Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-01-18
( CAPITAL CHAT.
Something About Asst Sec. to
President Barnes.
Rel44iuA.
Wonderful Ne rory aad ability Of II.
N. Jorda. Of the brary.
Free Rural Route to ," Established at
Meree r, ri.

70 tho "a r,itOl They e re IN DIX ODiOHS
sb.,.J c,iv4Iopcs. eorf INES white and
..,..,l1.,;r,.c lime car lily sealed and
ara. handed no to the .esk of the pre-
sidin,, officer of the nate and House
,-i., .,r.at formalit In the old days
TN. arrival Of m, ages from the
n,.. ,.nt vyac q. ,ciated with a
,lu,n,, and rot1,nC form, smooth
shaver, silent face, opped by hish
silk hat This d. 'iptlon Htted the
late !amentcd Pr l, VINO was at the
Whit. iT.uso ~ decades and the
true,.d friend many Presidents.
Mi Pruden j IA ID to and FRO De
tween the CAPT ii md the White House
tbo.sarde Of -. conveying all kinds
Of '.;iittcn messages. He spoke IN deep
-fcnes. as he bowed low at the head OF
the center aisle, Of Senate or House
and announced simply: "A message
rom the President"
But Mai. Pruden's earthly days were
finally Numbered and Presideh'
Roosevelt selected another man for the
place. In the White House offices ne
sits at a big mahogany table, not lar
from the big mahogany table Oh sec
rotary Loeb. His name is benjamin
F. Barnes and his title is assistant
secretary to the President Where
Prudcn was rotund. Barnes IS sim.
and whore Pruden was short Barnes
is tall. Pruden had 4 deep and 1rulty
Voice, Barnes is hardly shrlil but ne
speaks in higher key than ms prede-
t.nssor Withal he Is known around the
executive offices as a kindly WIZ. ne
things he says are repeated at gath
crinrs over town. His observations are
otter very sage.
Mr.. Barnes gets his wit from his
Yankee mother. who was Miss ing
gins of Eden, Me. Although born out
eide the State OF Maine, he is very
nroud Ct his Maine ancestry rur-
thcrmore he is living up to the tradI-
tions of thousands OF Maine boys, who
20 out into the cold world to make
career for themselves. Barnes has
succeeded in no small degree. The peo-
ple around the Capitol like him. They
have come to cherish quite as much
Of an affection for his appearance in
his long and high" to deliver the Pres
id .nt's messages as they did for the
cjrrnmspect Mai. PruGcn. OF course
administrations come and go jut II
n Democrat should get in some day it
is question whether Barnes would be
displaced He has come to be such a
q useful citizen that the new Democrat
u would probably want Il few practiced
hands around and would tell Barnes
to keep on carrying messages to the
CAPITOL Some think it no: improbable
that some day with the changes that
time brings. Barnes will become sec
rotary to the President. He is admir-
ably fitted by temperament and other
Iyis. for the job. Furthermore he was
n side partner of Secretary George l..
Cortelyou the most successful Secre-
tary 10 q President. who ever stood be-
tween the clamoring public and the
first citizen of the land.
But one finds Maine men or men OF
Maine extraction everywhere in wash
ington. On the way from Senate t.
House, or vice versa. as one traverSes
the long corridor. there is Il little room
at one side. During the day thousands
of persons dive in there. 1t has only
a few feet of floor space. and yet scores
Of senator's and members tired the mar
row way thereto. Many more send
their clerks with messages. That is
the Capitol end of the tunnel to the
Congressional library. In thu little
room there is machinery which trans
ports books back and forth by The
thousands.
The man in charge of the little room
is from Maine. Horace NJ. Jordan, 4
graduate of Howdoin, and Il native OF
&c Of &c
booky. What there is within the COW
crs of the hundreds of thousands OF
volumes in the Congressional library
Jordan either knows off hand or ear
find. He is withal courteous ana tha'
is one Of the prime requisites. Sena-
tors and members and supreme Cour
justices. all Of whom have the priv
lcres OF sending for books through the
tunnel are sometimes crochety. Some
times they want n man who can tel
them what they want. They may nave
vague idea about it. They may wan
certain authority but do not know wha
books to consult.
There is where Jordan comes on
strong. Ten to one. he can tell an
there is an end of the worry. Their
paper is driven with the speed of
bullet through 4 compressed air tup
To the gorgeous building to the east
Nimble clerks ut the other end clim
to certain shelves, which Jordan, nj
knowing. has designated. Down come
the desired book. The little truck be
gins to roll through the long tunne
toward the dome. which is topped b.
the Goddess of Liberty. \ slow. meas
ured motion of wheels and other ma
chinery. The book or books ar
dumped out through funny looking
kind of brass fingers. and there yo1
are. 1t is all due to the prescieacc o
Jordan. who sits at his unpretentiou
little desk as though there were moth
ing wonderful about it at ALL
Then there are scores of men in pub
lie life who are omnivorous readers
They like to spend their evenings por
ing over good fiction. history. or book
of travels. The Bowdoin graduate su
rervises their reading for them. as
were. That is, he advises when thes
readers seek advice. Ofrentimes the
know what they want and of cours
that settles II
AS a rule the New Englandcrs ar
studious and read books extensivel.