TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13095, 21 April 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A newly - ejected . Etiquette American Senator deat dared tho other day Washington', that America was

fast drifting towards monarchy, and that if President Roosevelt were elected for another term, by tho end of it his visitors would rotiro from the room backwards. Personal dislike had, no doubt, something to do with this prophecy, but Mr Sydney Brooks, who writes on tho subject in tho "Daily Chronicle," thinks that it

is founded _ on fact. America may not be on tho road to monarchy, but there is gradually growing up round the President a ceremony modelled on that wliich-sur-rounds a. king. Twelve years ago, says Mr Brooks, the White House was a museum of horrors. People visited it to iearn what to avoid in tlm way of vulgar furnishings. The entrance hall was iike a second-rate restaurant; the reception rooms looked, as if they belonged to a decayed boardtnghotise; entertainments were bear figlrts and dinners a long agony; tho accommodation was so inadequate that guests could not be invited to stay; all day politicians and callers overran the building. President Roosevelt has changed all this. The place is now a model of taste and all that an official residence should bo in the way of comfort. Certain rules of etiquette have ; been established. An invitation to tho White Honso ie generally recognised to be equivalent to a ooiremadKL The President must go in to dinrer first and bo served first, and, no one man.

of his Cabinet Ministers a list of »he proposed guests must be submitted t<. him beforehand. But beyond this thero is a whole wilderness to be .sur veyed and plotted out into .squares cf etiquette. Washington debates with fervour nice questions of precedence Should tho Yice-Prcsidont precede Ambassadors, or does the Speaker-go before the Secretary of State? If two Senators are elected on the same day, which goes first ? Tlie fact chat such questions are debated shows 1 hat etiquette may become much stricter and more intricate, and Washington may reproduce the customs of the Courts of Kurope.

A writer in tho "Daily An Express" develops an inUnpopular to-resting theory as to King. the effect of King Leopold's rulo in the Congo on his character and his popularity with his people. According to thie writer, Leopold 11. was greatly liked by his people for tho first twenty yoars of his reign. Ho well merited this popularity, for ho took a great interest in public affairs, and respected the constitution. For instance; when Crown Prince, he noticed the vast possibilities of the harbour of Antwerp, and drew the attention of traders to them. But the sovereignty over the Congo Free State, which came to him in 1885j did immense harm to himself and to Belgium. His natural autocratic tendencies w-cr© encouraged by his being tho absolute master of 30,000,000 natives, and "slowly but surely the constitutional monarch of Belgium played second liddle to tho absolute monarch of tbo Congo State." Ho began to play the Congo autocrat in Belgian affairs. Tho unpopularity ho aroused in Belgium by his attempts at autocracy was greatly increased by domestic scandals. He behaved , badly to his wife, and has displayed a singular lack of affection towards his three daughters. Hie worst act was to order his second daughter off tho premises when she came to pray beside her mother's coffin. This the Belgians havo never forgotten. His Majesty is now in his 73rd year, but his irresponsible life, which provides humour of a sort for French journalists, is a source, of shamo to the Belgians. Ho governs Belgium from Paris and tho Riviera, merely paying flying visits to Brussels. Congo gold has boon used to corrupt Belgian officials and others, and altogether it was a sorry day for Belgium when Leopold became sovereign of the Congo. To-day, in the evening of his life and in ill-health, ho is deserted by his family and his most prominent subjects, and finds his only consolation in the affections of his young morganatic wife and in the millions he has wrung from the yretched natives.

When one is offered a Fortunes pig as a wedding preson ent, one is not to doFour Lege. spko it, however much one may think that a rich uncle ought to have been more generous and shown better taste. The daughter of an English sporting beronet recently received a little pig with a piece of ribbon, round its neck, and gave it away to a farmer on her husband's estate. The fanner sold it six months later for 80 guineas. The story is told by a magazine writer as an example of the high values now placed on certain animals. Twenty-five years ago £100 was regarded as an exceptional price for a dog, a cat, or a pony, but this figuro is considered comparatively email now. A Pekingese dog may bo literally worth his weight in gold. An American woman paid £1500 for a Pekingese puppy recently, and; an Englishwoman has refused £1200 for a perfect specimen,. The Japanese spaniel is another very valuable dog; perfect specimens are worth up to £1000. A Frenchwoman living in London in very distressed circumstances was observed t)v a dealer to have on« of these dogs, of whose value she was quite ignorant with tho result that she became richer by £?uu. The increase in the value or oats of late years is astonishing. Quite a number of people speculate in kittens, buying them for 1 £5 or £6 apiece, and selling them for perhaps £50. Xenophon, perhaps the most valuable cat over exhibited could have been sold for £1000. Some of this appreciation in values is duo to snobbishness. The Duchess of Marlborough was seen one day in New York with a lekTOgeeo dog. These dogs immediately becamo the rage, ajid animals that could not have been; sold before for £10 brought from a hundred to a thousand guineas from foolish women. The drawback to owning these expensive creatures is that they require a .great deal of looking after. An English farmer who keeps a very valuable herd of cows estimates that the bill to the veterinary surgeon averages £400 a year. One anuria! contracted a had cold and had to be watched day and night for a week by the vot., whoso bill for the illness camo to £60.