New-York tribune., 1921-02-27

To Mark Swing.
To Simplicity
Pomp and Parade To BE
Conspicuous by Absence
When President Elect
Harding Takes \tl,e Oath
No 'sSaIvo of Artillery
Installation i'm Office to Re-
call the Day When Jeffer.
SON Walked 10 the Capitol

tion Of President-elect Harding will
mark the first swing of ceremonies
toward simplicity since Thomas Jeffer-
son toiled up Capitol Hill afoos 121
years ago.
The ceremony Of administering the
oath will be as IL was prescribed by
George Washington. There will be no
change In its utter simplicity, but MIR.
Harding, by his own decision. will
enter upon his great task without the
pomp and parade that have incxeasing
ly surrounded that solemn mofnent as
the years went by. Not even the
dawn of Jefferson's inauguratio@ day
will wake the sleeping echoes along
che Potomac next Friday.
Gone, too, will be the inaugural
parade, time honored since regular and
militia troops paced the historic route
UP Pennsylyania Avenue to "The
Presidents House" when President
Madison rode in state to take up
duties laid down by Jefferson. Weather
national spectacle In the years that
Followed.
= Gone also the decorated floats and
&ae soldiery from many states which
accompanied President William 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
Georgetown University which made
the military splendor of the pageants
that marked the elevation to high
Sface Of soldierly Zachary Taylor and
". 8, Grant.
Cadets Not to March
. Among things Of the more recent
past not 10 be revived for Mr.. Har-
Sing will be the gray and white clad
lines of West Point cadets, stepping
proudly and with perfect unison up
Che great avenue. Inauguration has
Been for these future leaders OF the
army aud for their brothers of the
1nidshipmen corps from Annapolis Il
great public day, and the nation has
Savished well deserved plaudits on their
appearance.
When Polk rode to his Inauguration
q "kid glove" troop of young Virgin
fans, the Fairfax Cavalry, clattered
before him as special escort, 1t was
che first time q military organization
had been specially distinguished in
such fashion, but al times thereafter
incoming Presidents have paid and re-
eeived compliments of the kind which
will be lacking at Mr.. Harding's in
Yison rode at the head of his old regi-
rnent, the 10th Indiana Volunteer In
fsntry. President Mckinley was es
eorted by Troop A of Cleveland's Black
Horse Cavalry.
Great with problems ns may be the
four years ahead Of Mr.. Harding as he
turns with the weight of his oath upon
L g. L. L;
will be calling, grim tenseness that
has hung over the inauguration Of some
Of his predecessors will be lacking.
Hayes Sworn In Twice
Madison was to see Washington In
House" fred by British; the drumming
tramp Of troops ip full war gear, called
20 guard the capital in the brewing
storm Of civil war, was in Lncoln's
ears as he pledged his faith. his very
life, TO his task. Yet Douglas. his de-
feated rival, stood at his side and held
his hat as Lincoln bent his long figure
60 seal his oath with his lips upon
$he Bible.
Four years later, again called to
high service. Lincoln saw the wrack
and ruin OF war spreading far to the
South beyond the Potomac. War
manned men were groaning in hos
pitals hard by where he stood to take
his oath and ahead lay bitter days of
reconstruction.
President Hayes was twice sworn In.
March was q Sunday that year. The
election decision had left a ranking
sore behind it, for one electoral vote
had defeated Tilden. On March 3 the
oath was first administered privately
TO President Hayes, to be repeated
sn public March s.
When Woodrow Wilson rode down
pennsylvania Avenue and back again at
his second inauguration in 1917 Ameri
gan entry into the World War was at
band The last remnants Of the court Of
honor before the White House erected
for Inauguration had not disappeared
before the nation WAS afame with war
business.
@ There have been other inaugurations
over which even a darker cloud how
cred. Andrew Jackson TOOK office In
1929 soon after the death OF his wife,
which curtaiied Inauguration ceremo-
pies. and five times yice-Presidents
fhrough death Of the President, three
,timea by assassination. In each case
She VtcevPresident took up his duties
without formal ceremony other than
private administration Of his oath Of
offlee- Tyler at his home in Wash
!sngton, FILLMORE ct the Capitol, John
BON In the office Of the President,
arthur at his home In New York CITY
and Roosevelt Ia Buffalo thus took up
.shs Presidency. ..@i
Il Simplicity of Jefferson
:, Curious tales, many now almost
s2egandary and some Of them tinged
with bitterness of partisan feeling of
their day, have drifted down the wears
from Inauguration periods long gone
by. Much has been written and said
sof the Jefferson simplicity" of the
,shird President yet not all OF It sp-
pears to be we'll founded on fact.
.t It has been often repeated that JEFF
ferson rode his horse 70 his inaugura-
.tion, hitching the animal to a fence
snear the Capitol, while he went to take
sthe oath. Investigation by historians
appears Go have established, however,
/. that 1t was an incident eight years
later, when Jefferson surrendered of
; flee to Madison, from which this Ac-
count sprang He did ride to see his
,successor installed, leaving his horse
: at hitchins post meanwhile, then
.set off for his Virginia home at Mon
tieello.
i II also appears that Jefferson had
planned more elaborate Inauguration
Ceremony than actually was held. He
was escorted into the city by troop
,,9f cavalry the day before taking lodg-
.tngs at Conrad and McManns'" on
New Jersey Avenue, two hundred steps
from the Capitol, where he was to