The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1907-11-22

iHN oHls plC'e vi really pure lIleTd
ture ever officially issued from the
White house is the proclamation ap
pointing a day of thanksgiving. AL
other papers written by the president
are business documents, the phraseol
ogy OF which is technical; but this an.
nual message to the people is always
/ a painstakingly wOrded and grateful
composition. A fairly illustrative ex.
ample will be found in Mr.. Roosevelt's
! proclamation setting aside the last
Thursday of the present month for the
Thanksgiving OF 1906.
1t is the duty of Mr. Loeb (who runs
the machinery of the presidents bust.
ness, arranging all his engagements
Tor him. to call Mr.. Rooseyelt's attep.
ton to the fact that THANKSGIVING an.
proaches and to remind him that a
proclamation must be written. OF
course, it requires considerable time
to do this, and so busy a man as the
chief executive of the nation might be
excusable II 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
mas 10 be prepared, the president de. |
votes some time to thinking out a new
shape in which to put the more or less
stereotyped ideas which are to be OK.
pressed, and, as he does so, jots down
lew memoranda In pencil on a 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 daintiIv
and tersely phrased. This, however is
only rough draft. 1t is copied in
by the stenographer with
ines twice the ordinary distance apart
so as to be convenient for corrections
and interlineationS, and in this shane
S handed back to Mr.. Roosevelt. He
alters it bit, modifying a sentence
lere and changing word there, until
suits him-whereupon a fair CODY
S made, again submitted for correc-
ion, and finally sent over to the de. :
'artment of state.
At the department of state the proc. i
amation is beautifully engrossed on
great sheet of fine parchment by a 4
Jerk highly skilled in this kind of pen. =
lanship. 1t is considerable task, and +
couples some days, at the end of n
hitch the document is sent back to II
he white House to receive the presi. =
ent's signature, and is thereupon re. h
lrned to the department to be signed :,
Y the secretary of state and sealed 9,
18th the great seal of the United -,
tates. ~
This seal, by the way, is a sort Of ii
deral fetch. 1t is the most sacred W
all things that belongs to the gov. W
nment; and no print of it is ever al. B,
wed to be given away or sold
ough, OF course, it is attached IN all
Ilitary and naval commissions and
various other executive documents
was made by a New York jeweler at ..
cost of $4,000, and is kent in w ~.
autiful rosewood box at the state W. ".
partment In order that It NAV be .'
ed for stamping the Thanksgiving 'e'
'clamation, a printed order to that ;,
ect must be signed by Mr.. Roose. ao'
t. In
The department of state is the nor va.
nent depository of executive procla. Ar
lions. All the Thanksgiving nroc. "
nations ever issued by the presi. the
It's of the United States are filed to
ay in its archives-back even r. :.
., when George Washington co, oo
lie the lsth day of February, in that hoI.
r, as a date on which the neonTo s cai'
uld thank God for exemption from d dI,
'ign war and from insurrection " o oa,'
'sequently, the engraved proclama. ~ !,
Is retained by the d.nort,,.,,. "