Evening star., 1926-10-17


w WASHINGTON, especially the
w 4 i ~; :::: + :: ''$ i; st.: :'::; ;:: s;
sonalities are absorbed by
the offices they hold. The whole
country reads of their public acts.
Large numbers throng to watch their
public appeara noes. but fewer know
what manner of men they are indi-
vidually, probably. than is the case
with most workaday folk. Public af-
fairs limit even their intimacies.
One result Of assembling the pri-
vate papers Of the Presidents and
other men of mark in the division of
manuscripts Of the Library Of Con-
gress is to turn the statesman back
into the man. Letters and diaries.
even after the lapse Of centuries, can
reconstruct George Washington
who is merely a landed gentleman OF
Virginia. interested in real estate
speculations in Ohio; can betray the
autocratic Andrew Jackson as the
man who established a quarantine in
the White House and took persona
charge of a servant stricken with
smallpox.
For generations this task, so i'm
portant historically. of preserving, So
far as possible, the documentary blog
raphies Of the Nations great men was
neglected Countless illuminating let
ters proba bly, have been lost irretriev-
ably. The hunt for them becomes as
enthralling as that for a rare ante
lone. coveted moth or an almost
legendary orchid
Such search was prosecuted tor
years for the papers of Presldent
Arthur. Bric-a -brac purchased in his
day for the White House remains
there. but Chester A. Arthur de-
rarted. so far as can be learned, with
out. leaving a scrap of paper IN the
then meager files of the Executive
Mansion. President Arthur alone
was unrepresented when the compila-
ton Of the documentary history OF the
Nation in its personages was under
taken seriously.
Each retiring chief Of the manu-
script division passed the quest on TO
his successor. The undertaking be-
came as fabulous and probably almost
as compelling as was the search Tor
the Northwest Passage. Every mem
ber of the Arthur family Joined in
the chase. 1t was kept up for years.
The Arthur papers began to assume
the imponderability of the Flying
Dutchman and the phantom deer or
the flying Scotch Highlands.
News of the hunt was broadcast IN
the newspapers. Even this general
alarm apparently was unavailinS.
EIGHTEEN months passed and
IL there had been no results. Then
a woman, who had crossed the con-
tinent from California. walked into
the Congressional Library with
handbag full of Executive Mansion
docket envelopes, which contained all
that was left of the presidential files
from 1881 to 1885.
The papers were not numerous, nor
did they prove to be highly important
historically. but neither fact detract-
ed in the least from the triumph. The
point was that the President Arthur
papers had been found and the most
exasperating of mysteries solved.
During all the years that the search
for them had been prosecuted through
out the country the papers had lain
forgotten among the belongings of a
New York man who hatf acted at va
rious times as one of President Arthur's
secretaries. Upon his death the Ar
thur papers, with mass of other doc
uments had passed into the posses
sion of his daughter. When she
moved 10 California she took them
with her A friend who knew of her
fathef relationship TO FFeSlQenI AT
thur sent her a clipping calling at
tention to the disappearance of the
Arthur papers. and IS months later
she took them to Washington. They
are being used now in the prepara
ton of work which will be the first
serious historical treatment of the
life of President Arthur
That suitcase full of Arthur docu
ments may have constituted no incon-
siderable part of his entire file. The
correspondence of even the most pro-
life writer's among public men prior
to the advent of the stenographer and
the typewriter was meager indeed by
modern standards.
X X
THE Taft papers already in the
Library number 250.000 and con-
stitute the most voluminous collec-
tion. This collection has been cata-
logued and arranged so that any let
ter can he found Immediately if tha
date and the writer of il are known.
If William Jennings Bryan had pre-
served all the letters he received the
collection would have cast a shadow
on that of the Taft papers. At times
Mr.. Bryan's incoming mail amounted