Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-07-11
KEEPING OLD Bills.
Cataeombs Of the Capitol Where Record
Are Filed

CataeOmbs Of the Capitol Where Records
Are Filed.
1t is not generally known that every
bill, every report, every executive COM
municatiOn-in short, everything that
comes before Congress is preserved
in the original. but such is the fact.
There is a place devoted to the pre-
seryatiOn of these relics, and a man
specially charged with preserving
them. The room is a succession Of
iron corridors, one above the other,
lined with recePtacIes Tor holding
large volumes.
Commencing on the roof of the
house the records run dOwnwards in
chronological order. The books are
of all sizes down to about forty years
ago, when they assume uniformity.
They are all leather covered, and are
strongly bound. Inside of them are
thick leaves upon which bills, reports
and other Congressional documents
are pasted in the original. Every
kind of paper is there. The history
of the improvement in paper maDufac-
ture can be traced in these volumes
from the first session of the COntinen-
tai Congress down to the present day.
1t IS noted, too, in delVing among
these old tones that the later ones are
better prepared than those preceding
them. For instance, there is evident
slOVenliness in the volumes of the
First Congress. Improvement goes
on as the dates become more recent.
But very little is missed in this vast
collection. The First and Second Con
crosses are not complete, and there
is a somewhat bad break in the con-
tinuity Of the records in the years Just
before the British burned the capitol
The break was caused by fire and by
the British taking away some Of the
/ volumes. There are number of vol
umes on hand which show the effects
/ of British depredatlOns. They are
/ charred and their contents smoked
/ and covered with dirt But not a
/ word is there in them that can not be
/ read. Thus from the date of the first
/ meeting of Congress there Is almost
! an unbrOken collection in the original
/ of all matters that came before that
/ body. In later years a great deal of
/ ingenuity has been shown in making
| the edges of the contents of the leather
/ backed volumes as smooth as those of
/ any first class publication.
/ The Ingenuity is the more apparent
/ when il IS remembered that all sizes
/ and kind, OF paper are used in prepar-
+ ing bills for Introduction and in writ
/ ing reports and other matters pertain
/ ing to Congressional business. The
/ originals, when ordered TO be printed,
/ 90 to the Government printing Office,
/ but strict care is taken that they are
/ returned. The printers marks are to
/ be seen on many of the papers.
! For the past thirty years these vol
umes have been prepared by an old
/ gentleman who Is now nearly seventy
/ years of age. He has q room in the
basement Of the Capitol set apart for
his own use. There he locks himself
/ up and gives a receipt for the dOcu-
ments which are sent TO him. He then
arrangeS them in his books in regular
order. When he has finished a vol
ume he turns it over to the proper Off
/ Ger and gets a receipt. The volume
! then goes to the place set apart for
! such records.
One would not think that there
would be much inquiry for what is
/ contained in the dusj-covered old
/ books, but there is. There is hardly a
/ day but that somebody wants to get
a copy of an original document of
| years and years ago. They are al
ways accommodated.
The Old gentleman who prepares
the original matter for preservation is
but seldom seen. One of the gentle
men in charge of the iron corridors
says that he does not see the old man
more than two or three times a year,
when he appears to hand over the vol
umes that he has prepared W0SbiHg-
ton Critic.