The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-29

phere who crosses the building and enters
the Senate wing. There never is any
hustle there. No boys prOpel themselves
like bullets through the slow-moving
crowds There is no confus on The
spirit of ever scene is one of calm repOSe
and clegent leisure Over in the House Of
Representative the CLERKS and attaches
are respectful TO the memb ers, but in the
Senate no man can stay day without
seeing thai Jle emp Dyes al most pros
tratc then selves TO The senators. They
bend and tow and koWtow 10 the great
men like a 10. OF East Indian fan bearers
in the presence Of a ralah. Many sena-
tors demand this Others. are used TO 1t.
and all Of them get it. The spirit of
these employees is offensive TO an Ameri-
can lt leads 10 such ABSURD Orders and
preFosterols Incidents as which led to
refusal to allow The oun correspondent to
enter a public room because senator
happcnedto be in there.
something Olthis IS due TO the south
ern senator's. They are probably never
the leaders in wasteful extravaganza, but
they are the great sticklers for difference
10 the strained notions OF official i'm
portance which they hold and cherish.
NO matter whether q senators shoes are
saiued, or his collar is clean, or his clothes
are such as Il man should wear in public,
senatorial dignity covers up all deticien-
cles in their opinion. A senator may even
drink too much or harangue a crowd in
drinking saloon, but his rank excuses
everything in the opinion Of those who
resent any EFFORT TO modernize the old
shell-CrOwn hulk called sena torial dignity.
The southern senators have well nigh
filled the important subordinate places
with southerners Any one may tell
them b. their liquid Drogue, their soft
hats, and by their inCcSSant and eXemp-
larry politeness.
One reason for their numbers is that
since the southerners have come TO be the
senior democrats they dominate the situa
ton They have been here since they be
came of age, and it is the good custom of
the south to keep its men here till ohey
die. That is what makes the south so
politically strong in Washington. It's rep
reSenLatiVcS are old and experienced.
Whoever enters the calls of the Senate
side of the capitol notices it at once. 1t is
sortU of pro-silyer doldrum Just now. II
the visitor is seeking a senator, he is bid
den to go to the so-called reception room.
This is fine enough to be a part of an
European capital It's floor is master
piece of art, made of colorcd tiles It's
wall are frescocd like the night time
bellies of upper Broadway. Its ornate
ceiling seems TO have its pattern carved
out of gold, and is panels bear beautiful
paintings. Around the room are soft
sofas Of padded leather, beautiful bronzes,
costly clocks, screens Of Japanese silk
embroidered with gold, and in short,
sum Of magnihcence fit to prepare
private citizen for a meeting with a
senator Even from this room no man or
woman may send III his or her card until
after o clock in the afternoon, because
Of a rock-r1bbod old piece of folderol to
the effect that the senators are busy until
that hour. If the time is tit and the
senator Is ColdesCending the visitor is
sent in the marble room, and into
that the senator lounges like
prince. The marble room is
long saloon, all of marble and reach
ing from the Vice Presidents to the Pres
ident's room It's length is artfully exag-
gerated by towering mirrors at either
end. They multiply the gold candelabra
and the carved pillars indefinitely.
About the room are leather sofas, thick
rugs, bronzes, pieces of marble statuary,
and all The rest that is needed to contrib
ute to the assumed greatn of these
political pillars.
There have been so many rich senators
within recent years that the public fan
cies that these men form a great rich
mems club. This is not the case A
great many are poor. While there are
men to whom a senator's salary is bag
atelle, who have given their salaries to
their clerks, and who have spent one-tifth
as much upon ~ single dinner, yet the
body is still democratic enough to contain
men who not only i've upon their salaries,
but save money out of them. These men
live in a second-class boarding house, as
President Harrison used 10 do when he
was i'll the Senate. AT least one of them
lives within 81 600 year, and one is
known to have borrowed a bedroom in his
boarding house and rented it out for 81
night during a festival that brought
crowds to the capital.
These are not The men of wealth who
give gay dinner parties in the committee
rooms, gathering beautiful women in the
splendid chambers and calling upon the
walters who stagger through the halls
bearing champagne and ices. But no
matter what the degree of politics of
most of these poor senator's, they are
punctiious in demanding respect for their
rank, and, though they may so about as
shabbily clad as they please, their wives
reign as social queens, even in the humble
boarding houses.