Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1892-02-02
A srollN PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE.


When President Ilsrrisonis rccen
message Wa. finally published = weight
( of anxiety was lifted from the minds o.
7 the publlc printer and his forcmsn. Th'
annual asdr-s.e. Of the chief executive
To Congress are always Nightmares :,
the government printing Office, aud un
til they are formally ecclyed by thu
national legislature there IL nc SOUND
sleep for the officials In charge. THEFT
task Il like the guarding of a treasure
Tor the possession of which few hour'
In advance eager newspapers are rcsdy u
pay q fortune. Onc-, sni once only, wa'
a message stolen, and the inclden, has
passed iuto history.
sixteen picked compositors act up the
Last message. They we're chosen n
scvtrt Va. their task that " Que of theu
had even ssii when the job was done,
II hs,. been working on the President
message to-day" discover, Of the fact
would have caused hls discharge. -Four
hour. we're required for pu,iiug the dc,'-
ument Into type, and during that time
the selected men, group~i by themselves.
wsr. held under the watchful eye of the
foreman. The copy. received In type
script from the White House, was cut az
into ''tskrs" .o small that no individual
could make head or tall of hls own. NJ
one Was allowed Ia see sny pr"of oi
other take. than tho.e which b. himself
handled, ani all the imperfect proof.
taken wcrr gathered Into hag a. cafc-
fully a. u they had been so much gold
and burned In the furnace. Not = scfai'
wa. permitted Ia escape.
The gslleys full of type, as fa., a.
they we're made up, werr placcd on
.h.l,c. la an Iron room built III. safe.
Whenever Que va. taken out q rrceipi
ms given for Il, which wss torn up ~ben
II vas put back. Not le.s than two men
wcr, permitted to move = galley. Tao
prooi. we're taken hually of the com.
plcici messagc-onc for the oiiice aud
the other. on fine paper for the rrc.lient.
The dual proof MAS rad by Arthur w.
brown. "D!ctionary Brown" D.. !. cali.
81, tcc,u.c 81 hl. msr,eloa. accuracy
about wori..
Sometimes composition. In th. govern
ment printing Office have kickc'i at
Brown'. corr-ctiou. Of their work. i.e-
peaieily they have called his Attenilon
Ia th. dictionary aud haN. .hosn him
that Webster indor..,l their own judg-
ment. $50 Il dcc.," iIrovn would .sy,
calmly. Then he would correct the dic-
tiouary With peu aud ink. iIl. correct
lon. we're alNay. right, too. Oncc h-
sent about twenty ot them To the pub.
fishers ~ the dictionary. Who aCcepir'l
al ~ them and made him a prc.ent of
an elegantly bound copy. lie .ugg.si-
~I. II 4. .ali. several emcndstions In NJ.
IlsTfi.ou'. r,-csnt message and they we're
adopted by the author. Any Frc.ldrut
I. fortunate Va having such ctiiic 81
his Work bcfutc u rriche. the puhlic.
Nhsu Mt. Arthur sas Pr.ldcut Fab
llc Printer Hounds wss 80 anNiou. aiS'ui
the .eCr,yy ot tle message that he took
Que of the eases him..lf, under or,ier. ~
al. oNu foreman. On III. occasion ~
f.tr.I io the manuscript of the addrr..
to Cougrv.. Cainc into the ofilce Ia scraps.
II kept arriving plc,emcal from satur-
day afternoon to Monday morning. Ih"
ghlsf "a sgistrat. prr-um ,hlV wanici 10
see how u booked Sien prrttily ptlntrd,
a. be- pfu,-,slc,i With his VpmI'o.ition.
With kindly cousiicr,tion for the print.
sT., h- prov lds,i them, while they wrf-
eng igy,l uI,on thr bsk, With What they
described a. 'rl-g,nt grub, .euiing hi
own steward from the Executive Mhn,ion
Ia .rr,v u.
