Omaha daily bee., 1886-12-08
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGES.
How Lincoln johnson and Grant Prepared
the Documents,
The Rivalry TO Secure Messages in
Former Days.

The capacity of President Cleveland for
hard work, says a writer in the Washing.
ton Post, Is perhaps best illustrated by
the fact that he wrote every word of his
message. His experience last year, when
he wrote with his own hand the longest
message ever submitted by president to
congress, does not seem to have dsmayed
him in the least. He writes small,
cramped hand, but his pen moves over
the paper with considerable case, and he
rarely has occasion to revise his matter,
All the phrases in his writings which
have become famous were first thoughts,
Very few persons have any idea of the
great amount of detail which the pres.
idcnt accomplishes. All his veto mes.
sages were written by him pcsonally, and
that, too, in the longest possible way. In
returning house bill No. 5,o6S for in
stance, he wrote. House bill number
five thousand nine hundred and sixty.
eight He pcnncd his Thanksgiving
proclamation. Many of the letters which
other presidents turned over TO their
secretaries are answered by him In per-
son. He even addressed with his own
hand the envelope which informed Dis
trict Attorney Benton of his reinstatc-
mcnt.
In personally writing his messages
President Cleveland differs from any of
his predecessors. Lincoln wrote com
paratvcly little of his messages, but he
/ paid close attention TO the phraseologv.
In those days the "buts' and the Ifs
counted. He wrote a small, even hand,
easily read and his manuscript was not
often marred by crasures johnson who
followed him, wrote still less. HIS right
arm was crippled and he could not raise
it TO his head. He used pen and ink but
rarely finding lead pencil less tiresomc.
1t is said that he did not write letter in
ink after he became president. He signed
his name frequently, of course, but an
entire letter in his handwriting is now
worth almost its weight in gold. He
dictated his messages to Colonel William
&. Moore, who was then his private Sec
rotary. He thought quickly, for the i'm
possibility of writing developed the
faculty of dictation to its highest degree.
President Grant sent eight messages
to congress. They were in the main con-
tributions from his cabinet officers,
written in the first persson, and then
devastated together. They were not
finally submitted, however, without care
full consideration Grant was cautious
and conservative, and carefully modified
and revised the recommendations of his
cabinet officers. He loved to write, and
all the additions and Cmendatlons of the
messages were III his own hand writing.
he wrote many autograph letters, and
his vct0cs were also in his own hand
writing. He could dictate, but moi easily,
and whenever he wanted 20 be pGrtiCu-
larlY forciblc he shut himself up in his
room, and, free from interruption, wrote
out in full what he desired to say.
Mr.. Hayes wrote a spraWly, irregular
hand, hard to read by those who were
unaccustomed to it, His messages were
largely the work of Mr.. Rodgers his pri-
vatc secretary. a man of considerable
scholarship. Whatever polish they con
tanned was due entirely to Mr. Rodgers,
and many portions, indeed, We're written
by the latter in the first instance. The
cabinet officers aided largely in the work
and their contributions were used with
out revision. President Arthur's hand
writing was bold and large, showing
considerable force, and the words and
letters were joined in an easy, running
style, rs if the writer mad done consider
able clerical duty. Surrogate Rollins. of
New York, it is not generally known, was
Mr.. Arthur sright hand man in the pre-
paration of the messages. Together they
arranged the topics to be treated
upon and many of the ideas
contained in the documents ema-
mated directly from Mr.. Rollins.
Ill lillS JHC lltsSt1SS Ntlb uU-
plicated on manifald paper, and when
the private secretary was supposed to
have reached the capitol-for there was
no telegraph or telephone connection
with the white house then--copieS were
distributed to the various correspondents
and reporters. Then there was grnnd
rush for the telegraph and the newspaper
offices. II have seen them nearly break
their necks in getting down stairs" said
nI,,lpyn Of thn xuI, IN in
describing the scene. Many of the news.
paper men did not hesitate TO 90 through
the lower and private part of the build
ing, and make short cuts to Pennsylva.
mia avenue, through the grounds. Others,
who had carriages and the ileetest horses
the city could afford standing at the front
entrance raced down the avenue at speed
far beyond the limits of the law. AT the
newspaper Offices an extra force OF COM
positors hurried the message into type,
The public entered into the spirit of riv
airy and large crowds surrounded the
offices, all ready to cheer the first news
boy who appeared with 4 bundle of pa.
pers under his arm. Nowadays it Is
different. The persons who in these
peaceful times, take even sufficient inter
est IN n message to struggle through its
long array of commonplace sentences,
are in n large minority.
A presidents message has always been
regarded as the most important piece OF
news a correspondent can secure. In
the days of fluctuation in gold it had its
value to Wall street also, Indeed, it is
asserted at the white house that once
during Johnson's administration New
York broker who was anxious to antici'
pate the effect of the PRESIDENT recon-,
mondatons on the market, offered
$4,000 to an cmploye for an advance
copy. HIS offer was declined. Despite
this general desire to get hold OF the mes
sagcs only two have been prcmaturely
printed, and both publications occurred
during the administration of Mr.. Hayes,
The latter abandoned the old system OF
manifolding, and had mis- messages
printed in advance, copies being forward
ed to collectors of customs and postmas-
tiers for distribution to newspapers at
noon of the day congress assembled. A
copy was. however, taken from his desk
and sold to the New York Herald for
$500, 1t was carried by the correspondent
up four flights of stairs To the operating
room of the Western Union telegraph
company and given INTO the safe Keeping
of the night manager, twas then divided
among several trusted operators and as
soon as the last word had gone over the
wires it was returned Ia the correspond
cnt without any of those Cabalistc marks