Warren sheaf., 1894-01-04
ORDER IN THE HOUSE.
Many Sounding Boards Are Broken
to Maintain It.
Something About tho Desks and Gavels
pf tho Speakers Of the House Of
Representatives-ATa Talk with
Reed and Crisp.
Especial Washington letter.

The vice presidents and the speakers,
during the history of our country, have
selected chairs suitable for their COM
fort and convenience while presiding
over the senate and the house, The
desks which they have used officially
have been selected for them by the
sergeants-at-arms Of their respective
bodies. t4.:s
The desk which is now occupied by
Vice President Stevenson is the same
one which was occupied by Vice Presi-
dent Hannibal Hamlin, in 1864, when
the senate wing Of the capitol was
completed and first occupied by the
senate. The chair which Vice Presi-
dent Stevenson uses is high-backed
one which has been used by several
Of his predecessors. ;s.
The chair which Is occupied by
Speaker Crisp is new one, selected at
the commencement of the special ses-
sion of congress in August. The
desk which is before him is also
q new one, as, indeed, are all of
the desks occupied by the speakers
Of the house at the commencement
of new congress. This desk, of
course, is not entirely new, because the
Surrounding framework is part Of the
dais occupied not only by the speaker,
but by the clerk, the journal clerk, the
tally clerk and other officials engaged
in keeping the record Of the days pro-
ceedings in the house. The board top
and baize cover are new.
The top of the desk used by the vice
president is never marred by the use OF
the gavel. The senate is quiet, dig
nifed body, and very easy to keep in
order, even under circumstances of DO.
litical excitement and acrimony. The
gavel used by the vice president Is a
small piece Of ivory, and it has been
put to the same use by the various vice
presidents and vice presidents pro
tempore for more than fifty years.
Without any muscular exertion appre.
ciable, the vice president may lightly
| rap upon the desk before him and
bring the senate to order without any
difficulty.
The speaker Of the house, however,
does not have SO easy time to- pre-
serve order. There never has been a
| house of Representatives so quiet and
so easily controlled as to enable the
speaker to, serve out his term without
requiring new desk top, or, as It is
commonly called, sounding board, at
the commencement of another session.
The idea of writing letter upon this
subject occurred to me while stand
| Srne IL kho I@orr,or% - -
house Of Representatives and looking
at the top of the desk which was used
| for the past two years by Speaker
Crisp There are a number of other
| relics in the house document room, but
the various desk tops used by the diff
ferent speakers for the past thirty
years are the most interesting. The
green cloth. Of course, is stripped from
these boards and they stand naked,
showing by their splintered condition
that they have faithfully served their
country to the best of their ability.
The board used for the top Of the desk
occupied by Speaker Crisp is piece
of white pine, roughly sawed. At one
end of it, where the gaVel used to fell, it
is hammered to almost pulpy fneness,
while the cracks extend in either di-
rection, along the grain of the wood.
This condition of the sounding board
was brought about by gentle taps as
we'll as heavy taps, of course.
When ten or twenty members are
trying to catch the speakers eye at a
time, the speaker demands order and
raps very lightly upon the desk, every
stroke being heard in the remotest
corner Of the house. But when there
are turbulent scenes, and it is neces-
sary for the speaker to take part in the
demonstration by making himself
heard as well as felt, he hammers the
sounding board with all his might. Al
though the first term of Speaker Crisp
was one of comparative peace in the