Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-04-06
Washington Bureau Of The Bee.

thS iChtCh Sidy, "liiSH mas PiSNi-
ously this year, been a real fallacy.
1t is the case of calm between two
storms, following the ball of nations
and preceding the Easter bali of the
Army and Navy league. There is
persistent dining and frequent sup
per- dancing, with here and there a
dinner dance at one of the clubs,
but otherwise the butterflies who
make society, and even the host
esses who keep alive the official
gaieties, are having resting spell,
with Lent and the absence of con-
gress, as excuses. A steady stream
of tourists coming from and still
going to the south, keep the hotels
gay and full. Scores of the leisure
class are coming up from Florida,
staying = few days here and then
going on to the White Sulphur and
the Hot Springs.
With the high officials absent, the
succession Of the presidency is en-
phasized, as the first assistant sec
rotary Of state, Mr.. William Phillips,
is now the ranking official at Wash
ington. The president being abroad;
the vice-president visiting in the
west; the secretary of state abroad,
and the counselor of the State de-
partment, Mr.. Polk, at the White
Sulphur Springs, on vacation, the
next in direct succession is the first
assistant secretary. Mr.. Phillips is
unquestionably one Of the most ex
perienced, capable, cultivated and
charming men of the administration.
Strangely enough, he was first
placed in the State department by
the late Colonel Roosevelt, when he
was president. He was then made
third assistant secretary of state,
afterwards being sent as first sec
rotary to our embassy in London,
and from there, President Wilson
brought him back here as first as
sistant.
Ball of Nations.
The troubles of the ball Of nations
for the benefit of Neighborhood
House of which Miss Sophie Siebert
is president, will not see the end
for many weeks to come. Every one
of the allied nations was represented
at the ball, in the beautiful and elab-
crate pageant, each nation being
sponsored by the representative
here of the sovereign or govern
ment. When the diplomatic diff
culties were all overcome and every
thing seemed to be smooth sailing
there was almost a shipwreck on
the rock of precedence, which has
been q stumbling block to states
men and wreck to diplomats, for
10, these many years.
This time it was the South and
Central American countries who got
into Z conflict. At the first dress
rehearsal for the pageant the heads
of. the groups all got excited. Some
Of them even became hysterical, at
the idea of one of them having to be
preceded by what they claimed was
a much less important country. They
could not all enter together, and be
seen at one and the same time, and
the tactful manager of the Central
and South American group, Nine.
Zaldivar, wife of the minister from
Salvador, decided they should be
shown according to the precedence
observed in the official diplomatic
list issued by the State department,
those ambassadors and ministers
who have seen longest service here,
coming first in the order of their
recognition by the State department.
Before il was finally settled, one
beautiful South American lady who
represented . country having an
ambassador here, almost gained her
point of precedence when poor little
Panama began to weep and retired
from the scene, tears streaming
pinkish tears, too, which were ruin
ing her charming complexion. Then
the other countries wept until Nine.
Zaldivar wished her husband had
never entered the diplomatic serv-
ice of his country, so distracted was
she. They wrangled and wept, and
halted their rehearsal, until charge
d'affaires of one of the countries in
volved, arrived and read out the Or
der of precedence to the warning ma
tions, when the atmosphere cleared
up and everything was carried out
along those lines.
The prize for the beauty of the
group went to Italy. Serbia was the
choice of the people, but the judges
were told that the Scandinavian
group had professionals in it. there
fore it was disqualified. Early this
week the management decided to
queil the dissatisfaction and award
the prize where it seemed more to
belong. There were no professionals
among the Scandinavians. The man
agement demanded the return of the
silver cup by Italy, and it was hand
ed over to Scandinavia and public
announcement made of the transfer.
Fortunately everybody was good
natured and polite about the snatch
ing Of the prize from one to present
it to the other, and anyway, more
than 5000 was realized for the
worthy charity and beautiful spec
tacle was enjoyed by several thou
sand people. Miss Ruth Hitchcock
was in the pretty Swiss group.
Nebraska Women.
Nebraska women have been some
what in the limelight the past week.
Mrs. Andrews, wife of Representa-
tive William E. Andrews of Hast
ings, gave 4 handsome tea last week,
in her Fairmont street home, to the
officers and board of directors of
the Day Nursery association, of
which she is and has been since its
I foundation, president. She was as
sisted by Mrs. Thomas Gardner and
Mrs. Edward Swavely. A program
of music was given by the sons and
daughters of one of the directors,
Mrs. E. J. Deeds. Mrs. Andrews
is an invaluable officer of this or
ganization, the kind who goes in and
supplies the place of any one who