Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-21

| Just as everybody was assuming that
| the social status of Mrs. Gam had been
| settled, another countrywide debate was
started by the challenge of Mrs. Alice
| Longworth. AS wife of the Speaker of
! the House, Theodore Roosevelts daugh-
ter declines to be seated at official
| functions below the official hostess {, t
! the Vice President.
1T has produced vastly unSettling
effect" says the Manchester Union,
adding that whatever else the country
| at large may think about 1t, an issue of
| the sort, from the point of view of
! Washington. can be freighted with po-
! litical AS well as social dynamite" The
| Union advises that perhaps the out
siders can do no better than sit back
and wait to see what happens next. 8"
. The Ogden Standard Examiner feels
| that farm relief. tariff, reparations and
/ law enforcement pale to insignificance"
| in comparison with the battle that may
| develop, pointing out that Mrs. Long
worth comes from family of fighters,
! and the long bow Is the familiar weapon
of the Curtis family"
1t should prove a warm Spring and
Summer in social Washington" observes
the New York Times. individual prob
| lens are many there, but none so diff
| cult as that which beSets Kansas. For
! there Dolly Curtis was born, there
| Charlie Curtis came to honor, but
there also Theodore Roosevelt swung
| his sombrero and proclaimed the new
nationalism while thousands cheered."
The Charleston Daily Mail thinks that
! maybe, after all, the Government will
survive the social war;" and believes
that ut probably will, unless foreign
complications result, the danger Of
| which is by no means remote"
I'VE wait on Mr.. Hoover" declares
! the Canton Daily News. President
Thomas Jefferson in a similar pickle
laid down the law of pell-mell. His
guests took whatsoever places they got
to first In the present state of passion
at Washington this would lead to hair
| pulling 1t wouldn't do. We renew our
suggestion to President Hoover that he
make himself a Solomon and end this
| row by laying down the good old demo-
cratic rule Of draw straws."
In more serious vein the Springfield
Republican states that ''if the feeling
of the country at large has any bearing
on the matter it can safely be put
! down upon the side of the Vice Presi-
dent. AS for the question of the social
! status of the hostess of his establish
ment, whether she is his wife or, in the
event OF his being widower his sister,
it will strike the public, if the affair
must be threshed out, that the Vice
| President is entitled to representative
of his own choosing" The Jackson
Citizen-Patriot suggests that in this
| great game those who sit pat must
| either hold a good hand or admit they
are bluffing when it is called" and that
! paper advises that 1T would seem at
! this time that it las Mrs. Cams turn
! to call"
THE only solution we can see" COM
mentS the Flint Daily Journal, lis the
| adoption of a constitutional amendment
which would render ineligible to the
| presidency or the vice presidency any
candidate who does not have wife,
! or adoption Of the cafeteria plan for
! official functions" The Detroit Free
! Press, protesting the spirit OF the con-
! tiict. remarks: For years Mrs. Long
= worth has been considered an outstand-
ing example of the person with brains
and humor, able to distinguish the sub
I stance from the shadow. Her ability to
characterize a situation and her sense
OF the ridiculous enabled her to provide
the country with more than one
chuckle. but until now the smile never
! has been at her expense"
"If there is any one at Washington
! Who could shake the social status ladder
| effectively it is Mrs. LongWorth," testi-
fies the Albany Evening News. and the
Cleveland Plain Dealer says: Princess
! Alice comes very near to being the
most important and impressive person.
/ age In social Washington outside the
White House. And when she says
Ha!' with that peculiar Rooseveltian
| information Washington society shivers.
| And Washington society perpleXed and
! troubled, knows that the aimiStice is
ended. The great Gam war has be-
come more terrible than ever, for II is
, nOw WHot " me-" cal! y ,.Iil war. The
! belliecrcu,s arc all Americans, and the
path Of the neutrals is going 10 be
~~e-sSr 's--~----- ------------ ~