Evening star., 1946-12-22
Capital Sidelights
Bu VIII P. Kennedu


BIZ viii P. Kennedy
Exactly at pm, January 5, 1865, Col.
w. H. Crook, veteran of the Union
Army and the Washington police force,
reported to Abraham Lincoln to be his
personal bodyguard. He subsequently
was disbursing officer under Presidents
Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur.
Cleveland, Harrison, Mckinley and
Theodore Roosevelt.
When on May 6, 1891, in President
Harrisons time, electricity was being
installed in the White House, Irwin w.
Hoover was sent by the old Edison Elec-
trio Co. to do the work. Admiral Baird
called him ike" and the nickname
stuck for the rest of Mr.. Hoover's life.
He served altogether AZ years in the
Executive Mansion, most of that period
as chief usher. The Chief Magistrates
with whom he was associated were 10
in number-Harrison to Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
At ! am. Christmas morning, 1914,
Col. Edmund w. Startling reported to
Joseph E. Murphy, chief of the White
House detail of the Secret Service, and
was told concerning his duties: "You
are not working for. the President, but
for the Treasury Department. He
can't order you to go away and leave
him alone. That you must never do.
His safety is your responsibility" Col.
Starlings original assignment was to
guard President Wilson. He carried on
through the terms of Harding, Coolidge,
Hoover and Roosevelt, full 80 years.
When President Wilson suffered a
paralytic stroke just before 9 am. on
October 2, 1919, Dt. Cary Grayson, the
nurse Cthe same who had attended
the first Mrs. Wilson, and Ike Hoover
placed the stricken man on the old
Lincoln bed-on which Lincoln had had
the realistic dream of his own assassi-
nation. Then followed the days during
which the Nation had no leader and
the second Mrs. Wilson with Dr.. Gray
son carried on"
It was Secretary Joe Tumulty and
wilson's stenographer, Charlie Sven
(who could closely initiate his literary
style, who, with the aid of cabinet
members, prepared the Presidents mes
sage to Congress.
xx X *
To autograph hunters Calvin Coolidge
was most obliging. The Roosevelts and
Wilson were more besought for samples
of their signatures than other Presidents.
The Martyr President" Mckinley was
so in life as well as in death. He had a
melancholy time in the White House,
spending hours on end alone with his
invalid wife.
Senator John James ingalls, of Kan
sas was author of the oft-quoted poem
on Opportunity
Fame, love and fortune on my foot
steps wait
IT knock unbidden once at every gate" !"
Radio, now household necessity, was
first limited at mere 46 years ago when
the English publication, the Electrical
Review, reported that Sir William H.
Preece had announced at the confer
ence of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, early in Sep
tember, 1900, that he had been able to
convey audible speech to miles
without employing wires.
x 4 X
The direct primary, for nominating
candidates for public Office, was first
tried in Minneapolis, September Is,
1900. Oscar F. G. Day was author of
the innovation. The Minnesota Leg
islature authorized tryout, restricted
to Minneapolis. Senator William Drew
Washburn, one of the four famous
brothers born in Livermore, Me-, who
served in Congress from various States,
declared it was "the greatest political
proposition ever introduced into Amer
lean politics.
Forty-four years ago, on January /,
1908, an innovation Of good will. social
welfare and cooperation between cap
ital and labor was made by the United
States Steel Corp, proposing to share
profits with employees.
4 X
'No better instance could have been
offered of the real meaning Of American
democracy" was the comment Of mem-
bers Of an English educational commits
sion, which visited Washington schools
43 years ago and found the late Quentin
Roosevelt, son of President Teddy in
attendance, without special protection
and on equal footing with children of
tradesmen, janitors, charwomen, plumb
ers, hostlers ad policemen. y
~. .~f.,