Edward Everett Gann went to another grand Society party in Washington last week, a State dinner in honor of Señor Don Pablo Ramirez, Minister of Finance of Chile, given by Señor Don Carlos G. Dávila, Chilean Ambassador to the U. S. There were 189 other people there, some of whom Mr. Gann knew, which made it pleasant.
A glittering table like two horseshoes laid end to end was spread in the Hall of the Americas at the Pan-American Union Building. Mr. Gann found his seat seventh from the foot of one horseshoe. On his left was Mrs. William Braden, wife of the Chilean copper operator. On his right was a Mrs. Paul Wooton, wife of the Washington correspondent of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Given by C of the potent ABC nations of South America, the dinner was an important affair. Present were, among others, eight members of the Cabinet, four ambassadors, four Senators, nine ministers, four Congressmen, three Hoover secretaries, two admirals, the Mayor of Philadelphia, et al. et ux. The setting was magnificent—a patio with orchids, palms, exotic birds, tropical fish. The dinner was also notable in that it was Dry.
Mr. Gann, no talker in Society, heard those about him discuss the Junoesque lady in a silver lace dress seated so grandly at the right hand of the diminutive Ambassador Davila at one end of the table. This was embarrassing for Mr. Gann because the lady in question was his own wife. In the other direction, all bathed and shaved and shining in his evening clothes, beside Señor Davila, was Mrs. Gann's brother. Vice President Charles Curtis, upon being whose official hostess Mrs. Gann had long been. bent. This dinner represented the final triumph of her and her brother's efforts to obtain for her the status that she would automatically have enjoyed if she had been Charles Curtis's wife instead of his sister, or if Edward Everett Gann had been elected Vice President.
Mr. Gann listened to the conversation around him and held his peace. This was his wife's big evening. He saw it through.
Well did Mr. Gann know that for his wife to reach her eminence, many an official wheel had had to. turn. The Vice President had protested against a State Department ruling which failed to accord Mrs. Gann full recognition (TIME, April 15). The matter was in the hands of Secretary of State Stimson.
Last week Mr. Curtis went to see Secretary Stimson about Mrs. Gann. Sir Esme Howard, British Ambassador and dean of the diplomatic corps, went to see Secretary Stimsori about Mrs. Gann. Secretary Stimson went to see President Hoover about Mrs. Gann. Secretary Stim son saw newsgatherers about Mrs. Gann. To them he gave correspondence which showed what a Statesman he really was — correspondence which passed the whole question of Mrs. Gann's precedence back to the diplomatic corps.