The Colorado statesman., 1923-07-07

the ladies OF the senate at odds on the
question Of to whom belongs precedence
In line and as to "who shall call on
whom first"
There never was any politics In
Washington society, that is, In the In
terchanges of those polite amenities
which make for soclabillty and the
ordinary pleasant run of the stream OF
social intercourse. Into troubles oyei
questions of precedence and who
should call first partisan matters never
entered. Republican women and the
Democratic women In one circle were
shoulder to shoulder in their determi'
nation not to let the women Of another
circle lord, or rather lady, 1t over
them. Now, however, things are
settled and the only ripples on the
otherwise placid surface of the social
waters are such as are caused by the
determination of few women Of note
In official life to write letters to the
papers and to say some things which
their sisters do not like.
In the years past things were diff
ferent, and 1t may be In the years to
come things will be different again,
for history shows there never was a
peace which finally was not broken
by the recurrence of war.
Precedence Row Not Long Ago.
1t was not long ago that trouble be-
tween the women of the official circle
in Washington attained a national I'M
portance. Newspapers Of the country
were full of the precedence row."
while the local papers carried the sto-
rIes of the heartburnIngs and the fric-
tions on their first pages under head
lines properly called at the time
Screaming"
There was falling out between the
cabinet ladies'" and the house la
dies" Some of the greater news agen-
cies, generally discriminating. dis
semlnated the information through
every state that Mrs. Treasury, Mrs.
Interior, Mrs. Agriculture and the rest
did not call upon Mrs. First District,
Mrs. Second District and Mrs. Third
District, as 1t was of course entirely
right that the "Mesdames Districts"
should call first.
Chairs In the cabinet are the seats
of the mighty, but the nightly are
lowly to those who sit presiding at the
cabinet home firesides. The ladies' of
the house of representatives wanted
to know who created the cabinet, and
then they answered for themselves:
Congress" They asked II the Gre
ated were greater than the creator,
which meant, of course, should the
wives of the created hold themselves
greater than the wives of the creatorf
They had fine time of 1t in Wash.
ington with the odds in favor of the
house wife as against the cabinet
wife, because, so to speak, she out
numbered her sisters something Ike
fifty TO one.
The ladies of the house won out
and the ladies of the cabinet finally
agreed that Notwithstanding the fact
that the number of the house ladiei
made calling great task. they would
go to 1t with smiles on their facet
and with real affection IN their hearts
Personalities Caused Trouble.
Ructions Of this same general ma
ture continued through the years ir
washington one after the other, and
II is only recently that the troubled
waters have become pondlike. This
ladies really have had many sac
time of it in the offlcial-social circlei
of Washington because personalities
always to be avoided In well-regulated
official circles, have crept from tint
to time in the teacup discussions. ant
one frequently heard such things as
when she lived in Bethuneville sht
was not so high and mighty" and 81
always knew If her husband got q
place she would throw her head bach
and do lot Of forgetting"
Men Of the cabinet, men Of the
house, men Of the judiciary and mer
of the senate knew all about these
rows, and menlike, they refused al
first to have any part in them; but
sooner or later-for where there is
woman there always is a way-they
had to take part in them.
Women whose husbands merely
were representatives of the people"
were IN the habit of saying that about
half of the women whose husbands
were representatives only on appoint
i've power were once upon a time them,
selves the wives of representatives,
anS that therefore they should not for
get the rock from whence they wert
hewed nor the pit from which they
were digged.