The St. Johns herald., 1898-02-12
FROM WASHINGTON.
A St. Johns Boy Takes in the
 Sights of the Capital City.
WAsHINaroN. D O. Jsnuarv 26.


 ington." l am proud of the capital of our nation. It is city Americans are to be proud of. Since leaving St. Johns have had the privilege of seeing lit- tie of our great nation.
 After passing from the desert lands in Arizona and New Mexico. and seeing the grand scenery of Colorado, one is ushered into the peaceful but beautiful Salt Lake City. What pretty place it is, indeed! Then taking flyer" across the continent, one sees the great metropolis of the mighty West-Chi- cago, and passes through the manufac- turing city of PittsbuTg, he is then changed enough from western ideas to take ID and enjoy the finest city in America-the city of Washington.
 Washington is situated between some small mountains. or hills. and the Po- tomac river. It is modern city in all respects, and has all the improvements of modern times. This great deal to a person who has never been west of the Mississippi river.
 There are many beautiful buildia gs Tn Washington, and it seems there are statues and parks without number.
 Among the sights one ought to see when visiting the capital is the tribute to the father of our great country. George Washington's monument is over 555 feet high, and is made of white marble. It is 34 feet square in the top station, which is 500 feet high, and was built by the several states and territo- ries of the nation, and by large corpo- rations. The city from the 500 feet sta ton is the most beautiful sight I ever saw or imagined. The town looked like a toy city just painted, and it was mag nifcent.
 From the mon nrment I went to the National Library and saw things past and present. The old mummies took my eye, but I soon got it off again. I saw Washington's uniforms and num- erous other things here.
 Then 1 visited the tree. "General No- ble." near the Department of Agricul. ture. It is one of the largest trees in existence. It must be twenty feet in diameter. It cost over $10,000 to get the tree and convey it from California.
 Going through the park, came up before the Capitol building. where the laws which govern these United States are made. After wandering through what seemed to me to be endless rooms 1 was ushered iuto the senate chamber. All was peace in that dignihed body, except in one corner, in which . great orator was appealing to his hearers. He had the floor, and kept it while was there, which was several hours. The speaker was the distinguished senator from Colorado, Hon. Henry Nj. Teller. His subject was "Bimetallisn. |" and his arguments were forcible indeed.
 The next place sought was the house of representatives. and when found, as luck would have it, speeches were belng made against an amendment to the In- dian School bIlI, as proposed by Hon. Mark Smith. The gentleman from Ar. izona was being dealt with quite harsh ly for considerable time. until finally he arose. and of all the speeches deliv- cred while I visited congress Mark Smiths was the best. His arguments were indeed strong, and he was labor. ing with all his might to prevent an appropriation being made to the State of Pennsylvania for g school to educate the Indians from the far west how to anslyze flowers, etc. Many questions were put to our statesman, but he an- swered them in "fine shape" as the the expression is. As long as 1 was there. Marcus A. Smith was laboring TOT the interest of Arizona. Czar Reed is ruler all right, as far as the house goes, at least.
 next visited what is probably the finest building in Washington. the Rew National Library. I shaTf not attempt to describe i:, but will merely say cost over six and halt million dollars. and Is worthy tribute to educators, scien l lists. discoverers, statesmen, etc.
 The treasury, state. naval, war and and agricultural departments were wis. tied.
 The treasury is beautiful building. To see them making money is s grest thing. l visited the treasury building about II o'clock in the morning, and there had already been made and coudted that day $64 900 of $l currency bills, with about as much just ready to be counted. One million dollars 8 day IS made. It seems to be an easy thing to make. but difficult to get hold of af- ter 1t Is made. A bunch of bonds were shown us on the tip of mans finger. The little bunch only represented four million dollars. There was $250, 900. 900 of these bonds Tn the vaults, but there WAS an iren fence between me and the bonds. Then to See about fifty geople who have been doIng nothing else for five months but count silver, with lair prospects for 8 month more, it causes one to feel like the United States is all right ss far ss money is concerned, but those lawmakers know how to SC it up. In the vaults of this treasury building are about $9O0,0U0, ,000 in gold. silver, currency and bonds, so am informed.
 Passing from thls scene of money, visited the White House. A magniti-