The me..age shlrh was stolen MS the
last one Atitl.n hY Ip.ii.nt il,,es. u
wa. no, obtained from the government
printing ollirr. for the sake of extra
pf,ciniian u was 1T up Ia q branch Of
fic- ~ the Treasury department. Hu-
mors that Il would i.e olt,iushle Ia AL
Nancc got ahoai Nessp,p.r Row some
how, aud combination. Nrr- formed Ia
purvhas. la case Il shouli 10 oi'r-i for
.sle. The PREV in such an event N"ull
~, cs.ahly be large ani " wa. worth
while iodi,ii- u. one oi thu" ,''nhih'.
tian. Na. form-l hy the New York ime.,
Cincinnati Comm-rvi,l .aSsttr snd ,hi.
gago um-.. ca the afternoon of th-
saturday beforr the Monday on whicl,
M. m-...ge Va. to be- plsc,si w thu
hand. II Congtr.. the correspondent of
the New York nmr. Nas .itting in
III. niiic- on the ros reading the evening
Iapsr H. had Irctty Ntll m'de up
his mind by that time that there VA
no,hins la the rrport which hii been
circulated.
4 Young m,n. hut .ligh,ly known q. =
newspaper corr".roni"ni, walked Va an
s.kr,i In . joyulaf Nay What was The lat
ct Intelligence about the mcssag~.
"Nothing that knos of, va. the r'-
ply.
DO you care to buy H. asked the
youth.
III .houiint mint" .ill the rims.
m ~. Ian gining that the visitor ~as J'L-
log.
To MI. surprise the Young mtn drew
out from hi. pocket a pickigr, which
proved on inspcctipn 10 h. the m1cl'-dc-
slrrd DOCUMENT.
"IIoS much do you wan, for thl'f
was ask~i.
"IloS much will you gI'c'" .iIi tn
youth.
"I'll give you thousand dollar, for
It," aid the Fine. correspondent.
The Young man sili that b. thought
i,- c,,ull Ut mur- than that, aud, after H
brief haggl-, q, ,5l1 ws. sgrei upon q.
the price. n wa. understood that the
money .holld BE- paii only on conditions
that the mrs.agr rr,clci uo other hint.
No time WAS lost Ia commune iiiag
With the correspondence of the tincinn'- -
ii Commercial GtIrlie sni Chlcig"
Times, aud the representatives of ~"
three pap.rs hire.l room la the Ehbi,i
ilonse. pr.ciriug Telegraph Instruments
aud operator. Ia s.ni the di.phcl'r.
irum thence. Thi. was done With th'
utmost s-'rccy. not word being breath
c,l to anybody, for fear lest SOM unlow'
arl acrllrni should spoil the blggr.t
scoop that was ever made from Wash
ington.
20 Ear a. ihl. enl ot the business was
concerned thing. went a'lmlrahly. Dur
ing all that -yrnlns the Telegraph insiru-
ment. we're bGslly liking In the room
a the Ebbitt House ant the mes uge
sent fying -inu't ,neplslv u three citie..
None of a.. other correspondent. here
had any no,iop of uhit wa. goln. On.
hui Ia New York word got out Ia srm
way that the me.sigr vas CONN: oye
the Wires. W Que ,,oul I tell whl h Pc
per ~. g-itlng u, but the runor s't the
correspondent. there on the alert. The
men " ho represented Chicago paper. w
the m-tropoll. wired to the home Office.
. wsrning. To prevent tie hsppcnin;
of at what lid ocrur the NeN York
Time. WAS held back from the prr.se.
for fort,-iye minutes after the usu'l
time. a. quickly as Il MAS i.sucj, how
ever, IL Was s.iysd aud the entire m-s-
.sge Of the Pre.i,lent, covering NOR.
than page aud half, was telegraphs,l
10 the chic go Tribune, the lnt-r-Ocein
ani other dsllies In the same city. II !.
not surprising thu the Chicago 1imc.,
finding it, boped-tor scoop" gobbl~i