Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-30

was designed by an American artist, was
made from American clays at an Ameri-
can pottery. burned at American kilns.
and decorated by American vorkmen.
From the largest dish TO the very tinticst
every piece of this now china which has
Just been delivered AT the White House,
is American made and every piece is a
work of art which any government might
be proud to claim.
1t is fact of peculiar significance Just
at this time when the World War has
forced the United States to the front IN
so MANY new activities. that an Ameri-
can made state dining set OF china is 10
grace the Presidents House al Washing
ton for the first time in its history. IT
has been no secret that many of our chief
executives in the past have wanted TO
place American made china IN the Presl-
dents House. nor is the potters art
Of recent introduction in the United
States As carly as 1865 the great potter
Wedgewood was much disturbed by a
number OF his best wOrkmen, - insolvent
Staffordshire pottcrs as he termed them,
migrating to the American colonies
from whence he had received his richest
orders. These 'insolvent pottrrS were
starting potterics in the ncw land with
the CLAW Of the native soil and under such
circumstances how could Wedgewood
ever hope to compete with them? The
story of those early pottcries was one OF
repeated brilliant prospects but alas,
followed as surely by repeated failures
As long ago rs 1880 President Jackson
wrote a letter thanking Philadelphia
potter for some cups and saucers which
the potter had sent to him al the Prcsl-
dents House In this letter President
Jackson said that in his opinion the
china was as fine as any produced IN the
European potteries and he hoped the
d9y would soon come when the America
potter would control the American Mar
ket,-a wish which almost 4 century
did not fulfill.
SEVERAL ATTEMPTS MADE.
In several of the state dining sets which
have been purchased for the White House
since the Civil War, the attempt has been
made TO honor our own country. When
The President and Mrs Grant ordered the
state service OF their selection, they
borrowed the mauve borders Of the
Monroe china and they added a bunch OF
American wild flowers 10 decorate each
niece OF the set Mrs. Hayes went much
furth with the French china which she
used in selecting the state dining set Ot
her husbands administration. She gave
Theodore DAVIS the order TO decorate each
individual dish with some illustration OF the
the fora and fauna of the United States, -
and the most elaborate, and ford, set
the White House ever possessed resulted
Mrs Harrison. who was the first Presl-
dent OF the Daughters OF the American
Revolution, and a woman or rare artistic
tastes made the design OF the American
corn and the goldenrod for the dishes of
the State dining set OF her selection. In
1902 when the White House was restored
by President Roosevelt he determined that
the china which was 70 be purchased then
for the new state diningroom must be
a home product and for several months
he swept the country from Maine to
Texas and from Florida TO California 10
find pottery which was equipped to take
the executive order for q state dining
set At that time 1t was simply out OF
the question. There were no American
kilns producing china of the quality re-
o,lired Eventually the President and
Mrs. Roosevelt selected Wedgewood china
with colonial decorations This china
has been the state dining set from that
dav 10 this and has been in continuous
use all the fifteen intervening years,-a
statement that self-evidences why new
state dining set is needed for the exec
utive mansion at Washington.
TWO YEARS PREPARATION.
When, some two years ago, II was
found that a new state dining set would
have TO be ordered for the mansion the
President and Mrs Wilson began TO do
what several of their predecessors had
done under similar circumstances. they
began search for an American pottery
that could produce q set of china of
quality to justify its acceptance for the
White House II would have TO be necse-
sarilv Of china fabric that could
measure with the stately dining sets
which. since the DAYS OF Washington.
had graced the dining tables OF the chief
executives OF this great nation To find
such service from an American pottery
was not an easy search.
PRESIDENTIAL CHINA.
AS far as can be determined with any
gree of certainty, less than half the
Presidents Of the United States, during
their term of Office, have ordered state
dining sets for the executive mansion.
The mutations OF time are so severe on
the fragility of table ware that neees-
sarily, the far greater part Of the Presi-
Dental china OF the past must be but
matter of tradition or memory Yet this
historical ware constitutes O part and
holds a place of its own in the history Of
our country. 1t was this thought which
led Mrs Roosevelt, who is a devoted
student Of American history. while she
was the executive hostess Of the mansion.
TO establish the White House Collection
of Presidential China Her first object
in establishing i; was to preserve speci-
mems Of the chiI.G which were then in
the mansion. She invited Mrs. Abby
Gum Baker of Washington. who at
Mrs. McKinley's invitation had made q
study Of the historical furnishings Of
the White House, particularly in ref
erence to the china Of the Presidents,
70 come To tho executive mansion and to
select from the china closets specimen
pieces Of the Presidential sets which
they contained and TO place them on
exhibition in four small cabinets which
Mrs. Roosevelt had had made for the
historic ware. Soon after this, at Presi-
dent Roosevelt's request, Mrs. Baker be-
gan a systematic search among the des-
cendants Of all the Presidents of the
United States, and among Others who
were fortunate enough to possess them.
for pieces of china. glass or plate which
had been owned originally by the dis
tinguished executives. in order to make
the White House Collection representa-
tive Of all the men who had ever filled
the high Office Of the Presidency.
The cat4se4 at the east sf the room