The Washington critic., 1886-10-29
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

the Capitol will add nearly one hun
dred rooms to the present accommoda-
tions in the main building. Some of
these will be lighted and ventilated, and
will be excellent committee rooms. The
so.called marble wall Is built of bricks,
with course of marble on the outside,
while the inner portion of the wall,
which faces toward the Capitol, is of
granite. "Are all the walls built of
brick, and only veneered with marble?"
asked the correspondent of the Cincin-
natl 7imos.,Stdr of the foreman who
was overseeing the work. "Yes," he
replied. "At least l know that to be
the case with the marble wings, for l
built them myself" "Built them
yourself? They have been built
pretty long while, have they not"
"Yes, sir. pretty long while. That is
to say, 1t is pretty long time since
they were begun. / was sixteen years
employed in the work upon them, and
i have been in st. Louis and New
Orleans since that time" "Six.
teen years did you say?" Eyes.
Noo oihNSth Nuio
upon the work of building the wings.
pretty good share of the work Of
erecting the finest building in the
world" "Was all the work on the
stone done here ?" eyes. All the
stone was brought here in the rough
and dressed here. The walls of the
entire building of course are Of brick
and merely faced with marble, but the
facing is very thick and the work upon
1t was very great. particularly where
those handsome Corinthian columns
surround the building. There are
hundred of them, and as they were cut
here there was great deal of labor put
upon them. 1t took great many
months work to cut one of these col
umns and as much more to cut one of
the capitals that go on the top
of them" "What is the weight
of each column p "They weigh
now about sixteen tons each.
They weighed when brought here
In the rough stone about twenty
tons each. A pretty good sized piece
of stone. They were brought here on
the cars from the quarries in Maryland.
where they were quarried. When we
got them to the depot the question was
how to get them up this hill to the
Capitol. They had been rounded
slightly at the quarry, so we finally de.
cided to roll them as you would log.
We had capstans, with horse hitched
to the lever of each, and the ropes run
round the marble logs. In this way
we rolled them, slowly but surely, up
the hill to the grounds where they were
cut"
"~~
When the late Franco, Prussian war
was closed, says Carpenter of the
Cleveland Leddcr, the French decided
that every man in the country should
be a soldier. There were to be no sub
stitutes, and every able bodied man be-
tween twenty and forty years of age
was to pass about five years in the active
army, four in the active reserve and
about nine more in the territorial army.
This scheme was too big one to bo
accomplished, and the rich Frenchmen,
by one method or another, were able to
evade the service. Still the French
now have one million and a half of
men who have served in the army FIVE
years, and they have, all told, 2,00O,.
600 well trained troops. They have q
good infantry and seventy.eight regl.
ments of cavalry. They have thirty.
eight regiments of artillery, and
they keep their troops in pretty
good condition. The army of France
is commanded by the marshals, who
are each paid salary of about $4,000
year. There are three Of these, and
under them there are hundred gen
erals of division, and two hundred
brigadier. generals. The division gen
erals get nearly $4,000 year, and the
brigadier generals about So, 800 year.
Lieutenants in France get $500 year.
The common soldiers get very little.
France has been fortifying itself also
since the late war, and Paris has been
fortified by new line of forts far out
side of the old ones. Twenty -four
new forts have been built, and these
have all the improvements of modern
warfare. Their barracks and maya.
zines are all below the ground, and
they form such wide circle about the
city that 1t will hardly be possible to be.
siege it in the future. The French have
also a very good navy, although
we DO not hear much about it.
They have 400 steamships of all classes,
and the naval estimate for 1888 was
over $l2 600, 600, They have twenty
six fighting ships, and they have built
more ships during the past ten years
than England. The guns are said to
be not SO good as those of England,
but the plating of their ships is said to
be better. Their navy is well manned.
Their sailors are trained even as their
soldiers, and they have force Of 100,
GOO who have had some education for
the navy. They are incomparably su-
perior In this regard to the United
States, whose ships are old, and whose
navy is nothing to speak Of
~
Congressman Lawler enjoys the com
forts of his domestic and political life
great deal moro than most people
imagine, says the Chicago Howid. H.
has an estimable wife, bevy of bright
eyed children anG q home with the
latch.string hanging out at all times
and at all hours. Beside all these, he
enjoys the acquaintance of thousands
OF laborlng men, many of whom have
been more or less conspicuous in
municipal affairs. II would seem that
Frank had little now to ask for in this
hardened world of ours yet If he were
to be robbed of one little comfort
rOm fort not mentioned I'm thn ligi