Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1889-02-20
Washington Letter.
From Our Regular Correspondent,


Various propositions have been
advanced for the parposc of doing
away with the distractions which
prevent transaction of business by
the House Of Representatives, bun
the question rs vet remains un.
solved. The most PLAUSIBLE plan
suggested is a return of the old
scheme of doing away with the
desks now allowed the members.
and substituting benches for chairs,
after the manner Of the British
Parliament, the assumption being
that members would then give
their undivided attention to the
public business and not divert
themselves with newspapers and
private correspondence.
1t is hardly to be expected that
such remedy would improve the
practice ot Congressman. If they
had not something to occupy them
selves with except the matters
under consideration, they would
not be in their seats ut all. The,
would retire to committee rooms
and there answer letters and read
newspapers, or be found in the cloak
rooms, chatting with each other.
1t is some advantage to have the M
in sight hen they are needed, but
it would be very op .imistic in
dividual who would expect MANY
members to remain long upon a
bench, no matter how comfortable
the art of the upholstercr had made
it.
The great difficulty is to get the
House the vote wh;n the mo
quorum fiend has the floor. There
will maniiestly I've a quorum pres
ent, but The difficulty is to get the
members to record their votes.
There are several classes of mem
bers iii the House. y few are at all
times attentive, voting on every
proposition that comes IN. An.
other contingent will answer on a
ctcd cOce vote, as that does not
involve any loss of time. When il
comes to standing vote, which re.
quires some physical eXertion, the
number OF responses on vote
greatly diminish. On tellcrs beino
ordered. which compels those
desiring to vote to leave their seats
temporarily and walk between the
telicrS, there is another heavy dc.
crease. 1t is an exercise entirely
too violent for many of the public
servants. Ultimately there is a yea
and nay vote. Even then some
members are too indifferent to re.
Spond until the roll is called the sec
ond time. \ quorum is then prob.
ably shown, but an hour has been
lost that might have been saved If
every one present had voted on the
hrst division. Ii isn't rules that
give the filihuStcrcr so much advan.
tage as the Discrimination of about
half the membership of the House
10 do anything until forced to do
IL.
About 1000 pilgrims obtained
birds eye views from the top Of the
monument during the month of
January. There was TO great
crowd at any time. but the stream
OF visitors was constant and almost
unvarying. Even on cloudy, misty.
rainy days the elevator continued
to make its slow way up and down.
laden with shivcring passengers.
who were making the best Of their
opportunities to see the world. 1t
would certainly seem that the ma.
jOrity Of people would be satisfied
with an artificial, temporary eieva.
ton of 300 feet, and, indeed. q ma.
jority probably are. but there are
some who want to get even higher
than the ordinary means the mon
ument will permit.
The visitors who come to the
monument have q great natural Gu.
riOsity about the structure, and manv
are the questions they ask of men
on duty there. The elevator con.
duetor has become a human ency.
clopedia of terms. dates, and figures.
relates TO the shaft and its sur.
rOundings from sheer necessity.
They begin to ask questions rs
soon Is they get in the car" he re.
marked the other morning, "and
they kept it up until I get them
back to the earth again. About
the first taiog they want 10 know
IS when was the monument com
menced. They ask the names and
residences OF the engineer and archi.
tcct. The dates Of the completion
and dedication arc demanded. the
number Of years actually consumed
in ITS construction; the size OF the
base Of the shaft and Of the extreme
top, and the thickness Of tho walls
But majority ask most Of their
questions about The strength and