Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-07

| S%S<~ duct Of the press.
| While individual spec
linens Of the great family Of journals may
wander OF into strange fields and reflect
no credit upon their ancestry, the paper
itself lives on to good old age beyond the
limits Of human existence. in fact.
Nearly twenty thousand proofs Of this
| fact are contained In the mysterious vaults
| that range about under the surface Of the
earth beneath the graceful dome of the Cap
itol. Huge piles Of dull yellow books rear
| to the arched ceilings and seem to support
| the magnificent pile overhead.
| Indeed. these volumes. in a certain sense,
| represent one Of the great props Of the ma
| ton. and therefore of its chief forum. Here
| are the newspaper files of Congress-; thous-
ands upon thousands of proofs that news
papers are not ephemeral They extend
| away back, not only into the dusk Of the
| catacombs that honeycomb the cellar Of the
| building. but into the dim beginnings Of the
| republic, when newsetters were giving way
| to newspapers, when mouth to- mouth gossip
was being discounted by printed facts, and
when the printer was growing to be a pow
| er in the land.
| Some Of these old files are interesting, and
| the collection forms. in a rather expansive
| and bulky form, a splendid history Of the
| United States.
| Two Old Warrington Papers.
| The habit Of keeping files was contracted
by the Senate In its early days. when jour-
/
lative proceedings The government became
subscriber for the National Intelligencer,
| daily paper printed In the city Of WASH
| ington. This historic sheet was started in
| the year 1890. and continued for many years
to be the only paper In the country that
gave quick reports Of congressional doings.
| This was in the days before the telegraph,
and the newspapers published away from
news upon this paper. In 1sa5 the Union
was established and continued for eleven
years.
Files Of these two old papers, with some
others of the north and south. were care
fully kept in the Senate. and were the
source of constant Information for both
Senators and Representatives who depended
upon them In many cases far more conf
IDENTIFY than upon the Globe About eight
years ago these files. which had been moved
from place to place. and were In danger of
being destroyed were transferred by resolu-
| ton Of Congress. to the care Of the librarian
Of Congress. who had them placed with the
files that he had been keeping and stored
| away under the crypt Over eleven hundred
| volumes were transferred.
| Just to the north of the curious circular
| chamber under the rotunda floor a small
door leads to the east. A tap upon 1t gives
a quaint echo that tells Of dusty depths be-
yond. In moment there is a rustling of
papers and the door Is opened. A man past
the meridian Of life. rather portly with
| strong gray mustache and imperial and
keen eyes covered by spectacles, appears.
|
material covers him from soiling and his
| cuffs are turned back. A word is passed
and the custodian of the files, Mr.. Van Ness,
ushers the way into his den.
| Mr.. Van Ness Den.
| A nIckering gas jet affords the only illu-
mination. There is confusion. confusion
confusion everywhere near the door, Beyond
this gives place instantly to order and sys.
| tenn. But the confusion itself is orderly
| for the trained fingers OF the custodian
| can pick their way to any desired paper
| or object at a moments notice A large
| table Is covered with pamphlets and pa.
| pers. A great clothes basket stands on tor
filled to OVERLOOKING with the latest issues
Of the press. A copy Of The Star peeps
over the rim.
THAT is my morning mail" remarks Mr.
| Van Ness. as he lays his hand affectionate-
ly upon the mass of reading matter. 1T Is
rather poor morning, too. Sometimes
| there are two baskets. / take these papers
out. You may see these shelves and big
pigeon holes behind you. Well each one
is for certain paper. Some of the boxes
you notice. are filed. The files in those are
nearly ready to be sent to the government
bindery to be put between covers Some OF
the papers bind up at two months and
others at four.
"Then every two months" he went on
fumbling through a drawer in the table
"they send me their current files from the
Senate which / have to colate very care
|
binders and go through them particularly
to see what numbers are missing. Then
write to the publication offices of the pa
pers and try to supply the deficiencies
When the volumes are as complete as I can
make them they go to the binder"
A splendid black and white cat just then
awoke from her nap among the strewn
papers under the table and stretched her.
self with delightful feline yawn.
lis that your assistant" was asked.
His One Assistant,
Eyes. pusse is all the help have. She
does good work in keeping the rats and
mice down. They would be pretty bad
here If it were not for her. and I might
lose some valuable old volumes on accoun,
of their meddlesome teeth She somehow
or other. got lost about a month ago and
| was shut up in one of the rooms down
| stairs here for nearly a week She was as
poor as a rail when I found her, but she is
beginning to pick up little now" and the
| custodian patted the cats head fondly.
"You can see from this list the number
of papers we get here as he handed out a
carefully kept book that contained the
names of upwards Of hundred of the best
| journals published in the country. II
showed the date of subscription and the
date of sending the volumes to the binder
as well as that Of it's return. 1.-The Senate
takes tEirty-one papers now In addition tc
these. 1t keeps me pretty busy attending
| to them all. Let us walk through the vaults
and you can see what a quantity of ma
terial We have here"
| Mr.. Van Ness carefully locked the door
and led the way from the region of chaos
to that of order. The yellow backs doomed
up on either hand. leaving only narrow
aisles between the shelves. The rows went
off in dim vistas of journalism. The GUS
| todian pointed here and there to the pets
of his collection.
There Is a complete file Of the Savannah
Republican" he said, pointing to a lot OF
long thin books on a top shelf, their backs
tattered little. THAT paper contains a
vast amount of stuff about the south in
| the days when the war spirit was growing.
| with that little fellow that looks like an
account book. 1t has grown some since
then, for that was early in the century.
Here is an interesting file. 1t Is the Phila-
delphia Packet, which was begun in IN,
and was afterwards called the North
American. That file is complete. Then
here are some old Tennessee papers from
away back.
"You see, 1 keep these right here at my
hand where / can watch them closely.
But my most precious volumes the COM
plete file Of the lntelligencer. / keep down.
stairs clear out of sight. Few folks know
where the case Is. These vaults UP here, -
pointing down two or three narrow. pass
ages that ramified from the center aisle,
contain only few Of the volumes on
hand"
He led the way Off to the left into a cur
ious room which. with shelves filled TO
overlooking. was about twenty feet high
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