The Omaha morning bee., 1924-02-10

TIME dinner given at the White
House the other evening to the
members Of the diplomatic corps
was not the completely harmonious af-
fair it might have been. 1t was marred
by acrimonious feelings that ranked in
the breasts of number of those pres
ent, and if spiteful looks and comments
could have killed it is believed that this
important function would have ended
in several fatalities
The trouble was all due to the fact
that Baroness de Cartier de Marchienne,
the wife Of the Belgian Ambassador to
the United States, seems unable to for
get or forgive the enmities brought by
the late war. In spite of the fact that
a treaty o6 peace was signed some years
ago, the baroness is, as it were, still in
the tenches-ready and eager to take
shot ct anything resembling a German.
Baroness de Cartier is an American
bonn and bred and she feels she can
best show her loyalty to the country she
adopted when she married the Belgian
diplomat by regarding all Germans as
her personal enemies She scorns to rub
shoulders with them, to take them by
the arm or even to sit beside one of
dinner.
Some time in advance Of the recent
White House dinner the Baroness man.
aged to find out that it had been planned
for her to have for an escort into the
dining room and for a table companion
DR.. Otto Wiedfeldt, the German Ambas-
sador. This information brought from
her an outburst which seems to make it
plain that diplomats wives can be quite
as temperamental as any grand opera
prima donna.
II will never walk into the White
House dining room on the arm of DR..
Wiedfeldt--or any other German" is
said to have been the substance of the
Baroness's protest II refuse even TO
sit beside him II cannot have some
other escort then cannot be present at
the diplomatic dinner"
Through the same mysterious channels
which had brought the Baroness her ad-
vance information was carried the news
that the White House would have to get
along without her distinguished presence
unless it could rearrange its plans as to
her escort and her place at the table.
This ultimatum brought perplexity
and dismay to the officials of the State
Department, who had been charged with
the always perplexing duty of arrang-
ing the diplomatic dinner. These faith
full servants of the Republic, whose sala-
ries are very largely paid by men who
sometimes dine in their shirtsleeves and
who are never worried how the guests
range themselves about the dining table,
so long as they get there, were faced
with new and grave problem
Until they heard the Baroness de Car
tiers protest they had supposed that
their worries concerning this the first
diplomatic dinner given since President
and Mrs Coolidge entered the White
House, were over.
For weeks they had been arranging
and rearranging the names Of the dis
tinguished guests who were to sit down
to dinner with President and Mrs. Cool
idge. They thought they had everything
arranged in strict accordance with the
time-honored traditions that govern func-
tions Of this kind
According to these traditions the Ger
man Ambassador must take his place in
the grand entry into the dining room
just where they had him placed and he
must escort just the woman who had
been assigned to him, the wife of the
Belgian Ambassador.
There were to be seventy-nine guests
at the dinner. They were to be seated