Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-06
Over $4,000 Manuscripts in
the Congressional Library.
FREELY USED HIS PEN
THE GREAT DEMOCRAT A voLU-
MINoUS WRITER OF HISTORY.
His Relations With the Editors and
Newspaper Contributors of the
Early Days of the Republic.
BY WIN. Z. CURTIS.

BY VIM E. CURTIS,
Written for The Evening Star and the Chicago
| Record Herald.
| There are more than "a 900 manuscripts
| 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
flied away for his protection or reference
| in the future. the papers were Obtained
| by purchase on TWO occasions from his
family. The first collection included only
! his public papers; the second embraced
large amount of private correspondence,
| chiefly upon politics and other topics of
public interest. The remainder of MIR. JEFF
| ferson's voluminous archives were ac-
| CURED by his grandson, Thomas Jefferson
Coolidge of Boston, who is having them
| carefully examined Those which have any
| public or family interest are being pre-
| served and will be published; those purely
| personal and without permanent interest
| are being destroyed.
| Probably man ever used pen more
freely than Mr.. jefferson. He was scrupu-
| lous in preserving copies of everything he
| wrote. and to enable him to do with the
least possible labor he invented the screw
letter press, which is now used in every
office 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 con-
| trvance Mr.. jefferson used what he called
| Photograph the original of which is now
| preserved in the museum of the University
of Virginia. Two pens are connected at
| invarjable distance by a system of wooden
| parallelograms. SO that whatever move
| ment is communicated to one pen will be
| duplicated by the other. Hence If one pen
| traces letters figures upon sheet its
companion makes the same marks upon
| another sheet. and the writer can produce
| two identical pages at the time.
Before he invented this machine Mr. JEFF
| ferson copied all of his letters with his own
hand before mailing them. His penmanShip
is perfect Every letter is perfectly form
| ed. His diary and some of his account
DOCKS are kept in minute hand that
| some of the entries cannot be read Without
masnifying glass. He was ambldextrous.
| lie could write equally we'll with either
hahd. 1T would have been impossible for
him to do 50 much writing if he had been
| dependent upon one hand alone.
Jefferson and the Newspapers.
Worthington c. Ford chief of the divi-
sion of manuscripts in the Congressional
| Library has charge of the jefferson
papers, and is now engaged in preparing
them for publication. He has made some in
teresting discoveries and has found letters
| which throw light upon the character
| and motives of jefferson.
| "Ihfee men stand out in the revolution
| distinguished for their lence-Washington
|
| other day. No long address or speech is
| recorded from any of them. Washington
| never wrote for newspaper, unless adVer-
| tlsements concerning land can be counted
| as literary contributions. Franklin was es-
| sentiaIly newspaper man and wrote COL
| umns of precious paragraphs. but nothing
| of length. jefferson was the most volu-
| minouS writer in our history but we have
| no great papers from his pen. He was a
| believer in the of campaign literature
and in April, 1900. when his contest for the
presidency was at its height. he sent eight
| dozen copies of a pamphlet by Cooper, con-
tanning 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 contents
jefferson n was asa great real, believer in the
| "and was continually giving both private
| and public assistance, both financial and
| moral support. to editors who advocated
doctrines he believed In, and, as one might
| expect. he suffered severely from some of
them afterward, when his chickens came
| home to rOost.
-. Hanley Smith, grandson of Samuel
| Harrison Smith, has recently shown me an
| entry in the manuscript "reminiscences of
the latter's widow indicating that Mr.. JEFF
| ferson was responsible for Mr.. Smiths re-
| moval from Philadelphia to Washington to
| establish the famous National Intelligencer
| The memorandum says that During part
of the time that Mr.. Jefferson was president
| of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia
| Mr.. Smith was it's secretary. prize offer
| ed by the society for the best system of ma
tional education gained by Mr.. Smith.
The merit of this essay first attracted the
| notice of Mr.. Jefferson to its author. The
| personal acquaintance which then took
| place led to a friendly intercourse, which
| Influenced the future destiny of my hus-
| band. And it was by Mr. Jefferson's ad
vice that he removed to Washington and
| established the National Intelligencer.'
There is nothing among the Jefferson
papers confirming this statement" con-
| tinued Mr.. Ford, but there is no reason
| to doubt it's accuracy, and 1t 1t pleasure
to find Mr.. Jefferson encouraging an able
and upright journalist. 1t cannot be said
that the ideals of journalism were very
| high in his days. The intensity of party
struggles made the lowest instruments ac-
| ceptable. Personalities were freely ex-
! changed; the character of no man was
| safe from the assaults of anonymous scrib-
| blers. Neither the journalist nor his half
| brother the pamphleteer. was choice in
| his object or manner of attack. William
| Cobbett, one of the ablest editors of that
| day, wrote in the Political Censor for Sep
| TENDER, 1875. that that lump of walking
| tallow. streaked with lamp-biack that calls
| itself Samuel F. Bradford, has the impu-
| dence, etc, etc.
| The Early Newspapers.
| I'm those days papers were generally
short-lived. and maintained for campaign
1
| object of the campaign had been obtained.
During the Washington administration we
| find cohort of such papers. edited, as a
rule by aliens, whose records before they
refugeed to America were fortunately
thinly yelled in ignorance, with just enough
known to add a piquant favor to their per-
| sonalities. To pose as martyrs of the per-
! secution of a foreign monarchy was An al
| most certain passport to an American ed
itorial office. There were newspapers adapt
| ed to the republican palate and others to
| the ants. OF the latter class We're the
| Columbian Sentinel. the Hartford News
paper. Noah Webster's Minerva, Tennows
| Gazette, Davies Richmond paper, etc. The
| leading republican papers were Adams
Boston paper, Greeneafs of New York
! Freneau's of New Jersey, Bache's of Phil
adelphia. and Peasants of Virginia. While
| the publishers of these newspapers were
| Americans. the principal writers were of
foreign origin and represented not very
| high type of adventurer. A plentiful sup
! ply of billingsgate. intense partisanship. a
| trace of intelligence and bigoted assur-
| ance that the opposing party was entirely
| wrong represented the full outfit of these