Evening star., 1953-01-22
A Credit to Woshinqtonions

The simple and dignifed ceremony at the
Capitol OF swearing in new President is the
only strictly official part of an Inauguration.
All the rest of 1.-THE parade the balls, the
festivals, the reception to the Governors of the
States the provision of stands along the route
OF march and other accommodations for visitors
and the crowds-is the voluntary responsibility
of private citizens.
Through the years custom and tradition
have placed this responsibility with Washing
tonians, organized as an Inaugural Committee.
The men and women who composed this COM
m1ttee for Tuesdays Inauguration met this re-
sponSibility with credit to themselves and to
washington and they deserve commentator.
There were the inevitable miShapS and mis-
calculations. These were reflection of the very
thing that, in the end, made the Inauguration
outstanding-the enthusiasm of the people and
their extraordinary if not unprecedented de-
mand to take part in or to see the various
events The parade may have been too long.
Yet for every unit that took part, many
others were turned away. So 1t was with every
part of the three-day celebration. The demand
from people all around the country taxed all
reSourceS-especially the resources of good
natured and genuine effort to please everybody
who wanted to come
Now that it is over it is remarkable that
everything went so we'll An Inaugural Commit
tee always has too much to do, and with the
advanced date of the Inauguration, never
enough time in which to do it, In the first
place, it cannot come into being or begin to
make plans until the election determines the
winner and the makeup of the committee For
nation of this years committee could not get
started until the chairman, Joseph c. McGar-
raghy, was designated on the evening of Novem-
ber 8. That allowed only two and a half
months, from start to finish.
In that time an underwriting fund of over
100000 had to be raised, contracts let for the
erection of stands, arrangements made for the
various events for which tickets would be sold.
For it is the sale of tickets that furnishes the
operating revenue. This year the demand for
tickets produced new complications, requiring
a selective process in distributing them that
would prove least offensive to faithful partisans
whose labors had earned them the fruits OF
victory for the first time in "a years.
While the leadership of the Inaugural Com
nittee is always selected on strictly partisan
basis, there is bipartisan continuity from one
Inauguration to the next based on community
interest Thus the most recent Democratic In
augural Committee bequeathed to the new Re-
publican committee its files of reports and even
a small kitty of $11 900 left over from 1949. This
neighborly spirit will be retained by the present
committee, which now goes into the process OF
recording for its successors some of its own les
sons of experence-regardless of what party
will be coming into power four years hence
It is the Nations President for whom an
Inauguration is held. But the Nations cash
contributions to an Inauguration are small in
deed The $165O00 appropriated by Congress
for the inauguration went for the provision of
facilities on Capitol HILL and tickets for the
admission of spectators to the Capitol stands
were free to members of Congress to whom they
were allocated There was also small fund OF
about $45,OOO in the District appropriation bill
for public protection"-to which the Nation
contributed about per cent
The heavy responsibility, as hosts to thou
sands of citizens rests on the people of Wash
ington. 1t is always gratifying when they meet
1t so well.