The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-09
GREAT HOME FOR PooKs-
Progress of WORK GA the Congress.
sionsl Library.

congress will be resumed tomorrow for the
season of 1891. This does not mean that
nothing has been done tow ard the erection
OF the building since the close Of last sea
SON On the contrary, stone masons and
others have been at work at the quarries all
winter getting out material for the use of
tie builders, and at the foundries of the
contractors the casting OF girders. floor
beams and other iron work has been in
progress. Tomorrow the workmen will
oegln again upon the walls and floors OF the
building with the material prepared for
them during the winter.
1t took twenty years or more of the most
persistent and untiring efforts of the test
men In the Senate and House of Repre-
sentaVives and Of Librarian Spofford to
educate congress up to the necessity Of pro-
viding adequate Accommodations for the
volumInous collection Of the congressional
library. They had the miserably made
quate and oyercrowded quarters of the
library In the capitol building constantly
before their eyes, but an astonishingly large
proportion of the legislators could see no
need for better accommodations, and they
could not appreciate the feelings of those
who had. There was no pork" for their
constituents in the erection of another pub
lie building in Washington, and it was
subject which had no interest for them.
When the bill authorizing the erection Of
library building finally passed in April,
1886, there was great rejoicing among all
the friends of the project, but for a long
time their hopes for quick construction
Of the building were disappointed. The
law placed the construction of the building
In the hands of a commission and it was
not long before the attacks were made upon
It's work and the plans it adopted for the
structure. Certain contracts made by the
commission were severely criticized, and
congress finally made an investigation
which resulted in the passage of an act
abollshing the commission, placing the con-
struction of the building under the charge
OF the chief of engineers of the army, aud
adopting a new plan for the structure,
while limiting its cost to $1,000 900. Ali
this took time, and quite naturally work
upon the building dragged in a somewhat
discouraging way.
Workmen began digging for the necessary
excavations in 1886, the same year in which
the original law was passed, but when the
chief of engineers took charge, in June,
1889. only about one-half of the founda-
tionS had been laid. Since that time, how
ever, no reasonable fault can be found
with the progress Of the work Before the
close Of the working season of 1889 the
foundations were completed, and very
fair start was made upon the building
proper. The masonry of the entire cellar
story was finished and the basement floor
laid, so that the whole building had been
brought up to the level of the ground
Last year was busy one, and when the
regular building operations closed in De-
cember the entire basement story ad been
built, that being the first story above the
ground All of the iron girders, beams.
and freproof archlng of the first story floor,
including the floor of the rotunda, were
completed during the year, while cousid-
cradle portion of the walls of the first story
were laid. Besides this work on the build
ing proper, the great boiler and coal vaults
on the east front of the building were fin
ished.
The cornerstone of the building was laid
Aug. 2S, without ceremony of any sort
The chief OF engineers had no desire Ito
make a fussn about so small matter as lay
ing the cornerstone of what is to be the
largest library building in the world. The
only person present other than the work
men who put the stone in place was an old
gentleman who happened to stay into the
Enclosure while the work was going on. The
stone, which is at the northeast corner of
the building, contains box in which are
copies of the acts of congress relative to the
library, and official reports giving the his
tory Of the building up to 1890. 1t will Re
good may years before anybody will
read these documents.
BY the close Of the working season, which
opens to morrow, it is expected that all the
masonry of the first story will be laid. in
Guiding the iron and brick work of the
second story floor, while the court walls,
except those OF the rotunda, will be ready
for The roof. Besides this, the iron door
and window frames and trimmings for the
cellar, basement and first story, and for the
interior structure of the main book stacks,
are to be completed during the year.
Until last autumn visitors who stood on
the east front of the capitol and looked
over 30 the site of the library building could
see nothing but very high and tight board
fence, which had surrounded the site since
1856. The fence is still there, but now the
walls of the big building are high enough
to he seen from the capitol, carrying ten
great lifting derricks, which stick up like
the masts of a fiee5 OF ocean ships 1t needs
but glance to show that it is very large
building which is to hold the books
of the congressional library. In fact,
as already intimated, it is to
be the largest library building
in the world. The figures tell the story,
for its extreme outside dimensions are 1853
feet 1194 inches by 332 feet 9 inches 1t is
to be as solid and substantial as It can be
made within the $4,000, 900 limit put upon
its cost by congress. The great public
reading room will be the rotunda in the
center Of the building, with its diameter of
100 feet. Let the reader who has visited
the national capitol imagine himself stand
ing in the center of the rotunda, of that
building, and suppose the walls all around
to be pushed back two feet further than
they are. Then he can form an
idea of the size Of the reading
room of the new library building. In
reality the library ro5unda includes an addi-
tional forty feet of space, but this is divided
into alcoves for books, and is not counted
in the clear space of the reading room.
While the general finish of the building is
to be quite plain, in granite and marble,
the rotunda and the great main vestibuIe,
with its stairways to the upper floors, will
be deliberately decorated in marble, iron
and stucco work. A handsome circular
gallery will be placed under the dome of the
rotunda, whence visitors can look down
upon the reading room floor.
When the building is finished and opened
to the public in 1896, it will contain alcoves,
stacks and iron shelving sufficient to stow
away 500, 900 books. This is expected to
accommodate all the books received at the
library for the next thirty years. the pres
ent rate of increase being about $4,000 vol
umes a year. But when the 100000
mark is reached, there will still
be room in the building for 2,500,000
more books, so that, if the structure
lasts that long, it will be a century before
another building to hold the library's COL
lection will be needed. 1t is the fond hope
Of those who labored so long and so ear
nestlv to secure this magnificent home for
hooks that when the time comes the law