The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-14
SOME SIDELIGHTS
 ON GRIDIRON CLUB CAPITAL DINNER
By c. M. STANLEY

I FroGaoly no other event m the Uniteu States assemblies as many prominent men in a single room as does a din- ner of the Gridiron club, that notable body of Washington newspaper cor respondents.
 At Saturday nights dinner there were less than $50 guests and yet the number included not only the Presi- dent. the Vice President. every mem Der of the cabinet, the supreme court the foreign ambassadors and numerous other public officials, but railroad presidents. industrial leaders. great editors and literary men, lawyers. army and navy officers and represen- tatives of practically all the leading endeavors of American life.
 One of these dinners is a wonderful educator to the man who attends but unfortunately that educational data is confined to himself for the fundamental rule of the Gridiron club is that ladies are always present, re- porters are never present" = this in spite of the fact that ladies are not present and the dinner itself is given by reporters.
 It is this rule which makes these dinners unique. For here are assem- bled leading minds of the nation who i know that what they say is private. and 3t Saturday nights dinner is a fair sample, they say exactly what they think.
 While nothing can be written about what vas said. I think it is fair to say that the public conception of the Secretary of State as a human icicls is af1 wrong. He is as warm hearted, as witty and as appre eciative of joke as any man have ever seen. Senator Penrose is pictured as the cold, calcu- lating, unsentimental political manipu- lator when the fact is that he has a charm of manner. a delightful seass of humor and warmth of sympathetic 1 feeling that go far to explain the loyalty and devotion of his admirers and followers. Our popular conception of Secretary Hoover is of grimness of purpose and yet in the flesh he seems to wear a perpetual smile. General Pershng. too, is almost boyish in his keen enjoyment of the companionship of his fellow men w And what of the President7 No won der his friends aimosr worship him. ! No wonder the people of Marion O., came almost en masse to his inaugura- l ton. No wonder he has already done so much in harmonizing the unman- ageable clements of his party.
 T It Is difficult to say whether he ] makes the most favorable impression in an informal private reception room. I joking and aIaughing with kindred l spirits and passing letspreiy from one to another; or whether it is when he | is seated at a table surrounded by scores of the leading men of the nation, smoking cigar now chuckling, now laughing heartily as the Gr-idiron stunts" are performed: or whether it is when he, representing and uphold ing the full dignity of his office, is speaking with all the sincerity and all the impressiveness and all the patriotism that yhis great office and responsibility demand. We democrats may rest assured of one thing the republicans made no mistake in their man. And they show it more and more every day by the way in which they 1 are rallying around him.
 As for the Gridiron dinner sur rcundings, they were such, I assure you as we don't see in Birmingham and for my part I cannot imagine how they could be any more elaborate any where else. Imagine the great Will lard banquet room a mass of flowers, for such it was. Immediately behind <. the President's chair was great grid iron, perhaps IS feet high outlined in electric lights. Above and around this gridiron were hundreds of genuine 4 American Beauty roses. All around the four walls of the room were fes- looms and clusters and sprays of rare flowers-roses. Japanese cherry blos- soms, dogwood and green vines Down the full length of each table were banks of green into which had been placed thousands and apparently tens of thousands of gladiolas. At each place there were gardenies for the dress suit lapels There were flowers every where. All these went to Washing ton hospitals bright and early Sunday I morning.
 The serving of the dinner extended over period of approximately four hours, the stunts being interspersed. There was an army of serving men and they performed their duties with all most military precision. Courses were changed so quickly and with such dexterity and with such absence of confusion that the walters were gone almost before the guests realized what they were about.
 The Gridiron club runs everything by exact schedule, They know exactly what time they are going to start and wha. tune they are gong 10 rinlSn. Nothing is left to chance. There is never the slightest deviation from the schedule. But after all. these things are but the trappings of very notable event To me the most vivid impression left by a Gridiron dinner is the power of the press and the esteem in which it is held by the great men of the nation. That q group of hard-working newspaper boys here in Washington can give twice a year such events as these and assemble . such bodies of men is a tribute not only to their own ability but to the profess sion they represent so creditably--a pro- fession which those of us engaged in ic become more and more convinced as the years go by is the greatest in the world. I CREW DENIED LANDING