The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-04-25
Frederic Haslin's Letter
Who Shall Walk First.

YAeA&Cs ASOt0 0&AV 0s<AS Wy W BILyR
back? Is she primarily a mercAaps
widow. or q former presidents vifs,
Or il she merely herself? No, th,f
be. No one is himself n '
Washington society. He is me,s |
ly a member Of a certain class, "a
until he Is properly CLASSIFIED
everyone Is afraid of him.
The old dispute over precedeoe.
between the wives of member 4
the supreme court and those A.
Omitted States senators, has pevs,
definitely eeel settled. The sena.
torial ladies claim that, a. their
husbands confirm the appointment,
Of the justices. they should haya
first place. The wives OF the ius.
tees believe, as their husbands
form the highest tribunal of the u,
ton and hold their positions for
life, the sacred right of preceding
the senatorial ladies should n
theirs. At preeent they seem some.
what to have the better of the arm,
ment and usually enter dininr
rooms first and SIT at the right hand
Of the host-provided. of cou1e
the wife of the president, the wife
of the vice president and tho vtv&
Of the cabinet officers are not pres
ent.
The wife Of the president, natur.
ally, takes precedence over every
other woman present. Even visit.
ing royalty yield her first place.
The vice presidents spouse comes
next and the wives of the cabinet
secretaries follow in their logical
order. The cabinet ladies frequent
ly yield their honors to wives o.
ambassadors, but their right to fol-
low the vice presidents wife is ad-
mitted.
In the diplomatic set the order Of
! precedence is undisputed. Madame
Jusserand, wife Of the dean Of the
diplomatic corps, Ambassador Jules
Jusserand of France, is always &C.
corded first place. As matter Of
fact the real dean of the corps is
the minister of Portugal. Viscount
d'Alte, but as he is only a minister
and Jusserand is an ambassador, be
does not hold the title. Viscount
d'Alte is a bachelor. There is no
lady to dispute the matter of his
right of precedence with Madame
Jusserand, SO the question remains
in allegiance.
Precedence in diplomatic CORPS
is comparatively easy to determine
as il is based on the length of sery-
ice in Washington Of the chief Of
the mission in question. Hence the
ambassador of Great Britain, at
present Sir Auckland Geddes, yields
to the ambassadors of Chile and Ar
gentine and number of other coun.
tries of much less world importance
than England.
The worship Of precedence Is
rigidly observed in the official and
diplomatic circles and even in the
old residential set is regarded with
a certain amount of reverence. The
latter, however, does not condescend
to mingle with such Of the official
set as it regards unfit for association
with them. THE cave-dwellers" as
Mark Twain dubbed the old tims
Washingtonians, believe themselves
the superiors of even the tenants Of
the White house who are frequently
excluded from the rarified atmos-
phere in which they breathe. To
them the first lady of the land is
such in a "Pickwickian" sense only
and while they admit her right Of
precedence officially, privately they
fail to observe it.
The cave jewellers" have thell
: residence, as a rule, in old George
town and their attitude toward the
new Washington is best expressed
in a movement once inaugurated 70
: have Washington termed Las'
> Georgetown. 1t is to the selec'
: circle OF the old residents thai
, the majority of the socially amn'
e tious in the capital look longingly
r 1t is the hardest to break into ano
: hence the most desirable. Here
again, the question OF precedenc'
r enters, the most confusing in tha
l it is based on tradition and histor!
rather than diplomatic or ofhcla
standing:
Outside of official classes, prece
|, dence becomes an esoteric sciene
:. indeed. Just why Mrs. So-and'S
+ takes precedence over Mrs. Some
e body-else is difficult to state. Bu
she does, and woe betide the I'd
= lucky hostess who fails to accof
r her her admitted privileges.