The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-11-26

'-AAS i1 "a 4llS
naine-the official who has exer-
cisea this picturesque function for
the past generation is herein de-
scflped, as also the interesting mo-
Gus opesrandi of ~proclainaing the
ho~liday-thanks promoters of the
past-wenan editor who was the
mother of Thanksgiving day-since
the rep9blic was established we
have had turlteyless Thanksgiving
IN spring and summer as well as
Two Ihankssiviags in the same ear
New 9o2laars used to eat ono
Thanksgiving dinner at home, and
then so to New England the next
week far another-the date uni
form only since Lincoln's time.
BY JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS.
The official thanks prompter of the
United States is, estensibly, the presi-
dent, but Actually. another high func-
tloflary on statsa.
For the past generation that astute
and Indispensable diplonlatist of ours,
Mr.. Alvey Augustus Adee, second as
slstant secretary OF state, has composed
Well night all of eur Thanksgiving proc
lamations-those little classics whose
diction has almost rivaled that of the
Episcopal liturgy itself. OF course, all
presidents within this time have had
the pFivRege of editing Nh. Adee's
arafts OF these p~roc}amations n in a
49, ALi'e u R&S vi ESSIS y
OF state. while keenly alive to the
novelty of his high authority, has pre-
ferred to ColnpoS this important in
strument, but these instances have
been unusua and scattering. Which
of these exceptional proclamations have
been composed by minds other than
that of Mr.. Adee is one of the state
secrets which our premier's depart
ment keeps under seal. theoretically
the nations hanks and the nations de-
tense is personally engineered by the
president himself.
Were these the days when mems
names We're suffixed by qualifying ad-
jectives. our official thanks prompter
YOU be known as 'Adee, the Indis-
pensable." For over AZ years he has
officiated in our diplomatic service,
although originally elevated thereto by
a republican president, he was persuad-
ed to remain an assistant secretary I'M
der the democratic premiers, who found
that they absolutely could not spare
him, despite the fact that many of the
faithful hankered for his office. Mr..
Adee's has long been the master hand
In the wording of treaties, the writing
of diplomatic notes to the powers, the
construction of state documents. He
is the m center of the depart
ment of state and it's index of diplo-
matte ~preceaents, as well as it's arbiter
III SOCldI plOCGUGIfce. NlGIl ulSllH-
guished foreigners visit our country 1t
is he who arTanges their seats at state
functions and their places in parades
or ceremonkals. Like all true geniuses
he is among the most modest of men,
and cares little for the shams of So
called society" After concentrating
his energies upon his official work for
10 months of the year, he cuts loose
each summer, expresses his bicycle to
New York, takes it aboard an ocean
steamer, mounts it on the European
side of the Atlantic and, with his cam
era slung across his back, rides
through Europe for two months. Dur
ing the past summer, although in his
18th year he thus rode 1000 miles
through France, Belgium and Holland,
taking snapshots all the way
After Mr.. Adee's draft of the Thanks
giving proclamation has been o. KID
by the president it is handed to the
state department expert penman, who
In his copperplate c~hirography writes
1t pom a large sheet of excellent
parchment. which is sent to the presi-
dent-thiS year almost across the con-
tinent-for his signature, and then re-
turned to the state department to be
signed by the secretary of state. Next
1t must be pressed with the great seal
of the United States, whose custodian
will refuse to impress it eve even up
on so important a document unless
authorized to do so by a formal war
rant signed by Mr.. Taft, for the use of
the great seal or the possession of an
impression thereof without the chief
executives written authority is a
grave offense, punishable by law. In
deed, the great seal-Which was made
by, a jeweler at a cost of $4,000, and
which is kept locked in a great rose
wood case-is the most sacred instru-
ment used by the government: Hav-
ing had this cipher of. the republic
rraccal into IL the now h1nkGDiVin O.
proclamation is filed away in the state
department archives. later to be bound
in it's chronological order, with other
accumulated proclamations.
Thus Uncle Sam takes all of these
technical pains merely to retain the
handsomely indicted proclamation as
his own souvenir and keepsake. But
before the instrument has been filed
away q typewriter opy is sent to the
state departments official printer, who
has a shop of his own in the basement
of our foreign office. His printed copies
are given to the newspapers or to any
one who wishes one.
Each of the state governors must al
so be sent an exact copy, but the de-
~partTnent's strict code of ctiquct de-
mands that these copies must not be
printed, but typewriter and signed by
the presidents secretary OF states own
hands. Zach governor then seconds
this move of the President in appoint
ing the annual feast day of thanks
and prayer, and. in their turn, the
mayors of cities now generally second
the move of the governor. BY such in
direct means does the prompting of
the nations thanks theoretically reach
the people, who actually receive it di-
rectly from the president himself
through the medium of that eliminator
of red tape delays-the daily newspa-
per. In some localities the bishops re-
ceive the proclamation from the gov
ernors and hand it down in circular
form to the lesser clergy, who read it
from their pulpits upon the Sabbath
following its issuance. In parts of New
England ii is still the custom to read
the proclamation from he pulpit on
two successive Sundays.
These infinite pains are taken despite
the fact that there is nothing in the
federal statute authorizing a president
to set apart such a holy day. Yet the
chief magistrates and governors proc
lamations make the holiday legal in the
federal territories. while the states