Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-05
BY Associated Press

term to-day with a great patriotic
demonstration of Americanism.
The solemn dignity of the ceremonies
of inaugurating the Vice-President in
the Senate chamber and the simple
but impressive ceremony in the open
air on the Plaza before the capitol
when the President delivered his in
address, were accentuated by
the note of patriotic fervor which pre-
dominated through all the proceedings
of the day.
First Democratic president to sue
ceed himself since jackson and the
tenth to be reelected, President Will
son entered his second term of office
with a new conservation to the service
OF his country.
1t was the Presidents wish that his
inauguration should be a simple one,
and all through the fixed program,
which covered more than five hours,
while there was the pomp, ceremony
and spectacular display which inevi-
tably attaches to the Inauguration of
president, the studied effort was to
keep the ceremonies in accord with the
best traditions of America-ceremont
which in the main were planned by
George Washington more than CEN
tury ago.
The event was simplified because
there was no dual ceremony to attend
the departure of an outgoing presi-
dent and further simplifed because it
did not fall in with the rush and con-
fusion of the dying hours of Congress-
Ceremony Begins
The ceremony began with the Presi-
dents departure from the White House
for the Capitol. That was fixed by pro
gram for IL o'clock. Just before that
time the escorts for the party began
assembling q squadron of the Second
United States cavalry for the President
and the black horse troop of Culver
Military Academy for the Vice-Presi-
dent. Just before the hour of de-
parture the Congressional committee
in charge of the Inauguration, arrange
ments arrived.
Through the gates of the White
House grounds to Pennsylvania avenue
the marching ground of inaugural
armies of war and peace gone long
before, the official party headed to-
ward the capitol.
President Wilson, accompanied by
Mrs Wilson and two members of the
Congressional inaugural committee,
rode in a conveyance surrounded by
troopers of the escort. In the second
conveyance came the Vice-President
and Mrs. Marshall surrounded by the
Culver troop. The third conveyance
brought Robert n. Harper, chairman
of the local arrangements committee
Congressional committee.
Steel cables strung along the line of
march held a multitude from crowding
into the avenue Reviewing stands
were we'll filled for the wait of some
two hours before the Presidential party
would return at the head of the inaug-
ural procession.
At the capitol the crowd was already
packed about the inaugural stand. The
broad Plaza with standing room for
thousands filled rapidly and out over
the park spaces and avenues which
converge there another crowd had to
content itself with looking on the cere-
monies from a distance, quite out of
reach of President Wilson's voice.
Arrive at Capitol
When the official party arrived at
the capitol, the President with Mrs.
Wilson went to the Presidents room
near the Senate chamber and Vice
President and Mrs. Marshall went to
the Vice-President's room to await the
beginning of the ceremonies in the
Senate chamber.
Galleries had been filling long before
this hour. Invited guests of the Presi-
dent, Vice-President, Speaker and
Justices of the Supreme Court of the
United States supplied with coveted
cards of admission, were assigned to
the east side. The gallery ordinarily
reserved for the diplomatic corps was
given over to the members of their
families as the diplomats themselves
were assigned to places on the floor.
Guests of senators were assigned to
the northeast gallery and guests OF
representatives had seats in the three
west ones.
The party in the galleries was little
less distinguished than the party on
the floor. 1t was composed of Ameri-
GparpalU less known than
their husbands taking part in the cere-
mony below, men and other women in
the forefront of the social life. of the
nation, families of foreign diplomats,
who with memories of the resplendent
ceremonies of the coronations of mon
archs on other continents were about
to see the comparatively simple in
augural of an American President
A flood of light, softened by the
tinted glasses in the lofty ceiling, was
diffused throughout the beautiful audi
torium, which has few rivals among
the assembly chambers of the world S
parliament. and illuminates the digni-
fled, impressive, even dramatic, n and
yet simple ceremony about to be enact
ed on the floor
While the Senate was assembling for
its special session, the first of the
SiXty-Fifth Congress, the diplomatic
corps, was arriving and assembling in
the marble room, to be escorted into
the chamber. Gorgeous in the colors
and gold of their court uniforms, the
corps entered headed by its dean, the
ambassador of France, Jules j. Jusser-
and. One figure which had been fam
iliar at other inaugural ceremonies
was missing. 1t was that of the Ger
man Ambassador Count Johann IL.
Won Bernstorff, with whose country the
United States has severed diplomatic
relations. The other diplomats entered
by precedence in order of the time
they have been accredited to this
country, the ambassadors coming first
and the ministers last. They were
shown to seats reserved for them near
the center aisle and Immediately be-
hind the space reserved for the Presi-
dents cabinet.
Then came the Chief Justice and the
Associate Justices of the Supreme
Court in the somber black gowns of
office, moving in a body with slow
dignity to the places reserved for them
in large chairs placed in the front
row facing the Vice-President and at
his right
Members Announced
Immediately afterward, the retiring
members of the House of Representa-
tives and the mem bers-elec were an
nounced. They had been forming
meanwhile in two lines down the long
corridor reaching toward the House
wing of the capitol The House, un-
like the Senate, was not in session.
Some retiring members had departed
the ceremonies. A smaller attendance
sxF