Evening star., 1934-07-17
BY J. RUSSELL YOUNG.

BY ]. RUSSELL YOUNG.
wF ONE we're asked to name the
man who held the record for the
number Of times he had addressed
4 Congress, the answer would prob
ably be sought from the ranks
Of famouS-and ortaorically Inclined
statesmen.
Yet the record is really held by a
gentleman known to only few, who,
in his SO years of Government service,
has achieved reputation for being
taciturn, never wasting a word in
idle conversation and attending so
strictly to business that his intimates
believe the total of casual words
spoken during everyday Office conver-
sation would fall below 500.
Maurice c. Latta, member of
the executive staff at the White
House, estimates he has addressed
Congress more than 1000 times. He
never speaks so long that he bores
his hearers and what he has to say
is always intensely interesting to
somebody and usually of vast impor-
tance. For his is the task of carry
ing to the Capitol the messages, nomi-
nations and bills signed by the PreSi-
dent.
Sample Speech.
He has spoken as many as four
times during single day during
the last session of Congress. And
what he has to say is usually con-
fined to the brief statement;
Il am directed by the President OF
the United States to deliver 10 the
Senate Cor the House, a message in
writing" -a..-s
When he has completed that ad-
dress in one chamber, he hurries over
to the other side of the Capitol and
delivers it there, varying what he has
to say by inserting nomination" for
message" or by delivering bills signed
by the President.
During the % years that he has been
conveying messages and papers from
the White House to the Capitol, Latta
has carried many messages which have
made history. Among these were
Woodrow Wilson'S message to Con-
gress preparatory to the declaration
of war.
Latta is executive clerk of the White
House, and in the absence of Rudolph
Forster, in charge of White House
executive Offices, who is accompany
ing President Roosevelt on his vaca-
ton cruise to Hawaii, he is in per-
sonal charge Of the Executive Office
staff.
Joined Staff in 1898.
Latta came to the White House in
1898, just one year after the time
Forster joined the White House ex-
ecutive staff and has worked by his
side ever since. Like Forster, Latta
is a sphinx-like, painstaking and in
dustrious worker.
Most of his time at the executive
Office has been spent as record clerk,
in which capacity 1t was his re-
sponsibility to keep track of all presi-
Dental appointments, as we'll as en-
acted bills, and the contents of the
Congressional Record. For many years
he has been the White House author
ity on the Federal statutes. particu-
larly as they affect the Chief Ex-
ecutive. Necessarily, it is generally to
Latta that the Presidents turn when
any questions regarding the legality
Of certain contemplated acts, present
themselves, which do not require ref
erence to other departments.
In marVelOusly short time Latta
can put his finger on the very pas
sage in the statutes which would settle
the question.
Borrowed" as Typist.
When Latta came to the White
House in his twenties, William Nc
Kinley was President. The executive
Office was in the White House itself.
and the staff was considerably smaller
in numbers than it is today. He was
loaned" to the White House by the
Interior Department as an expert
stenographer and typist. The Spanish
American War was on at that time
and the presidential business had nee
eSsarily increased beyond the capacity
of the little handful of clerks. There
fore, assistance was sought by bor-
rowing several clerks from other de-
partments. Forster had come to the
White House the preceding year from
the United States Fish Commission
in virtually the same manner.
Mr.. Latta very modestly said today.
when relating the story Of his debut
at the White House, that he did not
know until long afterward that he was
classified as an expert. He had learned
stenography and typewriting at COM
mercial school in Kansas and had
worked in the United States Land
once at Perry, Okla, for five years
before coming to Washington.
His work at Perry. at that particu-
lar time was especially interesting and
will always be remembered by him be- /
cause the Cherokee strip had just been /
thrown open for public claiming, and
his Office had to do with those exciting T
land boom days. He said there was I
no such place on the map as Perry, |
when these public lands we're thrown |
open, and within year or two the I
town had population Of more than /
10 900, many of the people living in /
tents or crude wooden structures. Lat /
Ia said he always regretted he arrived I
on the scene at Perry, just too late to
witness the mad rush for land, when il
was thrown open in the Cherokee
strip at a given signal
Latta did not have the thrill of TAX
ing dictation from President Mckinley
Immediately upon his joining the