The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-18

dozen completed buildings stood idle for
six months like empty monuments,
because there was no money to buy furni-
ture for them
Congress is rather economical as to the
furniture in uses. A new brussels carpet
is put down on the floor OF the House
every two years. AT the end of the first
year it is taken up, cleaned, and laid
again. Representatives squit tobacco
Juice upon it freely. so that the cleaning
= needed. 1t costs ) cents yard for
oaning and cents more for laying down.
the end of the second year it is pretty
lily worn. The good parts of it are
nsferred to committee rooms; the re-
finder is sent to auction. The new car
'5 for the present House has not yet
n laid. The bill for it will be s., 900. .
There win be twenty-four new desks in
&c House at its next session, to provide
~ additional members. The House desks
@ cheap and common looking. They are
ade of oak. Each one, together with
e revolving chair belonging to it, costs
llY S24 The Senate desks are of mahog-
ny and very handsome. Barring those
hich have been added, they are the same
were in use siXty-two years ago when
'OOrkeeper Isaac Bassett was first en-
>ioyed as page.
DOORKEEPER BAssETT's BOOK SCHEME.
There were forty-siX then; now there
are lightweight. The desks at which
Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Benton, Cass
and other great men sat are to-day scat
tered about the chamber. Only Capt.
Cassett knows which are the ones they
occupied, and he will not tell, because he
is saving up his information for a book
The Senate desks cost $62 each in old
times, but at present they are made more
cheaply by machinery. Every year the
tops of them are repolished and the other
parts are vanished After the newer
ones have undergone these processes
twice or thrice it is impossible to distin-
guish them from those which are more
ancient
The Senate considers that a greater de-
gree of luxury is consistent with its SUI
perior dignity. Accordingly, its commit
tee rooms are much more elegantly
furnished than those of the House One
finds in the contingent fund report men
ton made of such expenditures as $50 for
leather lounge for the committee on
railroads, $35 pair for lace curtains for
the committee on appropriations, and $50
each for special top mirrors for the
committee on rules The leather
seated chairs in the Senate restaurant
cost S54 apiece. In the House the
speakers chair, of oak and leather, was
purchased for only 1888 so. But senators
must be comfortable while they eat, just
as they require handsome sofas to recline
their tired forms upon, as well as French
plate looking glasses to admire themselves
in. 1t is interesting to know that the
leather cushion on which Vice President
Stevenson will sit and has already sat on
cost only So Most of the Senate chairs
are of brown leather stuffed, but some of
them have been replaced with revolving
wicker ones.
FURNITURE OF TIE WHITE HOUSE.
The expenditures for furnishing the
white house have already amounted to
more than 81 100000. Of late years the
appropriations for this purpose have in
creased enormously. When John Adams
became the first tenant of the executive
mansion congress allowed $4,000 for fur
niture. During Jefferson's administra-
ton an additional sum of $4,000 was
granted. When Mn Madison came in
Sl4, eco more was provided for the same
object. Then the British swooped down
upon Washington and partly de-
stroyed the Presidents house with
fire. The catastrophe rendered it nee
essary to spend $500 for refurnish-
ing, etc. To this sum $50, 900 was added
under Monroe. After John Quincy Adams
was inaugurated, congress gave $14 900
MORE with $1,000 extra for furnishing and
finishing the east room, which up to that
time had been bare as barn, being util-
lied as laundry ana nursery. The APP
preparation under Jackson was $4,000,
under Van Buren, 10000, under William
Henry Harrison Sc 900, under Polk S14, 600,
under Taylor Sl4, 900, under Pierce $25, 900,
under Buchanan S20,O00 and under Lin
coin $4,000.
At the conclusion of Lincoln's term of
Office the white house was in a very bad
condition. Things had been allowed to go
TO wrack and ruin; the furniture needed
repair and renewal, and liberal provision
of money was required to accomplish a
general restoration. Accordingly congress
appropriated $4,000 for this purpose
while Andrew Johnson was Presi-
dent and added $4,000. During
Grants first term it allowed for
the same object SUCCESSFULLY sums
of sos. 900, S25, 900, 5000, 5000 and
S45, 900. In the course of his second term
$85, 900 more was spent in the same way
Under Hayes the amount provided for
this object was 800 600; under Garfield and
Arthur, $4,000; under Cleveland, in his
first administration, S74, 000 and under
Harrison S96, 900. The average outlay
nowadays is about $25, 000
Each department at Washington pays
for its own furniture and repairs out Of its
contingent fund.