The morning call., 1893-12-03
Mr.. CleveIand'S Messape
to Congress.
A WELL-GUARDED DOCUMENT
Type and Proofs Kept In Burglar
Proof Safe by the Govern
ment Printer.

| fduCo CUpy D6 S6CuI6u IL WOuIQ DrlQP a
hundred dollars for every Grabbed stroke
IN the signature at its close. Presidents
messages always affect the stock market,
and once every year the President puts
forth paper which makes and unmakes
fortunes. This was never more so than it
is to-day. and there are numbers of New
York brokers who are ready to pay well
for advance information. A WaLstreet
man is said to have offered S25. 600 to one OF
the White House employees for an advance
copy of one of Andrew Johnson's messages,
and one OF President Hayes messages was
sold to the newspapers by the printer who
set up for $1,000. The agreement was that
he was to have $500, and the combination
which bought 1t were the correspondents of
the Chicago Times. of the Cincinnati En-
quirer and the New York Times. Each of
these papers was to pay $500 for the exclu-
sive use of the message, but the first named
went back on its bargain through the differ
epce in time between New York and Chi
cagO. The Chicago Tribune correspondent
in New York had heard that the message
! was to be printed. He remained up all
night and bought the first New York
papers that came from the press. He
found the message in the New York Times
and at once telegra phed it to his Chicago
| paper. Storey was then editor of the Chi
cagO Times, and he refused to pay his
| share OF the $500. and so the man only got
! $1,000 for his perfidy.
Cieveland's message has been very care
fully guarded. de has written the most
of it with his own pen, and he does more
and more of his own writing every day.
The White House has never been so close
and exclusive as it is now. and news has
never been more carefully watched. Presi-
| dent Cleveland seldom uses stenographer,
| tl0np0 There pO06
| writer's at the White House, and there is
| one who draws salary on the executive
payroll as such. The President prefers to
write his own letters, and his message has
been written almost entirely with his own
hand. He uses a pad and pen and he
has written the message in piecemeal, tax
ing up the different subjects one by one
and fitting the pieces into the mosaic, which
Is now in the hands of the Government
printers. He is a remarkably ready
writer. His hand is small and cramped.
but he writes rapidly and he revises little.
He has good command of language and
he likes Out-of-the-wav expressions. Dur
ing his last administration he penned the
longest message which was ever submitted
to Congress, and the probability is that the
present message will equal this in length
So far none of President Cleveland's
messages have beeen published in advance
Of their submission to Congress-. He has
been exceedingly careful to keep them from
the newspapers, and it is interesting to
know how this is done. The matter Is
given out only TO the most trusty COM
positors. and the proofs and the galleys
are locked UP when Ii OF in use in burglar
proof safe. This was the method which
was adopted when Cleveland was in the
White House before, and at this time the
Government printer read the proofs him.
self and made the corrections. He
brought the copy to the White House
and carried the proofs to President
Cleveland in his own hand. Then the
news was not half so valuable as it is now.
Advance information as to the financial
question is now being greedily asked for.
The whole country wants to know what
Cleveland is going to say on the tariff, and
his exact statement as 10 the Hawaiian
matter would be worth So line if it could
be published now. The employees about
the Executive Mansion appreciate this, and
they are as sientas the sphinx. Secretary
Thurber looks wise and says nothing.
Executive Clerk Pruden is more dumb and
owl-like than ever, and the whole White
House seems to have suddenly become
t0ngue-tied.
One of President Arthur's messages was
stolen and published day or so before it
was delivered in the House of Representa-
tives. and Grants first message was read
by the whole country Gay before Con-
:. gress had it. One of the most striking
thefts of Presidents messages was one of
Lincoln's. which was gotten by Chevalier
Wykoff for the New York Herald. and it
is believed that this man obtained a sight
of the message through Mrs. Lincoln. He
was living here at Washington as gentle
man of society rather than newspaper
man. and when his dispatch was pub
lished he was called before a committee
of the House and comm aDded to state
where he had gotten the message. He re-
piled that he was bound under promise
of secrecy not to reveal this matter, and 1t
was currently reported that Mrs. Lincoln
| haH
out riding with her in her carriage. Pres
ident Lincoln was greatly annoyed over
the matter, and Wykoff finally said that
the gardener at the White House had got
ten the manuscript and showed it to him.
His statement was evidently disbeiieved.
for Congress did nothing with the garden
er, and he afterward received an appoint
ment as second lieutenant in the army.
President Harrison spent fully as much
time upon his messages as does President
Cleveland. He wrote them in sections and
handed the first draft over to Miss Sanger.
who transcribed them with the typewriter
and handed the copy back to the President
for revision. President Harrison then went
over this copy, changing 1t here and there,
and sometimes rewriting an entire para
graph. After he had finished 1t was given
to Miss Sanger to be again copied and again
revised, until it exactly suited President
Harrson's ideas. He was very particular
as 10 his messages and his state papers
will rank high for their diction and thought.
None of his messages were ever published
in advance. though they were set up at the
Government printing office. President
Harrison gave positive instructions as to
the care to be taken in regard to them, and
at one time he thought of having the
printers come to the White House to set
them up, at least the report was published
at the time.
The message does not go to Congress In
typewriter form. 1t is usually sent in
manuscript on long sheets of gray-blue
paper, and it seldom reaches Congress In
the handwriting of the President. One of
the best penmen in the United States ia
the executive clerk. Mr.. Pruden, and it is
he who copies the messages for Congress.
| Two copies are made. one for the Senate
and the other for the House, and at the
same time that these are read printed
copies are laid on the desks of the Sena-
tors and Representatives, some of whom
follow the reading Of the clerk with the
books and others take the printed mes
sage home to read at their leisure.
1t is said that President Cleveland writes
his own messages. He takes plenty Of ad-