The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-29
COFFINS IN CONGRESS
Expenses Of Burying Senators
and Representatives.
COSTLY cAskETs AND sAsHEs.
Dfplomat1c Gossip About China and
Jspaa-Gsneral Joe WAeelsEss
Remtniscenees.

WASHINGTON CITY, March 25.|tSpeca4
Correspondence AL Washington is still
talking OF the funeral of Senator Hearst,
and it is wondered whether the govern
ment win have to pay for the special train
across the country. It was only the de-
cided objections of Mrs. Hearst that pre-
vented this journey from being turned
into picnic, and am told that great
many so-called very respectable ladies and
gentlemen tried to take advantage of it in
order TO get free ride to California and
back. A number of society ladies wanted
to 90, and it was only through the positive
instructions of Senator Stanford that they
were kept off the train. A congressional
funeral is often as much . picnic to the
mourners as funeral march, and it Is
. question as to whether the
custom should not be done away with.
It is in many cases not at all popular with
the family of the deceased, and no person
cares to have committee of unsympa-
thetic men chosen to weep at his grave.
The cost of congressional funerals comes
up for discussion here every time long
trip is taken, and the items are fought
over in the committees of congress. 1t
costs about $4,000. more or less, for SEN
atorial burial, and when Senator Miller of
California died, it cost just 1873 to carry
him to California, to say nothing of other
expenses not down on the bill.
THE ITEMS or A CONGRESSIONAL FUNERAL.
When a congressional funeral is held at
the capitol, as is often the case, the ex-
penses are generally borne by the govern
ment, and the congressman who dies here
Is buried in the richest style. Uncle Sam
is charged double rates for everything, and
there is fixed etiquette and dress for the
occasion. The pallbearers and other dig
nitaries connected with the ceremonies
must each wear white silk scarfs which
cost as much as dress, and one of which
q leading congressman from Pennsylvania
tells me, he gave to his daughter after the
ceremonies were over at one of these funer-
ais. and she made 1t up into a ball gown.
The cheapest Of these scarfs are of the best
OF material, and the same scarf is never
used more than once. All the par
ties connected with the funerals must have
$3.50 gloves, and the Washington under
takers run up bills of $500 and over. There
are few caskets bought for Uncle Sans
dead which cost less than $500, and there
are few funerals managed under his aus
pieces which cost less than 5000. Car
value, and at Grants funeral in New York
the carriage hire was 5000. Grants
funeral cost the government, all told, con-
siderably over SIC, 900, and the government
paid fortune to bury President Garfield.
All of the expenses of q funeral here at
Washington are trebled in case the de-
ceased is q statesman, and it is safe to say
there is no more costly place to die in the
world than here.
SOME EXPENSIVE FUNERALS or THE PAST.
/ took occasion to look through the &C
counts of the clerk of the House of Rep
resentatives for several congresses as to
such matters yesterday, and find some
curious items among them. A congress
man named Allen, who came from Massa-
chusetts, died here and was buried, at the
expense Of the government. His funeral
cost between $1,000 and 5000, and though
he lived only days ride from here, the
transportation alone cost $S29. and one of
the lunches cost $122. One of the mourn
ers lost hat, and he charged Uncle Sam
$3.50 for 1t, and among the lnnch items
water, $40 for sandwiches and SIS for
spring chickens. Another luncheon dur
ing this trip cost $50, and it is probable
that the congressional committee fed we'll.
1t cost 81 ,S43 to bury General Williams at
Detroit during the Forty-sixth congress.
and when Senator Burnside died, the
scarfs used at his funeral cost $l44. /
doubt not in Senator Hearst's case the
family would have much preferred to have
had no funeral whatsoever in connection
with the government, and the excuses
mentioned here will hardly relate to it,
though the committees will, of course,
bring in their bill for expenses.
DIPLOMATIC GOSSIP.
The Japanese mission is still vacant and
Senator Blair is preparing to go to China.
These are two Of the best missions in the
gift of the government, though the states
men here do not seem to appreciate them.
Twelve thousand dollars year in Pekin is
equal to ST., 900 in London. and Blair will
probably save money while he is in the
East. His house will be furnished for him
and he will have servants and other extras
for which the government will probably
have to help pay. He will have as good a
cook as you can get anywhere outside of
Paris, and he will 1--we better in China than
he has ever lived here. He will have
plenty of good society in the company of
the other diplomats who live at Pekin.
and his summers he will spend in the
mountains near the city or in tax
ing tours about the coast in one
of our naval vessels. The mission
at Toxic, Japan, is more expensive, but it
Is much pieasanter as far as the inter
course with the people is concerned. Toxic
is as lively place as Washington. Il has
its court society, its clubs, and from now
on it will have its Senate and House.
bringing the best men from all parts of
Japan there every winter There arc sav