Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-05

The business of where the half-sister
of the Vice President of the United
States shall sit at dinner may strike
the country at large as small potatoes,
but here in this world metropolis of
high society it is a matter of momentous
magnitude. Since time immemorial
precedence has been a ticklish topic in
Washington. American officialdom and
the diplomatic corps alike are constantly
concerned with 1t. Foreign ENJOYS and
their sisters and their cousins and their
aunts eat, sleep, dream and drink prece-
dence. 1t is the alpha and omega of
their existence. That's why Sir Esme
Howard, the British Ambassador, act
ing as dean Of the corps diplomatique,
sought solemn and official ruling from
the State Department about Mrs. Cams
rightful place at table. An ambassador
or minister would be as reluctant to
misplace person at dinner as to sink
a rum runner Illegally Either action
would be dreadful faux pas. 1t simply
isn't done. Secretary Hughes once said,
when precedence question bobbed up,
that the only place he wanted to be
first was at fire.
\ X X X
Dolly Gam, who may become as
famous as Dolly Madison before she's
through with it, is the center of an i'm
portant incident, because of the social
obligations imposed upon the Vice
President of the United States. 1t is
the business of the Republics second in
command to dine out on his country's
behalf. Tradition thrusts that dyspep-
sia-breeding duty upon him because the
President and the First Lady, except on
rare and fixed formal occasions, never
ioyN
ambassadors and ministers are contin-
ually entertaining for the Vice Presi-
dent and his lady. Custom does not
require the latter to reciprocate the hos
pitality of which they are the helpless
victims. But as they are the most en-
tertained couple in the Capital, the
punctilious diplomatic CORPS must know
exactly who's who and what's what
| when the Curtis-Ganns are guests OF
honor. Nobody has decreed where the
Vice Presidents brother-in-law is to sit.
Perhaps he doesn't give Gam.
X X *
Everett Sanders, President Coolidge's
chief Of staff at the White House, had
| a screaming experience in one OF the
| Capitol restaurants the last time he was
on 1.-THE Hill" AS a lady was putting on
her coat a pair of gloves which had
been in one of the sleeves was acct
dentally Tipped across the room and
lit, of all places, squarely on the head
of a fluffy haired girl at another table.
They landed there so gently that the
child herself was unaware Of their pres
/, ence. Sanders saw the thing happen
and also observed the lady hunting for
her gloves. At almost the same mo-
ment the little girl pulled on her hat,
gloves and all. Sanders thought the time
had come for him to speak up. So he
said to the woman: Madame, II you're
| looking for your gloves, they're under
/ the hat of that little girl" The woman
couldn't have been more habbergasted
| if the suaye Hoosier had volunteered to
| produce a rabbit from behind her ear
She left the Capitol convinced that
Sanders is not a politician, but pres
| tidigitator.
x x X X
william M. Jardine, former Secretary
of Agriculture, is being 'rumored' as
] the probable head of the Federal Farm
Board to be set up by the Forthcoming
| agricultural relief bill. He should fit the
Job like a glove, for the scheme under
! which the board viii function is the one
contemplated by the original Coolidge
Hoover Jardine farm program. On re-
| tiremert from the cabinet DIR. Jardine
| became counsel of the Federated Fruit
/ g. Vegetable Producers, Florida con-
lcern. It would probably be necessary
for him to relinquish that job-said t.
be worth $4,000 a year--for the Farm
Board post, which may be worth $l0,-
600 or $4,000 Wallace's Farmer o.
Des Moines recently stated that Jar.
dimes future employment was arranged
at the breakfast he had with Hoover
shortly before March 4.
~ =
from runl-runnipg to the movies i
/ the transition said to be about to take
place In the romantic life OF Capt John
/ Thomas Randell, D. S. c., skipper Of
/ the worlds most famous smuggler, I'm
Alone. Reports reaching Washington
from New Orleans state that as soon 81