The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-08
Absolutely Pure

| o.
mon to the cheap brands. Royal Baking
Fowder Co.. New York.
| produced again and again, there Is no
longer any real need to consult the
original. Il is taken out only at long
intervals 20 be shown to some dist'n-
| guished visitor.
| The Declaration OF independence is but
| one OF many original manuscripts Of
great value belonging to the State de-
partmert. Some Of these manuscripts,
OF course. are priceless. A millionaire
collector would give a fortune to own
the Declaration OF Independence, and
think he was getting il cheap. The manu-
script OF the Constitution, too. is price
less. Many Of the other documents. how
ever, have a easurable money value
in fact. soma Of them were purchased by
tie government. Among the most i'm
pGrtant papers are the records of the
Constitutional Congress, which have al
Ways belonged to the government. They
| were transferred to the State depart
ment by en- act passed September Is.
1889. An expert in the library says that
a
lion dollars il they could be put on the
market.
In 1884 and ls49 Congress bought the
Sparks collection oc Wasningtoniana.
The two appropriations made for the pur-
pose aggregated $4,000. and the papers
would be cheap al many times that sum
today. Half a century ago collectors Of
manuscripts were few, and the govern
ment met with little competition in bid
ding for the Sparks collection.
In 184s collection of Madison's papers
was offered TO the government by his
family. and it was purchased for s25, O0O
Later in the same year $4,000 was APP
propriated for the purcha Sc Of Jefferson's
papers, and a Ike amount for Hamil-
toms. In the year following $500 was
! paid for Monroe's papers. No other ap-
preparation was made by Congress for
similar purpose until 1882. when Henry
Stevens Of London, offered for sale a
collection OF Franklin's papers, and
the government paid $4,000 for them.
AS an evidence Of the cheapness of the
earlier purchases, comparison Of the
Franklin with the Washington papers
shows that the government paid $35, 900
for thirty-two volumes in the one case
and s45,00 for 33S volumes n the other.
But this is not conclusive, for the Frank
lin volumes contain many more manu-
scripts than the Washington volumes
The earlier collectors of manuscripts
scattered them through many volumes.
For several years past the librarian of
the State department has been busy con-
densing the Washington collection with
view to putting 1T all in fifty volumes.
In IT'S original form it was larger than
all the other collections put together.
emitting the records of the Continental
Congress. The whole number of volumes
OF manuscript was 974. and of these 3O7
contained the Congressional records
All these documents, with the excep-
ton Of the three already named as being
in the steel vault, are kept in cases in
the library. Think OF keeping a million
dollars worth OF papers, which could
not possibly be replaced. in a wooden
case behind glass doors! Yet the depart
ment has never lost any Of its valued
manuscripts. In fact, with the excep-
ton Of such unique rarity as the great
q,
which was reported as stolen recently,
nothing in the form OF property would
be so certain Of Identification, if offered
for sale. as one OF these documents.
They have this further advantage-the
diamond might possibly be broken UP
and sold piecemeal without identified
ton, while the manuscripts could be
identified line by line and word by word,
even if each were torn in fragments.
The State department has full descrip-
tive list of these papers, and the most
important of them were copied and pub
l.sned by order Of Congress some years
ago.
Yet, not long since, two young clerks
in the library OF Congress stole from the
library some Of the valuable manu-
scripts which belonged 10 the Toner col
lection. They were offered TO collectors
III New York, and some Of them were
sold to ". F. Havemeyer. but the deal
ers who handled them suspected that
they belonged 10 the government, and
notified the authorities. This brought
about an investigation. which resulted in
the apprehension cf the thieves. TIE
documents in the State department Were
stolen. For this reason the clerks who
have occasion 70 handle the papers are
trusted almost implicitly. From the van
dal visitor the manuscripts are protected
by a Waterman. who sits in the library
during business hours, and by other
watchmen who patrol the halls ar hall
hour intervals when the department is
closed.
None OF these documents can be taken
away without. a special order from the
Secretary OF State. In fact. none Of the
manuscripts has left the department.
building since It's completion, excepting
in 1893, when some Of them were shipped
20 the Chicago Exposition. as has been
stated.
The manuscript. VOLUMES. however. were
taken 70 Philadelphia by The foreman in
charge Of the work OF restoring the docu-
n,ents. There they were ''inlaid" by ex-
per,s whose business is the restoration %
manuscripts which have become ragged
through age and wear. These two docu-
rnsn,s were washington's school copy
book and his diary. The .'inlaying" con-