Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-06

Two formidable crises confront the
Hoover administration at its outset.
Like some of the previous dilemmas Of
our history. these loom big and threat
ening.
The days of ..fifty-four- forty or fight"
were passed over without serious blood
she'd Our manifest destiny" has never
burst upon us. The bred Scott case
and Civil War have been survived and
liyes.H The world is safe for Democ-
racy-except in Darkest South.
President Hoover has shaken hands,
not wisely but too well, and Vice Presi-
dent Curtis has shaken UP the Depart
ment of State and orators are view
ing with alarm" the possible complica-
tons. Canada may boast I'm Alone"
But not that. is the challenge of our
Good Injun, the v. P.-just the reverse.
4 X %*
It seems strange how the State De-
partment can become confused over
complications not really belonging to
its responsibilities. Now it is worry
ing over precedence, when even the
Declaration of Independence estab-
lished for all time that all men are
created equal Why worry? Haven't
the ladies now achieved a masculine
standing, making them equal, too?
Things equal to the same things are
equal to each other.
But this problem really belongs to
the military and naval departments,
rather than the Department of Diplo-
macy; and there 1t is definitely settled
by the code of salutes by the big guns
The guns bang 81 times in honor of
sovereign, including the President Of
the United States or of Andorra. When
the dinner bell rings in the White
House. the United States President
goes out first; others may follow If
and when hungry. That establishes the
precedent. to the effect that, other
things being equal. preference is to the
American in America.
X X **
For our Vice President and for am
bassadors Of foreign countries. the big
guns 60 bang 10 times. Who gets these
first? Our Navy will answer that 'there
is glory enough for all''--especially for
the American In America. (For glory
substitute what the sailors and soldiers
call "chow.")
AS for ministers plenipotentiary and
ENJOYS the most extraordinary, the sta
tus thereof is established by the Big
Berthas of the Navy or Coast Guard,
Which, SUullO OA Ouy 10 tHneS. GVeI
for member of the cabinet or Pres
ident of the Senate, the roar comes II
times. Foreign diplomats wear high
hats, but they can't 'high-hat" our
own statesmen in our own Capital.
The artillery learned to sing on the
march, Keep Them Caissons Rolling,
and they never missed a mess; why
should q Vice President not sing the
same ditty?
Under the Kellogg multilateral treaty
we may have no further use for our
Navy, but 1t should be preserved as a
glorified dinner bell, to notify the men
and women to fall in, for we all can
easily learn to recognize the mess call.
X X \ \
President Hoovers dilemma is not SO
easily solved. He Is shaking hands with
his entire majority. Shaking hands is
an Occidental form of salute which has
come into vogue rather recently, start
ing in England about the middle Of the
eighteenth century and spreading to
the wilds of the American colonies, but
never received on the continent OF Ei-
rope with much favor. 1t is sort of
plebeian affectation, introduced by par
the masses when standing as candidates
for Parliament, Men did such strange
things in politics, for which they
blushed after they were elected: they
even slept with strange bedfellows. Poll
tics is ''rawther vulgar"
n
An indignant contributor to the
(British) Diplomatic Review for Au-
gust. 1868, describes the great revulsion
Of feeling in Australia when the Duke
OF Edinburgh visited that country, and
the residents were proposing to accord
his royal fighness great ovation. The
duke was so embarrassed by the unex-
pected ceremony that he sought refuge
by effusively greeting man In the
crowd and actually shaking hands with
him--a master of the Queens Private
Band, He shook--fe "agitated the arm"
Of that servant of the palace!"
The ariStocratic writer protested:
When the Crown has surrendered
power and functions and has avowedly
become but q Pageant, at least It has
to be Pageant. This Is, perhaps, the
most important Of the functions OF
Royalty, supposing even all the other
functions to be duly performed. But,
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