Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-05-11
PRESIDENTIAL SCRAP BOOKS.
The Exchange Editor at the White
House and His Duties.

Inc ENchange Editor at the White
House and His Duties.
If President Harrison desired to throw of
the burden of political life and to become truly
great he might achieve fame by starting a news
paper; and If he did start newspaper what a
force he could organize right among the cleri-
cal staff of the executive mansion. OF couse
Secretary Halford would be managing editor:
that would not be new to him. Col. Crooks
experience ought to fit him for the responsible
position of business manager, and there is no
doubt at all to who should be CITY editor; that
place, OF necessity, would go to Major Pruden.
who knows Washington and its people tho
roughly. The giddy whirl Of social life in the
upper tendon of the capital would find its re-
flex i'll the matter contributed by Miss Sanger,
while the political turmoil and strife might be
plcturesquely delineated by Mr. Tibbot, whose
training as a newspaper man and residence
IN indianapolis ought to have given him
a very close acquaintance with the most practi-
cal kind of politics. Who could better attend
to the musical and dramatic columns than that
prince among vocalsts, Warren Young. and
where could a more acceptable authority on
athletics be found than in the person of II. V.
LaDow. Then what an admirable responsible
editor" Charlie Loeftier would make. When a
man rushed into the Office at the rate of Is or
20 miles a minute, and, after kicking three or
four desks over and upsetting the stove, asked
II the editor was III, Charlie would be able
with that fne discrimination of his to decide
whether to admit him to tine sanctum sancto-
rum or to kick HIM down stairs.
THE EXCHANGE EDITOR
is generally man of good deal of impor-
lance. He frequently imagines he owns the
paper and he knows full well tina, to him the
compositor looks for early copy as regularly as
the reading public searches the columns of his
paper to see whether his selections are worth
reading or not. Gen. Harrison can find his ex-
change editor at almost any time in the oblong
office at the northeast corner on the upper
floor of the White House. He clips papers inst
as industriously now as he would were he on
the staff of a daily journal. and he is known TO
man as b. Z. Montgomery. He is the editor
and compiler OF the presidential scrap-book,
and 1t is of his labors that The STAR is going
TO say something.
RECEIVING THE MAIL.
Three times a day a messenger brings into
his Office big bundle of newspapers, and the
aggregate for each twenty-four hours is over
300. Some of the more important papers are
subscribed for. but the majority of them are
sent by their publishers without fee or hope Of
reward. When Mr.. Montgomery arrives in the
morning he finds the first batch opened and
spread out on his table. and he at once attac ks
the huge pile As rapidly as possible he glances
down column after column, and whenever he
sees anything that seems to him to be fit for
the scrap-book he marks the paragraph with
real editorial blue pencil, and later on saws it
out with his shears. As a rule the work is
quickly done, but lately the scanning of
the papers, and especially of those from
Chicago, has been somewhat retarded by the
great space which has been given to the spring
crop of divorce suits and the opening of the
base ball season. Neither of these subjects
find place in the scrap-book. but still there
may be something hidden away in their midst
which might be OF interest, so the reports must
be read carefully. This is sometimes painful
duty, but the exchange editor fiinches not. The
Roman sentinel who died at his post was never
more faithful than he.
THE scRAp-BooK
generally consists of half dozen volumes each
devoted to some particular subject or series of
subjects. One is devoted to comments on the
civil-service reform, or otherwise, of the adj
ministration, and whatever may be said. critical
or Mandatory, of appointments or dismisssls, is
all skillfully pasted on one of the blank, brown
pages. The southern question has a volume ali
to itself, and within those covers the great
issue is discussed. Every utterance on that
subject has its place, and every man Of national
Importance, and few who are of no import
ance at all, are on record In black and white for
black or white.
What is said and written about the foreign
policy of the administration by native or alien
experts is in book all by itself, and another of
the volumes has in it such scraps as relate to
territorial matters, land grants, and other
affairs which disturb the Interior department.
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL
The most interesting volume is that which
is made up Of direct references to the Presi-
dent, social and personal-some of them far
from social in their nature, and many of them
too violently personal to be pleasant The
great bulk Of the paragraphs are, however,
smooth and musical In their tone, and pleasant
to read.
OF miscellaneous matter-too general in its
nature to be easily classiied-there is a wealth,
and the volume which is set apart to receive it
gets filed up quicker than any of its associates
A great deal Of low-grade matter fails to find
a place in the aggregation. Everything is care
fully selected. A man with no literary ability
and devoid of discretion would probably fiji
one of the volumes in a few hours; under the
present arrangement book is rarely complete
in less than week.
Mr.. Montgomery's long and intimate ac-
quaintance with scraps" and '.pasting" has
fitted him to be an able assistant to the sport
ing editor, but he relinquishes all claim to that
department, and is satisfied to spend his days
In Juggling" exchanges. That's how the
Presidents scrap-book is made.
Figures Don't Lie.
From the Yankee Blade.
Flap-"Tm in love, and the only disagreea-
bic thing about it ID that the girl is older than
L"
Jack-"How old are you now?"
'rm eighteen"
"And the lady Is what?"
TWENTY-FIVE"
"Well, make your mind easy. BY the time
fvuop mt Il, l.