Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-09-28

Visitors at the State House will OBJ
serve that recently there have been
pretty nickle plates with numbers up
on them placed upon each Of the doors
about the building, the main entrance
being No. l. About all the doors have
had numbers upon them that have
been painted over, butunder the new
system every door about the building
is numbered. there being in all about
$50.
This is but part of the new system
that has been introduced by Superin-
tendent of Public Buildings Col. E. C.
Stevens, so that he may keep dupli-
cate. keys to each door, in a manner
that there will he no trouble in procur-
ing new one, in case the original one
is lost.
Col. Stevens system of keys Is a
great one, and it is sure to work with
success.
q In building of this sort, there are
Hof course, hundreds of keys needed
for the doors. wardrobes, desks in the
representatives hall and senate cham
ber, and all the cabinets about the
building, and unless some system Is
used there is sure to. be troubleNin fit
ting the locks. unless duplicate keys
are kept, and to keep duplicates of the
many different places will require a
clear system.
Under this new system Of keys there
will be two duplicate keys to each
door and three duplicates to each
desk, wardrobe and all the cabinets.
This requires a little over 1000 keys.
and unless great care is used they will
get mixed.
Col. Stevens has had the State car
penter, o. I. Stone, build a handsome
cabinet of oak containing II or more
drawers.
Each drawer is about two feet
square, possibly a little larger, and is
ulNiucu IIlO COllIpdl "A~ASiAA eAA <
little and big keys are kept. At mo-
ment's notice the exact drawer In
which the key is wanted is known,
and it is produced without any con-
fusion.
Attached to each key which includes
the original, is a little nickled tag that
bears plainly upon it. the name OF the
door. desk, or cabinet to which 1T oe-
longs. so that # will assist the owner
in distinguishing it from the Others.
AS each Of the officers about the
house have to have several keys to the
different drawers to their desks, the
diffe, ent keys to these drawers are at
tached to a chain, and each key bears
upon it's tag the name of the desk ana
the number of the drawer to which 1t
| belongs. Thus the speaker OF the
house of representatives has to have
several keys. The large tag bears the
| words, Speaker of the House, while
each key tells for itself to what drawer
etc, it belongs.
The key case is kept in the office OF
the superintendent. who carries the
key to it, and thus every article IN
mans wardrobe or cabinet is as safe
as though there were but one key to IL.
1t would appear as though the new
system was remarkably clear one. ana
will save lots of trouble in the future.
AT the last session of the Governor
and Council, Superintendent w. w.
Stetson asked their advice upon what
Nshould be done with the matter intro
duced by the two National commissions
recently formed; the one for the pur-
pose of erecting a monument TO the
memory of Lafayette at the Paris ex-
| position, and the other monument
| to the memory of the sailors VINO lost
their lives in the explosion OF the
Maine. The commission asked that
the contribution be made from the
school children. The State superinten-
dent does not like the idea OF using
| the schools for this purpose. thougs
in the present case he felt that 1t va:
justified.
The Governor and Council did no