Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-20
Changes and Improvements in the
Senate Wing.
A new ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT
New Upholstery and New Carpets
for the Senators Comfort.
CHAIRS WITH A HISTORY

Congress they will legislate by electric
light They will have all modern con.
veniences and the comforts of home at the
Capitol. Lots OF things have been done and
are being done during the recess to show
how much better than has been Is possible
The new Congress. especially the Senate,
will have better light, better air, better
1urnifure and altogether more attractive
surroundings than had its predecessor
Leaving out the cost of the entirely new
electric light plant for both houses, there
has been no very great expenditure Of
money. 1t is a reform and renovation
ra ther than q renewal Of equipment From
the subcelfar to the skyIight everything
about the building is being gone over
About 10000 volumes Of Official documents
have been removed from the vaulted rooms
have been decomposfng for years and
spreading their musty, oppressive odor
through the chamber and lobbies of leRis.
lation. Books that have never been read
have been inhaled by our statesmen, and
the infection seems only to have bred more
books
Some OF the improvements.
These have been removed and put into o
warehouse In company with about a mil
lion of their kind, which never could be got
into the Capitol. The great basement cham
bers thus vacated have been swept and
as clean as a New England kitchen. Thus
one very important branch Of the scheme
of proper ventilation has been disposed of.
There has to be very substantial uphol.
ception room. 1t must be leather not so
much because leather is more elegant than
other forms Of furniture covering. but for
the reason that nothing else could be count
ed on to stand through a season.
1t is In this room that more sitting and
waiting Is done than in any other in the
country, end restless walters of both sexes
are fidgety and hard on upholstery. The
brown leather furniture of this room, which
was mashed and marred from holding the
great American public in its arms during
the past twelve years, has come out in
new suit of dark red leather, almost az
substantial a saddle seat.
The furniture of the famous marble room,
where Senators receive those whom they
a rich dark olive leather, also selected for
durability as well as for elegance. The
Serate lobby is going to have a new red
carpet and the walls are going to be
done in cream and gold. The great old
fashioned mahogany bookcases. which have
for years stood in this lobby, serving moth
ing but for lobbyists to lean their elbows
on, are to be retired to the cloak rooms
and to have books put in them. There will
be new rugs and other additions to COM
fort put in these cloak rooms. which, like
the smoking rooms of a club. are the So
ciable and most frequented apartments Ct
the Senate. There Is where the real sena-
tcrfal club life is thoroughly enjoyed, and
ease, rather than elegance, is considered
in the furnishings.
The Senate Chamber Proper.
handsome new grass-green carpet has
been made for the Senate chamber proper,
and the walls are going to be entirely re-
decorated. The chairs and desks which
were In the old Senate chamber, and which
have been occupied by the great statesmen
OF the early days. are still in use. They
have been added to from time to time as
the number Of Senators has increased, the
new desks being made of the same sort Of
material and on the same pattern as the
old. until the identity of the old has been
lost, except to the official secret record.
In anticipation of the election of two new
Senators from the contemplated new state
of Utah the additional desks have been pro-
vided
All the desks Of this chamber are made
OF high-grade mahogany. At the time
when the first OF them were built 1t was
the custom to cover this beautiful wood
with heavy coat of black varnish, which
order to preserve the uniformity, the black
varnish has been adhered to through all
time, and the method Of cleaning has been
to put another coat over the old. All this
is now being taken off The black varnish.
and with il the finger prints OF the great
statesmen venerated and vanished, is to
be all scraped away. and the natural wood
is to he made to show with a high polish.
through an oil finish. While the old sena-
torial desk hss been preserved, the new
conforming to the old. some plebeian and
undfgnifiedIy comfortable chairs, which
turn around and tilt back, permitting feet
to be elevated to desks, have found their
way into the chamber. These are to be
banished, and a senatorial chair has been
provided for every senatorial desk. The
senatorial chair is a very proper and COM
Portable article Of furniture. which stands
squar ely on its four legs and preserves the
dignity Of the Senate. It is of massive
The back and seat should be of hair-cloth,
but leather has practically superseded that
very oId-fashioncd covering. A man would
have to be an acrobat or have a block and
tackle to tilt one back on its hind legs,
and no Senator has ever been known to at
tempt it. If the senatorial chair had been
enforced during the past few years Mr..
Call would have been saved from the con-
troversy over his putting his shoeless feet
upon his desk.
Chairs Have a History.
There may not be an effort to compel the
use Of the more decorous chairs In the
future. but the odd chairs will all be re-
moved and the uniformity be restored, not
TO be broken unless Senators insist upon it
The old-time, genuinely senatorial Sena-
tors would nat think of disputing the hon
orahle prerogatiye of the square built and
ample mahogany chair. but some OF the
younger men may demand the revolving
seat. To any Of these younger men it may be
necessary only to suggest that the chair
he would abandon may have belonged to
Webster. Benton or Clay.
The chairs and desks Of all those great
men Of the past are in constant use during
the session. Upon some theory 1t has been
thought desirable that these should not be
known, either to the public or to the Sena-
tors themselves. Their location is recorded.
with the history Of each but this record is
secret, and no one outside two or three OLD
and trusted officials has access to 1t. Old
man Bassett is probably the only one who
could stand in the chamber and point out
all the furniture that has a history or per-
sonal associations of value. OF all the old
desks of this sort the only one that pre-
serves its public identity is that OF Jefer:
son Davis, which is occupied by Cockereu
of Missouri
The new electric plant will have a 81
pacity of six thousand lights, three thou-
sand for each wing. About TWEEN ty-five hun.
dred lights for each wing will be put tp,
The use Of electricity for lighting the SEM
ate chamber is a thing heretofore untrieds
The avoidance Of heavy shadows being cAD
from the skylight screen behind which the
gaslight is now arranged presented ses
nous difficulty In the way Of the use 9f
electricity for this purpose. This has all
been arranged, however, and twenty-four