Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-02-28

mark the first swing of ceremonies
toward simplicity since Thomas
Jefferson toiled up Capitol hill
afoot 121 years ago.
The ceremony of administering
, the oath will be as II was prescrib-
ed by George Washington. There
will be no change in its utter SIM
p1lcity, but Mr.. Harding by his own
decision viii enter upon his great
task without the pomp and parade
that have increasingly surrounded
that solemn moment as the years
went by. Not even the "salvos of
artillery" that heralded the dawn
of Jefferson's Inauguration day will
wake the sleeping echoes along the
Potomac next Friday.
. Gone, too. will be the inaugural
parade, time honored since regular
and militia troops blaZed the his
toric route up Pennsylvania ave-
nue. to "the presidents house"
when President Madison rode in
state to take up duties laid down
by jefferson. Weather alone has
prevented or hindered this national
spectacle in the years that followed.
No Decorated Floats.
Gone also the decorated floats
and the soldiery from many states
which accompanied President Will
liam Henry Harrison as he rode his
horse to the capitol to take the
oath; gone the tramping ranks Of
cabinet officers and clergy and
professors and students of George
town university which made the
historic Journey with Polk; gone
the military splendor of the
pageants that marked elevation to
high office of soldierly Zachary
Taylor and u. S. Grant.
81 Among things of the more recent
past not to be revived for Mr..
Harding will be the gray and white
clad lines of West Point cadets,
stepping proudly and with perfect
unison UP the great avenue. IN
auguration has been for these flu
ture leaders of the army and for
their brothers of the midshipmen
corps from Annapolis. n great pub
lie day, and the nation has lavished
well deserved plaudits on their ap-
pearance.
When Polk rode to his inaugu-
ration kid glove" troop of young
virginians. the Fairfax cavalry
clattered before him as special es-
cort. 1t was the first time mill
tary organization had been special
ly distinguished in such fashion,
but at times thereafter incoming
presidents have paid and received
compliments of the kind which will
be lacking at Mr.. Harding's inaug-
liration. President Benjamin Har-
r.ison rode at the head of his old
regiment the Seventeenth Indiana
volunteer infantry. President Nc
Kinley was escorted by Troop A of
Clevelands Black Horse cavalry.
Great with problems as may be
the four years ahead of Mr.. Hard
ing as he turns with the weight OF
his oath upon him to the work he
has himself said will be calling, a
grim tenseness that has hung over
the inauguration of some of his
predecessors will be lacking.
What Lincoln Faced.
Madison was to see washington
in enemy hands and the presi-
dents house" fired by British; the
drumming tramp OF troops in full
war gear, called to guard the CAPT.
tai in the brewing storm of civil
war was in I4ncoln's wars as he
pledged his faith, his very life to
the task. Yet Douglas, his de-
feated rival, stood at his side and
held his hat as Lincoln bent his
long figure to seal his oath with
his lips upon the Bible,
Four years later. again called to
high service, Lincoln saw the
wrack and ruin of war spreading
FAR to the south beyond the Po-
tomac; war manned men were
grooming in hospitals hard by
where he stood to take his oath
and ahead lay bitter days Of re-
construction.
President Hayes was twice sworn
in. March was a Sunday tnat
wear. The election decision had
left ranking sore behind it, for one
electoral vote had defeated Tilden.
on March 5. privately. the oath
was first administered to President
Hayes, to be repeated in public
March s.
When Woodrow Wilson rode
down Pennsylvania avenue and
back again at his second Inaugural
ton in 1917. American entry into
the world war was at hand. The
last remnants of the court of honor
before the White House. erected
for inauguration had not disap-
peared before the nation was
aflame with war business.
There have been other inaugura-
tons over which even darker
cloud lowered. Andrew Jackson
death of his wife which curtailed
Inauguration ceremonies, and five
times vice presidents have been
called to the presidency through
death OF the president, three times
by assassination. In each case the
vice president took up his duties
without formal ceremony other
than private administration OF his
oath of office. Tyler, at his home
in Washington; Fillmore at the
capitol, johnson in the office OF
the president, Arthur at his home
in New York City and Roosevelt in
Buffalo thus took up the presi-
dency.
Curious tales, many now almost
legendary and some of them tinged
with bitterness of partisan feeling
of their day, have drifted down
the years from inauguration pc
RODS long gone by Much has been
written and said of the Jefferson
simplicity of the third president,
yet not all of it appears to be well
founded on fact.
Jefferson Rode His Horse.
1t has been often repeated that
Jefferson rode his horse to his in
auguration. hitching the animal to
a fence near the capitol while he
went to take the oath. Investiga-
ton by historians appears to have
established, however, that it was
an incident eight years later. when