Omaha daily bee., 1890-01-19

lug hre Opeutu preCiselN Nv 10 WV
every day. In one the senatorial acrobats
balance the cannon balls Of legislation
on the tips OF the fingers and go their
gymnastics on the parallel bars under the
eyes of Vice Pesident Morton. and in the
other the $50 political giants and pygmies,
clowns and freaks trot out and show them
selves to the buz saw directions of the big
gest giant Of them all, Thomas b. Reed. the
speaker.
II is a costly show. The people of the
United States pay nearly $4,000, 900 a year to
keep it going and the house of representa-
tives ring costs fully 81, 500, 900 yearly. The
actors of the lower house are paid $1,SOO, 600
a year in salaries, and the doorkeepers and
nnderstrappers who run the messages and
clean the spittoons get 100000 more. The
actors of the senatorial circus cost us about
$500, 1000 a year, and we pay just as much to
John J. Ingalls,, who spits fire from his
mouth continually, as we do TO George OF
Mississippi, whose chief distinction lies in
the fact that he has sworn never to wear a
dress SUIT or ride in a carriage.
A COSTLY SHOW.
The most amusing part of the show Is the
the house Of representatives. II is the cost
liest dime museum Of tie nations and, as I
sit in the press gallery, the biggest legisla-
tive hall in the world lies below me. 1t
covers fully a quarter of an acre of ground
and six man as tall as Stewart of Texas, who
is over six feet in his stockings, might stand,
one on the head of the other, and, II tho socks
of the first rested on the floor, the
gray hair of the sixth would Just Craze
the ceiling. The room is thirty.six feet
high and its floor is covered with /, 700 yards
of green velvet of o quality so good that it
must nave cost S3 a yard. The light of the
show room comes in through the ceiling and
this is made Of iron and glass. This ceiling
is made in panels which are painted and
gilded and each bears the coat of arms of a
state of the union. Below this ceiling all
around the room run banks of galleries
which terminate at the edges of q great cen.
trail PIT fifteen feet deep, which forms the
bear garden of congress. In thisw wide pit
the curiosities are Gagged. 1t is l51 feet long
ana ffty-seven feet wide and its walls are
paneled in pink and buff paper, and around
each panel is a frame fine enough TO bind a
Titan or a Coret. In these walls are cave-
like doors which lead to the cloak rooms, the
barber shops and the loDbies Of the house,
and at each OF the outer doors stand two
men to keep the outside world way from
the congressional animals.
But let us take a look at the animals them
selves. There are $50 of them and they sit
in half moon rows of chairs rising one ABOVE
another on the sloping floor OF the chamber.
Each has a little white wood desk in front of
him with q lid covered with blue baize. Be-
hind each row Of desks there are cane-seated
office chairs so fixed upon springs that the
y SAh iChu OhCh III Dub IutlE Ictb uDOU
their desks when they will. Dockery of
Missouri is sitting 30 now. The middle of
this half moon of rows is bissected by an
uisle, and on one side of this aisle are the
democrats while the other side is given over
to the republicans.
Behind q marble desk and under the Amer.
lean flag, with the reporters above. sits the
head Snowman, Thomas b. Reed of Maine.
He is the most curious figure in the whole
museum and is q freak of nature in both
hrninQ and hplU Civ fact t,,o hi, hNl,, T.
all muscle and his bald head. as big as peck
measure and as white rs a boys new drum,
is nothing but brains. He lacks the dignity
of the ordinary ringmaster. Sitting, he leans
over his desk, resting his football Of brains
on his Deefy-like shoulders and playing with
his gavel. Standing, he throws his paunch
TO the front as though he would lay 1t down
for the time on the speakers desk, and
throwing his head back he pokes the gavel at
the members as he hobs both it and his head
to the front In counting the roll. He IS the
highest-priced member in the whole con-
gressionai show. He gets 81, 900 a year and
he Is worth II.
THE FAT AND THE LEAN.
The congressional museum has its fat men
and its living skeletons. The latest has
ALREADY gotten q national reputation from
his suderabundance Of adipose tissue. His
name is George Barnes of Georgia. He
weighs 400 pounds and he says he would not
take $1,000 for u single pound of his flesh.
He is nearly six feet tall and from the center
Of his spine to the button which rests over
the center Of his front he measures three
feet, five and one-half inches. His flesh is
solid and he carries it well. He is by no
means an intellectual nonentity and he ranks
as one OF the leading men of his state. He
has been in congress for several terms and I
am told by Georgians that he will stay here
until he becomes the fat old father of the
house. Rife Of Pennsylvania is as broad as
he Is long, and IN fairness alone he may be
called one OF the freaks of the house. He
has been a tanner for She last twenty-five
years and he is q living proof of the
healthfulness OF the trade. He Is a man of
means as we'll as of flesh and is the president
OF a railroad company as well as a congress-
man.
The thin men of the house are legion.
Gen. Joe Wheeler does not weigh more than
ninety-hve pounds. Wickham of Ohio has
not an ounce TO spare and John Il. Game of
Utah is all bones and brain. 1t is wonderful
70 think OF the different amounts OF beef 1t
takes TO run human brain. Roswell p.
Flower with his 200 pounds of flesh and bone
has made a fortune, while Jay Gould with
100 pounds OF sinew has his tens of millions.
McAdoo OF New Jersey weighs about 100
pounds and he Is brainy enough. Mckinley
weighs lG0 and Buchanan Of New Jersey
kicks the beam Mt 225. IL takes 1000 ounces
OF flesh and bone that make up the speakers
weight to nourish the gray matter on Tom
Reeds cranium, and nearly the same amount
Is required to supply that used up daily by
Baker OF New York. General Spinola car
ries about 1855 pounds under his big collar
and the lao pounds of Frank Lawler elevated
him from q Chicago saloon to the house of
representatives. One hundred and forty.
five pounds have suhiced to get up Henry
Cabot Lodges biographies OF statesmen and
all OF Holman's economy is ground out under
the support Of pure bone and sinew.
Ben Butterworth weighs 200 and the Oil Of
good living as well as that of good nature
shines forth from his countenance. Dorsey
OF Nebraska gets along nicely on 15O pounds,
and Charley O'Neil OF Pennsylvania weighs
100, aud his stomach is good. The total
weight OF the house OF representatives Is
nearly $4,000 pounds and at the rate that we
pay for the compression animal show these
men cost US just $500 q pound every year.
Estimating them at an average height of
8 feet 8 inches their total height is 1870
feet and the average cost is nearly 81, 500 q
foot. IL IL the dearest beef and brain that
was ever sold or hired by weight.
CONGRESSIONAL INC
There are two albinoes in congress and
they are both men OF weight They are
Grosvenor of Ohio and Breckenridge of
Kentucky. Both of these have hair as white
as newly Stacked lime. and the faces of both
are as rosy as the setting sun. Brecken.
ridge has q wonderful head. He is straight
aud well padded and his head is fastened by
q strong neck TO q pair of broad shoulders.
The strands OF hair are of the finest OF Frosted
silver and his short full beard is Of silver
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