Evening star., 1924-09-21

BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

ment official not required to sign the
pay roll. In the time of President
Cleveland the salary of the President
was s4,166.66 a month. So accurate
is the Treasury system of bookkeep-
ing that the salary check of the Presi-
dent was drawn for S4,16666 one
month and s4.166.67 for the next two
months. At the end of his term it
was found that there was still due
the President the amount of cent,
so a check for that amount was
drawn in his favor. 1t has never been
cashed, but is one of the souvenirs
, of the heirs of the former President.
In earlier days as many as 10000
men marched in an inaugural parade
| and 100000 visitors came to Wash
ington to witness the event. Daniel
Webster said of the crowd which at
tended the first Inauguration of
Andrew Jackson that it was "a null
titude, too many to be fed without a
| miracle, and that it seemed that the
whole nation rushed to the Capital"
That multitude" was computed to be
about 5000 people. The first real in
augural ball occurred when James
| Madison came into office. The crowd
which attended was estimated at 400.
Although one of the richest men Of
his time, George Washington had to
borrow $4,000 to defray his expenses
to New York. where his inauguration
took place. When he arrived at the
Federal Hall ii was found that there
was no Bible in the building and an
attendant saved the day by getting
one from a Masonic lodge room near
by.
President Roosevelt was the cham
pion message writer Of American his
tory. He wrote more than twice as
land, and it is said that the vocabu-
larry that he employed embodied a
greater range of words than were
| used by all his predecessors combined.
How Messages Are Written.
When Woodrow Wilson began writ
ing addresses to Congress and notes
vival of attention to the literary
merit of the utterances. Previously
little attention had been paid to the
| literary aspect of these official papers
| 1t was early realized that Mr.. Wilson
was a master of English, and scholars
and litterateurs, as well as politi-
clans, began paying attention te
what he produced. President Hard
ing's messages were regarded as
scholarly also and President Cool
idge's proclamations as characterized ID
by an almost Lincolnian simplicity
and tersenesS. President Wilson was
one of the first Presidents of later
times to write his messages entirely
himself. He did not even dictate them,
but picked them out on a typewriter.
The literary merit of President Nc
Kinley's messages improved after
John Hay became his ranking ad-
wiser and it has been no unusual
thing for a President to resort to
aid in the preparation of a message
| Even Washington's Farewell Address
is said by critics to show traces OF
the style of Alexander Hamilton
Also, ]. Pierpont Morgan has ar
original letter written by Washing
| ton to James Madison asking him to
prepare the Farewell Address and
containing an outline of what he
| wanted. James Madison is known tc
/ have written the famous notification
proclamation issued by Andrew Jack.
son. One of the finest messages In
| the history of the presidency, from q
| literary standpoint, is credited to An.
drew johnson, who had fewer educa-
| tional advantages than any other
| President. 1t is said he was unable
| to read or write until taught by
his wife. However this famous mes.
| sage was written by George Ban
| croft, the historian. The origina
| draft now is In the manuscript di-
vision of the Library of Congress, In
Bancrofts handwriting, with only a
| few unimportant additions and ref.
erences, added in the hand OF 7Presi
| dent Johnson.
(Copyrisht, 1871