Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1907-11-27

Au0 Ouly piece Oh really pure lleEd-
ture ever officially issued from the
White house is the proclamation ap-
pointing day of thanksgiving. All
other papers written by the president
are business documents, the phraseol-
ogy OF which Is technical; but this an
nnal message to the people Is always
"a palnstakingly worded and grateful
composition. A fairly illustrative ex-
ample will be found in Mr.. Roosevelts
proclamation setting aside the last
Thursday of the present month for the
Thanksgiving Of 1906.
It Is the duty Of Mr.. Loeb (who runs
the machinery OF the presidents bust
ness. arranging, all his engagements
for him) to call Mr.. Roosevelt's atten-
ton 70 the fact that Thanksgiving ap-
proaches, and to remind him that a
proclamation must be written. OF
course, 1t requires considerable time
10 do this, and SO busy a man as the
chief executive of the nation might be
excusable if he handed over the task
TO some subordinate, contenting him
self with affixing his signature. But
custom demands that the work shall
be performed by the president himself.
Accordingly, when the proclamation
has to be prepared, the president de-
votes some time to thinking out q new
shape in which to put the more or less
stereotyped ideas which are to be ex-
pressed, ana, as he does SO, iots down
a few memoranda in pencil en- paper
pad. Then, touching a buZz-button, he
summons one of the dozen stenograph-
ers who are always in attendance, and
dictates to him, carefully the wording
of the document. 1t is short-not more
than 400, or 500 words-but daintily
and tersely phrased. This, however. is
only a rough draft 1t is copied in
,ypescript by the stenographer, with
tines twice the ordinary distance apart,
so as to be convenient for corrections
aud interlineations, and in this shape
Is handed back to Mr. Roosevelt. He
alters 1t bit, modifying a sentence
here and changing word there, until
It suits him-whereupon a fair copy
Is made, again submitted for correc-
ton. and finally sent over to the de-
partment of state.
AT the department of state the proc
Iamation Is beautifully engrossed on
a great sheet OF fine parchment by a
clerk highly skilled in this kind of pen
manship. 1t is a considerable task, and
occupies some days. at the end of
which the document Is sent back to
the white House to receive the presi-
cents signature, and is thereupon re-
turned to the department to be signed
by the secretary of state and sealed
with the great seal of the United
States.
This seal, by the way, is a sort of
federal fetch. 1t is the most sacred
of all things that belongs to the gov
eminent: and no print of it Is ever al
lowed to be given away or sold
though, of course, 1t Is attached to all
military and naval commissions, and
10 various other executive documents.
II was made by New York jeweler at
cost of $4,000. and is kept in a
beautiful rosewood box at the state
department In order that it may be
used for stamping the Thanksgiving
proclamation. a printed order to that
effect must be signed by Mr.. Roose-
Welt.
The department of state is the per-
manent depository Of executive procla-
nations. All the Thanksgiving proc
lamations ever issued by the presi-
dents OF the United States are filed
away in It's archives-back even to
1895. when George Washington set
aside the 18th day OF February, In that
year. as a date on which the people
should thank God for exemption from
foreign war and from insurrection."
Consequently. the engraved proclama-