The News & Observer

A ROAST FOR JAY PEE
Warm Seats are Given Him
and Others on the
Gridiron.

(By the Associated Press.)

Washington, Jan. 31.—The annual dinner of the Gridiron Club tonight was another record-breaker in the way of unique entertainments, and the Washington
correspondents who compose the famous
organization again demonstrated that
everything under the sun (or on the gridiron) was new; that there was a humorous side to all current events; and that
toasts and roasts may be combined for
an evening's entertainment.

The inauguration of the new president
of the club, Mr. William E. Curtis, afforded an opportunity for reverting to
the part Mr. Curtis took in securing the
attendance of Spanish grandees for the
World's Fair at Chicago. The pomp and
ceremony of the Spanish court of 1492
mingled with 20th century ideas and
events made it a showy and laughable
affair. One of the questions propounded
to Columbus was, "What is a trust," to
which he answered:

"A bunch of money surrounded by water."

Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, one of the
guests of the club was made the subject
of quite the burlesque of the evening. For
the alleged benefit of the New York
financiers the Gridiron Club installed a
"bucket shop" as an adjunct to Mr. Morgan's office. The manager and "chair
warmers" kept up a lively fire of questions and answers, in which various
guests were placed upon the Gridiron.

The discussion of available presidential
candidates was a feature of this part of
the entertainment. The burlesque concluded with a song dedicated to Mr. Morgan.

The experiments which Dr. Wiley of
the Agricultural Department, is making
with borax as a preservative afforded another vehicle to give a number of prominent guests a gridironing. It was charged that Dr. Wiley was conducting an experiment at the dinner and two members of
the club, personating Dr. Wiley and his
assistant, showed the effect of borax on
the brain. A "poison squad" was
brought out and the stethoscope and X-
rays applied to their heads. The marvelous things they were found to be
thinking about, as told by the operators,
created great amusement.

The initiating of Mr. Joseph K. Ohl, of
the Atlanta Constitution and Mr. John
P. Miller of the Baltimore Sun, who were
caused to personate leaders of the "Lily-
whites" and "blacks and tans" respectively, and the witty references to recent
Southern opponents made a distinct hit.
There were other skits and topical
songs and choruses and several good
speeches, all crowding the evening with
wit and humor from beginning to end.