The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-07
ABOUT THE MESSAGE.
How 1t Was Written and Sent Out to
the Newspapers of the Country.


Washington Letter in Chicago Record
The original manuscript is entirely in
the Presidents handwriting, and there
are few changes or erasures. His copy
is always "clean," as the printers saw
He is fastidious in that respect. If he
wants to make any serious changes in. his
text he invariably rewrltes the whole page.
His Handwriting is small and almost girl
ish, very even and regular. from the begin
ming to the end, and any one who will ex-
anime the message and see how long il
is VIII realize the manual labor involved
in the preparation of the document, for
ne must have written parts of it over
several time. l have noticed as a general
rule that large men write small hand.
and have heard it attributed to the fact
that they have a fat hand and a heavy
arm, but the Presidents penmanship is
unusually small and neat and exact
Two copies in manuscript were made by
Mr.. Pruden and Mr.. Young the assistant
secretaries at the executive mansion. one
for the Senate and one for the House of
Representatives, for the typewriter is not
considered sufficiently dignifed for so
distinguished a service, and they were
signed with the Presidents autograph.
They go upon the official files of the two
-NCN'No VI NOAiSiGSS- II Is PROBABLE that
Mr.. Pruden and Mr.. Young are the only
persons, except the President himself. who
knew what was in the message before
1t was read to congress. None of the
cabinet saw it, and the President did not
consult a soul as to his treatment of the
many public questions that are discussed.
That portion which relates to foreign af-
falrs was prepared from notes furnished
by Assistant Secretary Adee of the state
department He has assisted three or
four presidents in the same way but the
references to subjects under the juris-
diction of the other executive departments
were based upon the reports of the several
cabinet officers which were given the Pres
ident in proof sheets as fast as they were
ready
The President finished his message late
Saturday night The manuscript was
sent to the public printer a few moments
before II O'clock About twenty of the
most skillful and reliable compositors were
waiting at the printing office, and within
four hours after the copy was received
II was in type. The proof was read early
sunday morning and by noon 1000 PAM
phlets were printed and wrapped in sealed
bundles. The most of them were placed
in the vault at the printing office, to
which only the public printer himself and
Mr.. Collins, his chief clerk, have the COM
bination. Several similar packages were
handed to Col Crook of the white house
stan, who left with them on the 8 O'Clock
train Sunday afternoon for Baltimore.
where he was met by the postmaster. who
was intrusted with a sufficient number to
supply the newspapers of that city Then
the colonel took the next train for Phil
adelphia, where he remained all night and
delivered a bundle to the postmaster
there. At o'clock this morning he took
a train for New York, and at II o'clock
the postmaster of that city had the rest
of his burden, with instructions to hold
them until notified that the document
had been submitted to congress. The en-
tire message had to be telegraphed to the
papers elsewhere. The President would
not intrust it to the press associations
but took this extraordinary method of
distributing it.