Omaha daily bee., 1917-02-18
PATRIOTIC FLAVOR
At GRIDIRON DINNER
President Wilson and Cabinet
Members Are Guests at
Function.
LEAK IS CARICATURED

Washington Feb. l7.-Patriotic
fervor stirred participants at the
closing dinner OF the season given by
the Gridiron club OF Washington to-
night, with President Wilson, mem
bcrs OF the cabinet and others promi-
nent in government and business life
OF the nation as guests.
Songs that rang with the spirit OF
Americanism and demonstrations Of
loyalty TO the president were inter
spersed with travesties on the peace
note leak investigation. woman sui
frage pickets at the White House
gates, prohibition for the District OF
Columbia, CALIFORNIA; part in the ma
tional election. with Senator-Elect
Hiram Johnson impersonating him
self and with other satirical illusions
to various phases Of national life.
Sang a Song Of Leaks.
The leak inquiry was caricatursd
in several sketches, one of them a
musical melange, and another a
melodramatic cffusion entitled "Thc
Wait" in which Administration
Leak appeared as the heroine and
Barney ct. W. Lawson" as the
irreprcssible villain. Introducing the
musical sketch, one OF the CORE
spondents with tremulo tenor sang
Down on the Leaky Way" which
was followed by another sung by a
club member in the character OF Rep
rcsentative Wood OF Indiana, whose
resolution led to the congressional
investigation into charges OF leak
on the peace note message.
The "Leaky Way" chorus ran thus
Come where the information oozes.
Down on the Leaky Way;
Come see the Lambs at play,
Bears eager for the fray;
Come hear the ticker gently ticking.
Giving the leaks away,
See the brokers gay,
They are making hay,
Down on the Leaky Way.
The impersonator of Representative
Wood was presented as William
Wood, the Plumber, the Man Who
Stops the Leaks" who sang:
come from Indianny,
! A statesman great and true,
And when | smell a scandal
don't care what do;
oh. II hear a rumor,
l follow IT for weeks
| For I'm William Wood, the plumber
I'm tho guy who stops the leaks.
Jest at the Suffragettes.
Hazel Jones" as one OF the silent
suffrage sentinels at the White
House, was introduced and made the
target of several jibes in a minstrel
skit.
| DO you know Hazel Jones'" uueried one
Of the wandering minstrel-correspondents
why, yes" was the response. "She is
one Of the silent sentinels at tho White
House gates"
20 you know Hazel had an awful acct
dentr
rs that so? What happened to Hazel ?"
why, ono Of those big fat squirrels In
the White House grounds bit off her ear"
That's horrible. Did they kill the SOUR
relT"
mo, indeed. The president said 1t wasn't
the SQUIRRELS fault, and the president was
right"
I must disagree with you. The president
was wrong"
You Can't Blame a Squirrel.
We'll. suppose you were a squirrel and
you were hungry and you couldn't get any
pork chops or lamb chops. beef steak. or
fried onions, or anything like that, and
you were just plain, old-fashioned squirrel
with an appetite for nuts, and for eight
somebody stood in front of your house that
they called HAZEL leave it to you. The
president was right; he sure was right"
Camping Tonight was song to
the suffrage sentinels, running thus:
We're camping tonight on the White House
grounds.
Give us rousing cheer;
Our golden flag we hold aloft,
OF cops we have no fear,
Many OF the pickets are weary tonight,
Wishing for the to
Many are the chilbiains and frost mites, too,
1t Is no life OF ease.
What They Didn't Tell.
tom Lawson, Barney Baruch,
Charley Sabin and Otto Kahn" ap-
peared as a quartet, singing:
They met Tom Lawson in the Street.
Barney and Charles and OF.
He said: You boys appeared to know
More than the public ought:
Now won't you come to Washington
And tell about the leak?
They whispered: No. no, thank you Tom
And didn't give squeak.
but Tom came. willing. eager, too,
And said they should be brought
So Henry sent a Sergeant-at-arm for
Barney and Charles and OF
Now boys said Bob, come tell us oil
About this inside ring
They whispered: No, no thank you Bob
And didn't tell thing
DR.. Grayson, whose nomination as
medical director of the navy with
rank of rear admiral, was another
target for musical shafts to the tune
of Captain links"
He's an Admiral great, in the new Navy,
His name is Dr. Cary G.