Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1948-06-11

u trace us
evolution down
through the days of delicate inter-
play when it broke up the Empire
of Charlemagne, and on down to
the fall of Stalingrad.
The colonel had brought the gen.
eral about up to the third Punic
war and the secretary was wig
Cling. The general himself had
begun to tumble with form "a
3O64-B29. The colonel realized that
he was rapidly losing his audience.
So he raised his voice so that file
clerks in the next office stopped
filing (their fingernails) and looked
up.
"By the way, General" he
remarked confidentially, "Did
you know that Pm writing the
Presidents next speech? The one
he delivers to the Inheritance
tary association"
The generals secretary perked
up . the general raised an eye
brow the colonel smiled .
At about the same hour, over
in the Metropolitan club, a very
dapper young man from the divi-
sion of the Far, Near and Middle
East and expert in communicative
pathology, was slipping thin
scotch-and-soda which his chief
had just ordered. His chief was
bored.
"By the way, Chief" he said in
a whisper so loud that even the
walters stopped looking respectful
and listened: ''I'm writing the
Presidents next speech at the Inter-
P la n e r y associations confer
ence."
In four other places, four other
young experts were telling their
bosses the same thing. All were
perfectly honest, all were believed,
and in 20 minutes or so, stenog-
raphers, clerks, messengers, wait
ers and cab drivers were pointing
out "the guy who writes the Presi-
dents speeches"
All this has been going on, /
suppose, in world capitals since
before somebody else thought he
had codified the code of Ham,
murabi.
What really happens is this:
The President calls in one of his
more literary secretaries - all of
them are literate, but not all liter
airy (some-those whose duties are
conversing with politicians, don't
have to be too literate). The Presi-
dent says to the literary one:
BILL, in this speech I have to
write for the Inter-Planetary con-
ference, I'm going to mention the
super-gadget, and l want to touch
on the current economic and social
situation in Beluria, also there are
some erosion statistics l need, and
some data on the problems which
arose as result of the Whiskey
Rebellion"
"Okeh, Chief" says the liter
airy secretary, and on his way
back to his office, he begins
classifying, according to depart
ments, the people he thinks may
have the facts or the people who
will know who knows somebody
who has the facts. He either
phones or dictates a brief memo
to these people, requesting not
more than ole page from each
on the subjects indicated.
Highly-pleased young and old
men, on receipt of the memo or
phone call, begin leafing through
their research libraries and die
tating to their secretaries. In two
days, number of large packages
are delivered to the White House
via special messengers. The liter
airy secretary curses and sets to
work boiling down 24-page thesis
on the progression of tau-mute
from the Sanskrit ct ella to a SEN
tence and half which he has his
stenographer type into the rough
draft of the speech which the
President has dictated and sent
to him for the purpose.
Franklin Roosevelt became an
gered because columnists persisted
in revealing" which confidential
adviser wrote the last speech he
delivered, whatever it was, that he
once showed us the actual draft of
a speech he had dictated and writ
ten, and rewritten as was his
custom. In fact, the last-minute
revising of Roosevelt's interlined
manuscripts often went on while
newshounds growled in the outer
office and mimeographers stood by
to handle the finally-okayed sheets
in "takes."