The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-11-04
MAKING HIS MESSAGE
President McKinIey's Method
of Work Described.
EXPANSION AND FINANCE
Saved for the Last-A Long
Document This Year.

New York, Nov. 3.-President McKin
ley is now busily engaged in preparing hi
annual message to the Congress, which
! will be assembled in five weeks. All Pres
! idential messages are important, and tbs
! Presidents message this year will be {
| document of uncommon significance. But
aside from the gravity of the questions
| involved, it is interes ting to observe the
methods Mr. Kinley is adapting in assem-
! ling the parts of the message into one
/ harmonious whole.
/ His granting of the message is a grad
ual process of extraction, without any
definite order at the outset, one part be-
ing taken up and elaborated and then sci
aside for some other part, and finally al
the parts being fitted together into one
homogeneous whole. The President has
been jotting down ideas or sentences al
summer long. While on his Western triT
recently he frequently made a memoran-
dunn on some current topic which he was
turning over in his mind. All this frag-
mentary and embryonic material is now
serving as a sort of groundwork.
Mr.. MoKinley's methods Of work in this
message writing are most interesting He
is an early riser and after sitting in the
upper corridor, which serves as a sitting
room, with Mrs. Mckinley. reading his
paper and taking his morning smoke, he
likes to put in a half hour With the mes
sage, while his mind is clear and is free
from the harassments Which the official
day soon imposes. He goes to the IL
brary for this half hour on the message,
and Jtakes the big leathern chair at a
south window, with an outlook on the Pa
tomac
He does not use the small pads lof pa
per commonly in use, but draws from
a supply Of loose sheets which he keeps
near at hand. In making nots he uses
a pencil in preference to pen and ink,
and the notes are pretty full, often be-
ing in the form he expects to insert in the
message, although more often an analy-
sis which will serve when he dictates the
subject to his stenographer.
When a topic is ready to his satisfac-
ton, Benjamin F. Barnes, one Of the most
trusted stenographers, is called into the
library, and the President dictates from
his notes the final form which he wishes
to give to the topic. He Is a rapid die
tator, and seldom halts or hesitates for a
word or form of expression. Frequent
ly he adds gestures to emphasize some
point He dictates about seventy-five
words a minute.
One of the Cabinet officers gave me. an
interesting word picture of the President
engaged in writing out In full some fea-
lures of the message. AS thus described,
Mr.. Mckinley goes about the work in
no off-hand fashion. He does not sit with
cigar in mouth and run off sentences be-
tween whiffs Of smoke. He adjusts his
eyeglasses and concentrates all his at
teption on the slip of paper before him.
He writes rather slowly, shaping the let
ters with great precision. No matter
how profound the subject may be, the
President cannot bear to slight the dot
ting Of an '1'' or the crossing of a IT
While at work writing out parts of the
message in full, instead of making notes
for dictation, the President shuts himcelf
up, with the injunction to those about him
not to disturbe him for a definite period
unless something of pressing Importance
turns up. If such an occasion for inter-
ruption arises and Mr.. Porter enters the
library the President will continue bent
over his writing, unwilling for moment
or more to interrupt the thread of thought,
and when this IS ended he will look up
over the top of his eyeglasses, with the
inquiry:
"Well Porter what is it?''
Mr.. Mckinley is now using glasses all
the time when he writes. This gives a
new aspect to the square jawed face. The
eyeglasses are a rest for the Presidents
eyes, for he has been reading so many Of
fetal reports of late that he puts them on
to relieve the long continued strain Of
reading and writing.
Eleven O'Clock at night seems to be an
other favorite time for his concentrating
on the message At that time, however,
the President is in the Tuxedo coat which
he wears during the evening when the
occasion does not call for full dress. There
is usually a Cabinet officer or some other
official or prominent public man in for
a short chat. And when the callers are
gone the President again goes to the IL
brary for furdther attention to the mes
sage. But It is not a long continued lab
or at this late hour, for the President
sees Mr.. Cortelyou by half-past eleven at
the latest, and then. coming to the cor
ridor door for a pleasant wave OF the
hand to the attendants, goes to the pri-
waite quarters Of the mansion and retires.
He is never about after midnight, unless
some extraordinary occurance keeps him
up.
But is should De understood that the
Presidents message IS not all written by
the President, as the eight Cabinet Of
ficers have a considerable part not only
in moulding 1t. but also in framing the
actual text Mr. Mckinley is departing
from this coustom. however. and is max
ing the message this year as far as pos
sible his individual expression. With his
predecessor. Mr.. Cleveland, the message
was mainly a joining together OF the parts
contributed by the several Cabine officers,
Mr.. Cleveland holding that the Secretaries
had the best knowledge of the subjects
immediately under their control But, AZ
the same time. Mr.. Cleveland modified
and revised. and there was evidence Of his
| vigorous personality IN making the joints
/ and in framing recommendation based
/ on the Secretaries statements. The on
! " exception TO this was in the parts sub
! mitted by Mr.. Olney. which. an in
/ formed by those perfectly familiar with
/ the facts. went into the message verbatim
as Mr.. Olney wrote them
! Mr. Mckinley this year Is taking the
| reports Of the several Cabinet officers ans
using them as q basis for his Own expires
sions and recommendations Still. the Cab
met officers VIII furnish practically ali o.
I the recitals % accomplished fact not in.
! ,.,4,-;r,y racer,ry,e-l5zt fous for me future