Evening journal., 1912-10-05
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Gift Of Memory That
Puzzled a President
BY Holland.

The document room Of the Senate
Of the United States in the Capitol at
Washington is vast, cavernous
place. II contains many recesses,
all of them Lined with, shelves. These
shelves are filled with congressional
documents, many Of which go back
to the early Congresses.
Il is one of the largest pamphlet
rooms in the world Its sole Occu-
pant, officially, was for many years
brlght-eyed man whose name was
AMI Smith, He was known as the
clerk OF the document room of the
Senate.
Shortly after James A. Garfield be-
came President he was chatting with
some friends IN the White House IL
Drary one evening. when his eye fell
upon a Senate document whose num-
bor was high in the thousands--some-
thing like three hundred and fifty
thousand--thaf lay upon the table.
i have sometimes thought that the
most amazing gift of intellect that |
have ever met with is that possessed
by Amzi Smith," said the President.
Il have often tried to reason out for
myself how Mr. Smith has been able
10 train a memory which is natur-
ally prodigious, but which ! think,
now surpasses within the field in
which II operates the memory Of any
man living or dead.
Il can understand the quality OF
mind which enables a man to carry
mentally the intricate figures OF Il
mathematical problem. Colburn, Of
mental arithmetic fame, was able to
do that. And Barnum used to have
mathematical prodigy who. by some
| freak OF intellect. was able to do in
stantly In his head complicated prob
lens of addition or division or sub
traction. But this man Smith has a
different quality of memory. I wish
some great student of the human
intellect would submit Mr.. Smith to
an examination.
About two years before I was
elected president, a member of the
lower House got one day into discuss
sion with a United States Senator
about the mystic quality of memory
The representative cited some of the
prodigious feats of memory ascribed
to Macaulay. and asserted 9that he
thought memory was very closely al
lied with that attribute Of man which
is called the spirit.
"The Senator said in reply that he
would. within a day or two, furnish
the other with most extraordinary
exhibition or illustration of what the
powers of memory can be- He in
vited his friend to meet him at the
Senate cloak room on a certain day,
and whom the two did meet the SEN
ator led the way 10 the Senate docu-
ment room
HE took from his pocket little
memorandum and said TO Mr. Smith
that he wanted to get a Senate docu-
ment containing a report upon public
Senate committee at some time dur
ing the administration of President
Pierce 3t3
INSTANTLY, Mr. Smith replied. You
want Senate document number so
and-so, file so-and-sora7IH get it,
"Mr Smith disappeared somewhere
ia the dim recesses at the rear Of
tho document room In two or three
minutes he reappeared with a docu-
men from which he was blowing the
dust The number IL bore was identi-
cal with the number Mr. Smith had
named.
This seems rather musty,' said
the Senator, and dusty. II has been
n ARAE iiHAt hAAAR IL Wao AaAlDu AL .
hasn't itg
1T hasn't been called for for near
ly fifteen years Mr.. Smith tapped
his forehead for minute and then
gave the precise date when the docu-
ment had last been asked for.
We'll, Mr.. Smith was requested to
bring four or five ancient documents
or reports. He named tho numbers
instantly and without delay brought
the documents.
"In that mans mind are stored not
only the numbers but the subject
matter of every one of those almost
countless documents that are in his
care He has never been known 10
make a mistake He was once asked
how he did NJ and hs only reply vas
I don't know; I just do it,"
To the day of his death, years
after Garfelds, Mr.. Smith was never
known TO make a mistake IN calling
from memory the number of any doc
ument that had passed into his case
Copyright. 1912. by f. j. Edwards
All rights reserved.)