things in the cloak
 room and reserved milder words of re-
 proof for the open.
 Others Have Broken Preccdents. The direct address to congress at | the opening of a session and the ap-
 pearance of the president at the cap l itol at few other times to talk over l legislation acted as something of a
 shock absorber when the recent dec
 laration of intention to make frequent visits to the capitol was announced. During every administration some
 thing is sure to happen which sur
 prises the lawmakers and perhaps the public with them, and gives the crit
 ics ample opportunity to talk their
 sharp words. Roosevelt smashed few
 precedents and MT. Taft did so like wise, Mir. Wilson has followed suit,
 but has done it "a little more so." Precedent breaking by president
 and the consequent and instant criti
 cism are not confined to supposed in reference with the legislative inde-
 pendence of congress. This breaking away from the conventions of the years sometimes concerns itself with social matters, but whether the de-
 partures are legislative, political or so- cial, the tongues all go wagging for
 week. Then Washington gets accus- toned to the new order. stops taking and forgets all about the cause for the talk.
 Arthur Dined Often With Friend. In the old days presidents were
 chary about breaking any kind of precedents and if they did break them, | they tried to keep the breaking quiet. There has been an unwritten rule in Washington since the days of Madison | that president should not make per sonal or social calls on friends, and should not attend any social functions
 unless they were virtually of national size, or were intended to forward some great charitable cause.
 President Chester A. Arthur was socially inclined man. He wanted to leave the White House to dine with friends whenever he felt the inclina- tion so to do. He checked his desires along this line because he did not want to give offense to the precedent wor- shipers, but he indulged his desires nevertheless about once week. After he had left office it was found that un- known either to the gossips or the non- gossips of Washington he had dined regularly once a week with an old friend who had "corking good cook"
 MT. Roosevelt, when he was presi- dent kept pretty close to the lines of established social precedence, but he was independent enough of gossip to dine once in a while with some close personal friend, like Henry Cabot Lodge. Mr. Taft was more of wis itor to private houses perhaps than any of his predecesso