y different formalities from those which
existed in the days of his predecessors. Mr. Roosevelt liked to
maintain friendly relations with those diplomats whose company
pleased him. He disregarded the old traditional etiquette, according
to which the President was not allowed to visit the Ambassadors
or any private houses in Washington. The friendly relations that
existed between Mr. Roosevelt and Baron Speck von Sternburg are
well known. When in the year 1908, after this gentleman's decease,
I assumed his post at Washington, Mr. Roosevelt invited me to the
White House on the evening after my first audience, to a private
interview, in which every topic of the day was discussed. Invitations
of this kind were of frequent occurrence during the last two months
of Roosevelt's administration, which, at the time of my entering
office, was already drawing to its close. For instance, Mr. Roosevelt
showed me the draft of the speech which after his retirement he
delivered at the University of Berlin.

My dealings with President Taft were on the same footing; for he
also was in favor of an amicable and unconventional relationship.
On one occasion he invited me to join him in his private Pullman on
a journey to his home in Cincinnati, where we attended the musical
festival together. On another occasion, he suddenly appeared, without
formal notice, at the Embassy, while we were holding a ball in
honor of his daughter, and later on he accepted an invitation to
my daughter's wedding.

President Wilson, who by inclination and habit is a recluse and
a lonely worker, does not like company. He re-introduced the old
etiquette and confined himself only to visiting the houses of Cabinet
members, which had been the customary tradition. He also kept himself
aloof from the banquets, which are such a favorite feature of social
life in America, and severely limited the company at the White
House. Thus the New Year Reception was discontinued entirely. This
attitude on the part of the President was the outcome of his tastes
and inclinations. But I certainly do not believe that he simply
developed a theory out of his own peculiar tastes, as so often
happens in life. I am more inclined to believe that Mr. Wilson
regarded the old American tradition as more expedient, on the grounds
that it enabled the President to remain free from all intimacy,
and thus to safeguard the complete impartiality which his high
office demanded. The peculiar friendship whi