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


| Washington TO be shaver ana shJru ana
washed or that a recent arrival rom the
J. west should have tried to introduce ms
wife to some of, the PRIVILEGES Of this
luxurious annex! What wonder that
some Of the senators stay in Washington
nearly all the year around, enjoying these
and other luSurics and neCesSdrlcs, WIN n
! cost them nothing!
in the House of Representatives the
! only clerks that the members have been
able to use have been the COmmitte
: clerks. and their services were from time
/ far distant only available TO the CHAIR
| man of committees. In the way Of burst
! Of what the House considers luxury, that
! body this year voted clerk to each mem
! Der at pay not to exceed 500 a month
| This is a scandal and an outrage, bu, the
mischief Of it is limited by a pro ,islon
! that each clerk must actually work, ana
| that each ore may be paid only as he
| works upon sworn vouchers or the con
! grcssmen. Over in the Cold-pated Senate
| wing every patrcian of the upper house
| enjoys a clerk at $1,000 y ear, and these
| clerks get that money even il they never
| come to Washington. Several Of the
| senators have had their SONS appointed
! clerks. and in some cases their wives,
| their sisters, their daughters, and what
| soever members of their families could
| be rung in 10 contribute public money to
| the family pot.
One Of these salaried sons of senator
! is a student at Harvard, and never comes
to Washington except upon holidays.
| rhe sister of the wife OF another senator
has one of these plumS Senator Pe1er
| has had his son appointed a dOOrkeeper,
| Ex-senator Reagan of Texas, who recent
ly returned to the simplicity OF private
life, carried his wife on his private pay
roll at Sc a day The senators aim to
&c roll coz II G xynll
known that the bulk of the names upon
it are those Of close relatives to the sen
atOrs. These great men manage their
pay rolls in such way that each chair
man who has been for a long while in the
Senate keeps anywhere from three to four
personal attendants on the roll They
are so recorded that it would be difficult
for an outsider to tell who or what they
are. They may be salaried as mesSen-
gers, as doOrkeepers, as labOrers, or as
skilled laborers. The list of senatorial
relatives is known to be as long as the list
Of the senators themselves.
Senator Morgan of Alabama, must re
allie the truth of what is here reported,
for when the republicans were in control
he said on the floor of the Senate that
things had got to that point where there
were somRny employees that senator fell
over them in making his way through the
corridors At about the same time Sena-
tor Plumb, also speaking on the Senate
floor, and animadverting on the eXtrava-
gance of his fellows said he could 90 to
Kansas and get men to run the Senate
postoftice for 5000 year, though the post
Office then cost the nation the interest on
a rich mans fortune, and yet there were
so many clerks employed in it that they
could scarcely get at the boxes.
The senators have had their entire wing
of the capitol wired to abet and enhance
their luxurious comfort. The wires are
electric and enable the senators to leave
their business whenever they choose, and
to spend their time entertaining their
friends in their golden committee rooms,
or to read novels and smoke and drink III
their private apartments The wires are
connected with bells, and these notify the
pe.ted legislators of every urgent de-
mand for their official service. These
bells ring according to n code. One ring
signifies a call for yea and nay vote
Two rings means call of Senate. Three
announce an executive session. -Four
proclaim an adjournment, and five strokes
Of the bells give notice Of an open session
after an executive session.
The madness of this straining for unre-
publican luxury and dishOnOrable waste
has been humored until to-day every
senator has private lOunging room,
personal parlor equipped with servants.
The enormous capitol, never designed for
such eXtrayagant demands upon its space,
has proved far too small for the greedy
demands of the Senate. The Senate has
absorbed all the rooms in its wing and
.encroached on every bit of space there,
till il has crowded out or cramped the
working clerks, though no senator has
allowed his committee room or his private
parlor to be narrowed or trespassed
upon. AT last, the senators have gone to
the extreme of buying the cele brated Malt
by building, a great brick pile, almost
like one of our downtown Office buildings
1t stands just beyond the grounds north
of the capitol. The senators paid Sl3S,
600 for the building alone. 1t will illus
trate the extent of their defiance of
deCency to make it known that there is
not a committee room in that building
The whole of the great structure is made
up of private rooms for the senators. The
members OF the minority all have such
parlors now, though when the luxurious
wedge was first inserted only the mem-
bers of the majority were so pampered.
The Maltby building is managed like a
great club house. 1t has its retinue of
doorkeepers, messengers, and servants, its
system of telephones and call bells, its
elevator, and, in short, the equipment of
a great social club.
This disregard of republican simplicity
tends to the very littlest things; for iu-
stance. the senator's keep carpenter
shop and part of its business is TO make
for each senator what are called packing
boxes for moving their lares and penates
from place to place. The theory is that
these are pine wood crates, but the sena-
tors have way of going without pine
boxes until they are credited with the
cost of fine cedar ones, in which their
wives afJerwlrd keep their lace and linen,
and defy the moths.
And in the summer time, when the
senators go away, not a few of these great
men have Senate attendants to take care
of their houses, to air the rooms, to water
the lawns, and to preserve and guard
their property. In at least one case a
senator had the public servants bring the
Senate wagons TO cart his household goods
tothe capitol ana store them in its base
ment. There are plenty of men about the
capitol who will swear they have seen a
dozen baby carriages in the storeroom at
one time. Tn senate keeps a stable and
a lot of wagons, ostensibly for carrying
the mails to the senator's houses Those
senator's who stay in Washington all
summer. when there is no session. have
their mail carried to their houses in these
wagons. and the drivers do not fail 10 exc
cute any other commissions which the
sena tors ask of them. In the winter
during the social season. visitors will
often find the senatorial attaches acting