Evening star., 1933-04-23
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

The Senate has always been most
careful about preserving its records
even though some of the most i'm
portant have not been filed In such q
way that they could be readily found
Scarcely any of the Senators now in
service have even the remotest idea of
the wealth Of most interesting original
handWritten documents to which they
have acceSs-Which are signed by the
Nations leaders, including George
Washington.
There are two veteran employees of
the Senate, however, who have devoted
their entire lives since they were boys
and put their very hearts into the work
and traditions of the Senate, who are
now engaged on the important task of
properly filing these most valuable
documents in fireproof containers, ade-
quately indexed, where they can be
promptly located and preserved for the
edification of future generations. These
two men went to work in the Senate
press gallery at approximately the same
time, one in March and the other in
June, 1897. One Is Col Edwin A. Hal
sey, secretary of the Senate, and the
first man ever to work his way up from
page to that high office; the other
Is James d. Preston, now the Senate
librarian. They are contemplating pro-
posing to the Senate to have a display
of the most interesting of these old
documents in cases under amber glass
in the wide corridor on either side of
the main entrance to the Senate.
The quarters occupied by the Senate
Library and its file room today are
exactly as charted on the Iatrobe plans
In 1917 for rebuilding the Capitol after
1t was gutted by fire set by the British
But there are two rooms which have
survived without structural change
since the original Capitol Building was
first occupied by Congress in 1901. One
of these rooms Is now comfortably fit
ted up as a private reading and re-
search room for Senators, and this was
originally the Office of the clerk OF
the House. The other Is Daniel Web.
ster's committee room, OF beehive
shape with large round window over
looking the main east front steps OF
the Capitol. which is now used as a
file room. The space between these two
originally overlooked the grand stair
case" OF Capitol, which has been
floored over and Is now occupied by a
double tier Of files.
The Senate Library has had Q steady
development since 1870, when o resolu-
ton was adopted authorizing the Sec
retary Of the Senate to assemble In his
office books for handy reference by Sen
ators. and preservation Of the journals
annals, etc. The library is now the
right arm" Of the Senate. and Jim
Preston has for many years been the
Senate's right hand man.
Among the historic documents which
1t is proposed to have exhibited are:
The resolution of the first session of
the First Congress submitting the first
IL amendments to the Constitution to
the several States, 10 of which were
adopted. These documents are dated
September "a and 26, 1889. The notices
Of ratification by the States are also
preserved.
The report Of Charles Thompson, who
was sent from New York to Mount YER
non to notify Washington of his elec-
ton, which includes Thompson's ad-
dress to Washington and Washington s
reply, on April "a, 1889.
The resolution in which the Senate
and House recommended to President
Washington that he set aside day OF
Thanksgiving. dated September 25, 1889
The reports from the States to Con-
gress on the election of George Wash
ington. For example. the General As
sembly of New Hampshire under date
of January. 1889, signed by Samuel
Huntington as Governor and command
er in chief and George Wyllys. secretary
shows Washington received seven votes
John Adams five and Samuel Hunting
ton two. The report of the State OF
showed Washington received 10 votes
Adams eight and John Hancock two.
Various messages in original hand
writing signed by George Washington
One Of these on September 20, 1889, ito
the gentlemen of the Senate. an
nouncing the death Of the Dauphin OF
France. Another dated February o.
1891. is on the subject of the ransom
OF American prisoners at Algiers. in
which Washington spoke of the Con-
gress as Legislature One dated Feb
ruary 10, 1871, nominated David
Humphreys as minister resident to her
most faithful majesty, the Queen OF
Portugal"
There are tons upon tons of old Pc
titions on important questions in the
history of American legislation-as fol
example, those for abolition Of slavery
some. OF which were SO offensive to
members from the South that they
were returned. The petitions protesting
against war are voluminous and numer-
Gus. There were some $4,000 to 10000
petitions regarding the charge of po-
ligamy in the famous case of Senator
Smoot of Utah. The women's suffrs &c
petitions make another mountainous
record.
At the end Of each session all papers
in the custody of clerks to committees
are turned over to the secretary of the
Senate for filing and preservation, and
mere again is tremendous volume to
be properly kept for the records. And
they are frequently consulted by attor-
neys andepther interested parties.
Expert file clerks are now working on
an accumulation of records that have
been stored in huge chests in the base
ment of the Capitol for q half century
or more, giving them their proper place
adequately marked in steel filing cabi-
nets. This vast task includes the elec-
toral votes cast in presidential elec-
tions-in the famous Tilden- Hayes con-
test, for Lincoln in 1877, Cleveland
Harrison, Garfield, Mckinley, Taft-to
mention only a few that have already
been handled by the filing clerks.
In addition to all this, Librarian
Preston is having an index prepared OF
every name which appeared at a hear
ing. whether of a governmental official
or representing private interests, which
will be of incalculable value to the
many who daily consult the records OF
hearings in the Senate Library.