Evening star., 1933-03-05

oughly, choosing workers by the hundreds, pick
ing out the leaders of every sort Of endeavor
and putting them to work to make the inau-
gural a success.
tically free hand in preparing their plans
for their own particular activities, drew on the
best talent they could find among their busi-
ness and social associates, and when the whole
committee was rounded out there was small
army of men and women working toward max.
ing Washington's welcome to the new Presi-
dent the greatest ever accorded a new occu-
pant of the White House.
NJ course, the first job was to raise the
~ money necessary to put the workmen to
work erecting the stands and to take care of
the necessary expenses of the Inaugural Com
mittee for clerk hire. stationery. etc.
1t was in connection with the stationery that
Admiral GraySon'S committee met with its chief
embarrassment. Determined not to waste
money in any direction, the committee decided
to "lift" the letterhead Of the Hoover Inaugural
Committee and use it again for the Roosevelt
inaugural. The die for the letterhead
cured all right, and it made every bit as i'm
pressive a letterhead for the Democrats as 1t
had for the Republicans
But in printing the stationery. the little pre-
caution of closely examining the die was neg
>lected SO that when stanch old partisans who
they became of age saw to their horror the
names. not of the two stalwarts of the Demo-
cratic party, Roosevelt and Garner on the
banner held by the eagle, which was the prin-
cipal design of the letterhead, but the names
of Hoover and Curtis, they blew up and wrote
indignant letters to Admiral Grayson and other
members of the Inaugural Committee.
And there were q few red faces about the
Inaugural Committees hearquarters in the
Washington Building until the letterheads were
rectifed.
Lloyd B. Wilson. president of the Chesapeake
& Potomac Telephone Co., and q group of other
business men who formed the finance sub
committee of the Inaugural Committee, were
the first to get down to actual work, and they
canvaSsed the entire town for 500, 900 guar
antee fund with which to finance the activities
of the Inaugural Committee. The money is to
be returned to the guarantors when the affairs
of the committee have been cleared up and the
income from its various activities has been
audited. All left over, it was provided in q bill
passed by Congress. goes to charity, with the
proceeds of the Inaugural Ball and the profits
made other activities of the committee. in
cluding the sale of souvenir programs and
medals. also going to charity
Mr. Wilson and his committee found WASH
ington business men, despite the depression,
willing to dig down in their jeans for the money
necessary to run the machinery that, it was
estimated. would bring 100000 visitors to the
without great deal Of effort on the part Of
the finance committee. and Immediately. with
money to grease the wheels, the other activities
OF the Inaugural Committee were started at
full speed
Speed was always a factor in the preparations
for this inaugural, for while three and half
months might appear plenty of time for pre-
pairing for such show, much time had been
lost while Washington wondered If 1t was TO
have the sort of show that characterized old
time inaugurals or whether it was to be another
OF the stif1y formal affairs which have been
held in the more recent past.
Undertaking the greatest job of all, the COM
mittee grandstands and decorations, of
which the architect Waddy B. Wood was chair
man. had to put on all steam possible to get
done in time the gigantic task of erection Of
stands for $4,000 persons for the big parade.
It was task comparable with the erection Of
a modern college stadium. with the added diff
Guilty of having the construction not concen-
trated but spread over wide area.
These stands, 1t was decided early, must ac-
commodate q much larger crowd than came to
Washington for the Hoover Inauguration. SO
with characteristic foresightedness Mr.. Wood
and his committee decided that since this in
augural was to be one of the biggest on record.
so must the stands accommodate a much larger
crowd. The capacity of the stands of the
Hoover inaugural was practically doubled. An
other departure from the usual inaugural stand
the variable March weather has marred more
than inaugural celebration all but the
cheapest stands be covered and its occupants
protected from the weather.
This plan was carried even farther in the
construction of the Presidential reviewing stand
in the Court of Honor, where Mr.. Wood de-
signed the Presidents section after the portico
of old Federal Hall in New York, on the portico
on which Gen. Washington took the oath of
Office as the first President of the United States
Mr.. Wood designed removable, glass-enclosei
section that could be placed in front of the
(yo,,rt IF Honor and heated 81 that in the event