Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-07-30
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
A LOOK AT THE PENSION BUILDING
AND IT'S cURloSlTIEs.
Revolutionary Relics and Bushels of
Bibles--Tlc biggest Brick building In
the Worid-Col. Bayne on Blaine's Pop
ularity-Stories of Hugh j. Jewett.
SEC AZ corresponaencel

ths Worid-Goi. BIyne Di thames pop-
ularity-Storics of Hugh j. Jewett.
fspcc a! correspondeGcel
WASHINGTON, July 26.-The interest in
pension matters has increased with the presi-
dents vetocs, and | have received a number
OF inquiries lately about the pension bureau
and its business. 1t is one of the largest
bureaus of the government, and it employs
over ] 800 clerks. 1t disburses about as much
money every year as Jay Gould is worth, and
it does its business in the largest brick build
ing in the world.
The new pension building Is a curiosity in
the way of modern architecture. 1t is mod
eled after the old Roman palaces of the Fiji
teenth century, and is the only building of
its kin in America. Most of the other gov
eminent buildings of Washington are after
the Greek, and the interior department Las a
portieo which is M exact reproduction OF the
Parthenon at Athens. This new pension
building covers about two acres of ground,
and it consists of a series of large rooms run
ming around a great central court, and sur
mounted at the top with a glass roof. 1t has
three stories of rooms, and the court in its
center is rs big as a one-acre field. 1t was in
this great court that the inaugural ball was
held, and here will be held, in all probability,
the inaugural balls of tho future. This court
reminds one of the grand square of st. Marks,
in Venice. 1t has arcades or c~loisters running
around its big floor which make you think of
the grand promenade which takes place
nightly around the piazza of st. Marks, in
the arcades by which it is bounded. But st.
Marks has only the Italian sky to roof it,
while this pension building is covered by n
sky Of glass, and can Delighted on the darkest
night by the blaze of the electric light. This
roof is supported by massive columns, each
containing enough brick to build three two
story houses. They rise seventy-five feet
from the floor, and it would be a g5cod-sized
hall bedroom indeed which could be built
around one of them.
These columns will probably stand when
time has thrown the rest of the building into
ruins, and it may be that they will be the
subject of antiquarian study in the future.
Professor Merrill, the scientist who has
charge of the building stones of the National
museum, tells me that there is no material
equal to that of brick for endurance, and that
brick will outlast marble or granite. 1t is
certain that many of the ruins of Rome con-
tain bricks which are in as good preservation
as they were when that city ruled the world,
and u may be that these bricks of the new
pension building will be fighting the weather
1000 years from now, when perhaps the Cap
ltol and the treasury and the Washington
monument will have cr-umbled into nothing
ness.
The outside of the pension building is Of
this red pressed brick, with beautifully carved
pieces of frieze here and there, and with
brick columnsa at the corners, as smooth as
though they had been cut out by u sculptor.
The doors are capped with fine mouldings,
and the keystones of them are the faces of
NEUROLOGICAL characters. Clear around the
second story, just under the windows, there is
a wide band of yellow frieze, made up of carved
figures representing the many scenes of ARMY
and naval warfare. Tn figures of this frieze
nre full of action and are wonderfully life
like. Here is a column of infantry marching
along, loaded with guns and ~knapsacks. Next
comes the cavalry, the horses champing the
bit and their riders hourisbing sabers.
Then the artillery drags its heavy cannon,
and in the next section you may see brave
sailors dashing through the waves at the
storming of a port. AT another place horses
are pulling ambulances, mules are hauling
supply wagons, and, i'll short, for the 1900
feet surrounding this building there is one
continuous changing picture, in has relief, of
war scenes. This trieze is three feet wide,
| uiit ! well iCpiCSClNo tlo Ill III ll1DSp LOT
whom the building was built.
A great many of the employees OF the pen
sion department. are old soldiers, and quite a
number of them hobble to their work on
crutches. Many soldiers widows are en-
ployed here, and ut 4 O'clock you may see q
plentiful sprinkling of women in deep mourn
ing, and cripples, among the hundreds who
rush forth at the close of their work. Com
missioner Black is himself badly cut UP with
wounds, though none of this shows in his face
or his figure. He is Il very straight man, Of
medium size. with hair and beard which were
once dark, but are now fast becoming sill
veled. He has a pleasant face, a bright, blue
Ieye, and II rather stiff address. He is said to
be u man of fine business ability, and there is
no doubt but that he gets as much work out
of the pension office clerks as any of the COM
missioners of the past. He is now 4G years
old, is a Pennsylvania by birth, and has
been an Illinois Democrat for about twenty
years. He has never held q public office be-
fore, but has been a candidate for congress
several times.
The pension office is full of relics, and its
records contain many curiosities. l looked
the other day at the pension papers of James
G.. Blaine's great-grandmother, which gave
Sarah e. Blaine n pension OF 5000 a year,
from the 4th of March, 1S4S, for the services
of Blaine's great-grandfather in the reyolu-
tionary war. / read land warrants, giving
John A. Logan, in 1913, 16o acres of land for
his services iii the Mexican war; and / looked
Mt other land warrants granted about this
time to Abraham Lincoln, Frank Pierce, U.
s. Grant, William Z. Sherman and jeff Da-
Wis. Grant was a second lieutenant then;
Abe Lincoln was a poor Illinois lawyer; Jeif
/ N,,v,. ,,,a, L t1,,I-- o,.nta = A~s-.-x -
time his land warrant was granted, and Te-
rumseh Sherman was a subordinate officer of
the army with not the best of prospects. Abe
Lincoln's claim is written in his own hand
writing, and he received his land warrant for
his services in the Black Hawk war. Robert
E.. Lee, who was then at West Point, received
l60 acres of land for his services in the Mex
lean war, and l saw also the papers of Gen.
Scott asking for bounty lands for his services
IN the wer of 1872.
The revolutionary relics of the pension
office would be a valuable addition to any
museum. They consist of orderly books, diaries
and old Bibles which lave been sent here to
slbstantiats the claims of revolutionary SOL
iieis for pensions. The Bibles are numbered
by hundreds, and there must be from five to
ten bushels of them. They contain the fam
lily records of soldiers and their heirs, and are
used to establish the identity of the pension
ers. In revolutionary days it was the custom
with our grandmothers to prick with a needle
their family history on cloth, or to embroider
it on canvas in what were called samplers.
There are many of these here, and | doubt
not the descendants of the people who sent
them would give the weight of tho samplers
IN gold to have them returned.
The old revolutionary pensioners are fast