Evening star., 1896-12-14
CAPITOL GUARDIANS
The Small Force of Watchmen
Always on Duty.
One MAN TO A MILLION DOLLARS
Army Of Sightseers and Relic
Hunters.
TO PROTECT LEGISLATORS

Perhaps there is no building of its size
and value in the world. the receptacle of
costly treasures and valuable records. so
slightly guarded. yet wholly escaping pill
lage as the Capitol, the scene of legisla-
tive wrangiing for century
If the burglar has ever entered the Cap
itol he has not gone with dark lantern and
jimmy to violate the law. If such there
has even been he has gone on his pillaging
tour by very different means. He has ap-
preached the ponderous and magnificent
structure. the home of Congress. in broad
daylight and sought 10 make laws that
would allow him to violate the ninth COM
mandment through highly respectable and
legal means. He has sought to make laws
the compliance with which would serve his
end
Not One to n Million.
There are not enough men on guard at
the Capitol to have one such representative
for each million Of dollars in the great
structure Within and without the build
ing. through the acres of terraced and
wooded grounds that surround it, covered
here and there with dense shrubbery. there
are only on extremely rare occasions more
than dozen guardians of the peace and
protectors of life and property. Yet the
Oldest employees of the place nave no mem
ory of an attempted robbery of any valua-
BILE object from the great building
To guard the Capitol day and night
week day and Sunday there are one captain
of the watch, three lieutenants, thirty-six
privates and eight watchmen. These are
all the men who, under the supervision of
Sergeant-at-Arms Bright look after mil
lions of dollars worth of property If no
member of this force mad an occasional
day off duty. and if they were all free from
danger Of sickness there might be sixteen
Elen on duty at all times, the watches last
ing eight hours. which is a days work for
employees of the government. But that is
not the case. Policemen do get sick they
are given leaves of absence and, like other
men. want one day a week to devote to
recreation ard rest. So it is that the
number of men on duty at any one time is
seldom over a dozen. The day is divided
into three watches, and every month the
men are given new shift, that every
three months they each have a similar
amount of day and night work
The Enlarged. but Inadequate Force.
AS limited as this force is it is 10 per cent
larger than that which existed a few years
ago. Col. Bright made repeated efforts 10
get an increase in the number of men who
assist him to take care of the govern
ment's property. 1t was not difficult to
get an additional allowance for the neces-
Sary salaries from the Senate, but the
House Of Representatives voted these es-
Inmates down time and again. but persist
ency and the necessities of the case finally
prevailed and the present force is the re-
suit. 1t is pronounced wholly INADEQUATE
for the work it has to perform, efficient as
1t is 1t must be remembered that during
the sessions of Congress there are seldom
less than 5000 people in that great build
ing. and on occasions of great interest this
figure is doubled, trebled or quadrupied.
Electric Lighting.
During the past summer an Improvement
in the lighting of tie Capitol was made
which is looked upon as really adding 1@'
per cent to the police and watch force c:
that building and surrounding grounds Al
electric light plant was introduced in the
building and now not only are the corri-
dors, radiating in all directions through
the great structure, brilliantly lighted but
the grounds are Illuminated almost as thor
oughly as Is Pennsylvania avenue. Pedes-
trans crossing the grounds at night no
longer have cold chllS creeping along their
spinal cords as they plod along under the
shadow of overhanging trees. The knock
downs that have occasionally occurred in
that park are not likely to be repeated in
the future, light makes towards of foot
pads.
Valuable Contents.
The absence of the burglar at the Capt.
tol is not accounted for by the lack of
valuabes that might be stolen. OF course.
the larger part of that great pile of marble
and iron is thoroughly protected from the
burglar. But it contains in its halls costly
" crks of art, many of which have required
appropriations of $4,000 These treasures
are valued at hundreds of thousands of
dollars and many of the most precious
of them are small in size and hang within
easy reaching distance in the corridors.
Then there are valuable original records
in which the nations history can be traced
1>,o II fnv t,rrx- iS u-..l1 hat
many of these ancient documents have
been appropriated by relic hunters, and it
is believed that this work has been done
by those who were legally given access to
them.
Energetic Relic Hunters.
So energetically have these relic hunters
done their work that the signatures of
Daniel Webster. Henry Clay and other
great statesmen are as hard to find in the
documents signed by them as Is the pro-
verbal needle in the haystack. But it
vas not the burglar with his dark lantern
who did that Then. too, there are the
safes In the offices of the secretary of the
Serate and the sergeant-at-arms of the
House of Representatives. These objects.
precious in the eyes of the burglar, are
frequently the receptacles of large sums
and would make tedious work for the
cracksmsn, but like everything else on
the House side of the Capitol. the safe to
protect the salaries of members of Con-
gress is not up to date. 1t is quarter
Of century old, and Is perhaps a little
more secure than an oaken chest. Still.
some people think burglar might kick
its hinges of. Despite all these tempta-
tions the burglar has avoided the Capitol.
Ungunrded Entrances.
During the sessions Of Congress there are
not sufficient policemen at the Capitol to
permit the stationing OF man at each of
the entrances. At night only a few ell
frances are allowed to be open. and at
each Of them sits man In officers uni
form. The long corridors of the building
are in themselves a protection against the
efforts Of the marauder. Now that they
are brilliantly lighted 1t would be easy to
detect any effort to carry off property
through them If an officer were about, but
there is not one officer for each dozen cor
ridors of the building and any up-to-date
burglar would not carry his booty down
the long marble and tiled passageways.
where his footsteps would reverberats
through the silent building as if he were
walking on a sounding board. He would
lower his booty from a window. under
which his ral would be in waiting, but
even that method, now that electric light
is thrown everywhere over the grounds.
would be risky.
Troublesome Sightseers.