The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-11-29
Manuscript Prepared Immediately A.
ter Expiration Of His Term Found
Among His Papers.

cOnQlLlOnS winch confronted him Often
times in his official work.
The document was prepared during
the months Immediately following his
retirement from the presidency, when
all the details were fresh in his MIND,
and when he had an abundance of lei
sure to devote to the preparation OF
the document. It had evidently been
prepared with studied care, for it is
written in a calm, dispassionate style,
such as he would have used in the
preparation of an important brief. The
main effort seems to have been to
have the historical facts all so clearly
stated and the relations of the import.
ant affairs of the Harrison administra-
ton so succinctly detailed that the
historian might be able to fix accu.
rately the blame and credit for every
act of the four years. No man con-
nected with the administration is
shielded, M mar criticised. In a cold.
formal manne the facts are stated,
just as they were developed from
month to month. The e~x-president
tells in the plainest language the trou-
bles he met, the difficulties he en-
countered, the things he tried to do,
and the plans along which he worked.
In some ne frankly admits the
plans we're not such as he would have
personally preferred, and there TO-.
lows the exact reason for accepting
the plans of others. Blame and credit
are placed where they belong, accord
ing to his views, and the document
laid away for the enlightenment of his
biographer and for the enrichment OF
American history when it shall have
been made public.
Private Correspondence.
It was to John L. Grifiths that
President Harrison left all his per-
sonal and official papers when he died,
and it was Grif1ths who was commits
stoned to examine them and prepare
the biography. Everything that had
been collected during the long public
career of Benjamin Harrison was left
in the library, from the private pepers
accumulated when he was a boy in
school until the close of the term as
president. There was an immense
amount OF private memoranda and cor
respOndence, of great value to the
%biographer in the determination of
facts, but impossible for publication.
MI. Grif1ths has not yet been able
to complete the classification of all
the papers, sc great was the mass
left, but in all the work he has found
no other document so extraordinary
in character, so full of interest, so
pregnant with live facts and so calmly
stated as the personally written his
tory of the administration. The self.
written history of an important four
years of national life, with the side
lights on the men and influences that
were active during that time, will
make one of the most interesting con-
tributions of recent years to the his
tory Of administrations when it is
published. It is not deemed wise to
publish the document now, for there
are many people whose doings are
clearly told in the paper who ire still
alive, and the effect of the publication
nov would be disastrous. 1t will be
published later, but the exact time
will probably depend on the personal
wishes of the family of the ex-presi-
dent and may be delayed until death
has claimed some of the men whose
participation in the affairs of the Har-
rison administration made them prom.
inent in the self-written history.
In the history he tells how certain
acts of the administration were cred
tied to him, whereas they belonged to
Secretary Blaine, and vice versa. He
was blamed for the deeds and judg-
ment of others and vas credited with
other acts not his. He corrects all
these mistakes on the part Of the
public and in doing so makes plain
the part played by all men connected
with the administration in the forma-
ton of the policies adopted and the
work done.
He discusses the conditions under