Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-27
Capital Sidelights

| sentative Joe ]. Manlove of Missouri
/ which was printed in Fridays Con
| gressional Record. In which he in
! cluded these verses:
| OUR CouNTRY's KEEPER.
! You are your country's keeper,
| x The Government is but you:
! You are the woof of the fabric.
be IL weak or strong and true.
| You are OF the people.
-, Throuch you she will fall or rse
Yours is the hand that will crush her
Or raise her spires to the skies.
You are your. country.s keeper.
And yours forever the blame
| II the finger of scorn he pointed
Al country sunk in shame.
Yours. is the hand that will guide her.
And yours forever the praise
| II she Firds herself with glory
! That shall last through the length of days.
The historian Of the House, the man
| who writes the official record of what
| the House does that the record may
| be preserved for future generations.
| holds a very important position, about
| which little Is known even by mem
| bers of Congress.
| Leroy d. Bra Is Just rounding
out his second Congress on this job,
| previous to which for four years he
had charge of preparing the calendar
| Of the House. and before that. since
| 1900, he was employed in the Govern
ment Printing Office. So he has had
81 years service for Uncle Sam. and
has a rather unusual distinction of
having been drafted from the Civil
| Service rolls to take a Job with Con
| gress.
| The Journal clerk Is the only en-
| ploye in either branch of Congress
who Is under two officers. He repre-
| sents the Clerk Of the House at the
| desk and is directly under the clerk.
| He Is also under the Speaker, who
| under the rules must approve the
| Journal each day before 1t Is read to
the House.
| The late James r.. Mann once said
! that the position Of Journal clerk In
| the House was one of the most impor-
tant, If not the most important, cleri-
cal positions in Congress. Mr.. Mann
| often remarked the necessity of the
| Journal being carefully prepared.
The Journal must be written as care
fully as bills are prepared. An effort
| has been made In the past few Con-
! crosses to follow as nearly as possible,
under the rules of the House now in
force, the style employed in the early
| days Of the Congress. To make the
| Journal accurate, minutes must he
| kept and the journal clerk must know
| the rules of procedure, to the end that
| when the Journal Is written in full the
| proper sequence Of motions may he
| followed. To this end. the Journal
clerk must be at his desk at all times
during sessions of the House.
| The journal clerk handles all pa
| pers. All bills passed must be cor
| rectly indorsed and passed on to the
enrolling clerk for engrossment He
must also see that the proper mes
sage is sent to thee Senate. All mes
| sages from the Senate pass through
| his hands and he must see that all
papers are in proper shape be-
fore consideration by the House.
| Reports from the enrolled bills
| committee come to him and. also,
messages from the President. He
must know the duties of other en-
| ployes Of the House. Too much stress
cannot be laid on the Importance of
| the proper Endorsement on all meas
ures before the House. and especially
on those to which there Is a disagree
ment between the two houses. He
must know where all official papers
| are, and also their status. If this
| were not done. it would be impossible
| for Congress to adjourn with anything
| like clean slate.
| The Journal states what happened.
without reason or debate. 1t takes
great care to keep the Journal abso-
lutely correct in every particular. as
| Is necessary in the official proceedings
| of the House.
, The reporters of debates take what
| Is said, and ii falls to the Journal
clerk to see that all bills, messages
and papers of every description are
| turned over to the Record
! Not only must the Journal clerk be
at his post of duty at all times, but
when the House adjourns each day his
work on the journal Just begins. The
| same is true at the final adjournment
| of a session. When other clerks are
| off, he has to see to the indexing of
| the Journal and attend to a great
mass of detail matter during the
| recesses.
| Seventy-five different kinds of ink.
| to a total of 11S, 061 pounds. were man.
ufactured in the Government Printing
| ONCE last year.
| AS a result of special study and
tests with sunlight and ultraviolet
light. satisfactory pigment has been
adopted for printing posters for out
| side exposure Other special inks de-
veloped are red, blue and black stamp
| pad and numbering machine inks for
F, use throughout the entire Government
| service: special formulas for mimeo-
| graph and multigraph inks; special
check addressograph ink. developed
at the request of the Treasurer or the
| United States: at the request Of the
Post once Department. an indelible
black printing ink for precanceling
postage stamps, and a special purple
| copying stamp-pad ink. capable Of CIV
| ing a minimum of 80 clear copies, was
also developed for the Interior De.