The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-03-18
There Are Mere Than $4,000 Manuscripts in
His Own Hand Writing in the
Congressional Library.
No Man Ever Used Pen More Freely Than
Jefferson and No One More Careful
in Keeping Copies.

There are more than $4,000 manu-
scripts in the handwriting of Thomas
Jefferson in the congressional library,
most of them being copies of private
letters and public documents made
with his own hand and filed away for
his protection or reference in the fu-
ture. The papers were obtained by
purchase On two occasions from his
family. The first collection included
only his public papers; the second en-
braced large amount Of private cor
respondence, chiefly upon politics and
other topics of public interest. The re-
maindef of Mr.. Jefferson's voluminous
archives were acquired by his grand
son, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge Of Bos-
ton, who is having them carefully ex-
amined. Those which have any public
or family interest are being preserved
and will be published; those purely
personal and without permanent inter-
est are being destroyed, says the Chi
cago Record-Herald.
Probably no man ever used pen
more freely than Mr.. Jefferson. He
was scrupulous in preserving copies
of everything he wrote, and to enable
him to do so with the least possible
labor he invented the screw letter
press, which is now used in every Of
fee in the country. The first letter
press ever made was presented by him
to John Adams, then minister of the
United States in London. Before he
designed that contrivance Mr.. Jeffer-
son used what he called polygraph,
the original of which is now preserved
Virginia.
Before he invented this machine Mr..
Jefferson copied all Of his letters with
his own hand before mailing them.
His penmanship is perfect. Every let
ter is perfectly formed. His dairy and
some of his account books are kept in
so minute hand that some Of the en-
fries cannot be read without magni-
flying glass. He was ambidextrous.
He could write equally well with
either hand. It would have been i'm
possible for him to do so much writing
if he had been dependent upon one
hand alone.
Worthington G. Ford, chief of the
division of manuscripts in the congress
sional library, has charge of the JEFF
ferson papers and is now engaged in
preparing them for publication. He
has made some interesting discoveries
and has found letters which throw
new light upon the character and mo-
fives Of Jefferson.
'Three men stand out in the revolu-
tion distinguished for their silence
Washington, Franklin and Jefferson "
said Mr.. Ford the other day. ''No
long address or speech is recorded
from any of them. Washington never
wrote for newspaper, unless adver-
tisements concerning land can be
counted as literary contributions.
Franklin was essentially newspaper
man and wrote columns Of precious
paragraphs, but nothing Of length.
jefferson was the most voluminous
writer in our history, but we have no
great papers from his pen. He was a
believer in the use of campaign litera-
ture, and in April, 1900, when his con-
test for the presidency was at its
height, he sent eight dozen copies Of a
pamphlet by Cooper, containing some
political principles, with a view that
one should be sent to every county
committee in the state But it was
not to be known that the pamphlets
came from Jefferson, for, he says, you
can readily see what handle would
be made of my advocating their con-
tents ...
Jefferson was great believer in
the power of the press" continued Mr.
Ford, "and was continually giving
both private and public assistance,
both financial and moral support, to
editors who advocated doctrines he be.
lieved in, and, as one might expect,
he suffered severely from some of
Them afterward. when his chickens