The evening times., 1899-12-28
SPACE IN THE HOUSE.
Reforms Contemplated That Will
Give More Room to All.

Reforms Contemplated That Will
Give More Room to All.
| II seems as though the time is at hand
when the clerks and employees of the House
| will secure some greatly needed additional
! room. Every year many complaints have
been made of the injustice of the arrange
ment which allows certain employees OF the
House all the room they need and compels
others to huddle up like sheep
As long as it was possible for the House
TO do without additional room it was GER
ta;nty it would get no more. All the room
! formerly occupied by the Congressional LII
| brary has been idle for some time, because
| the Senate thought it ought to have 1t all
and refused TO divide with the House. The
] House must have more room to accommo-
date its committees, and so must the Sen
ate The idle space will probably be equal
| ly divided soon after Congress reassembles.
| These rooms might have continued un-
! used for years TO come If it had not been
! for the creation of three new committees
/ by the Senate and one by the House. all
/ four TO handle the matters pertaining TO
! our new possessions. The Senate has more
! committees than the House, and it is even
more anxious than the House that the old
/ Library be divided.
When the additional room is placed al the
disposal of the House the committees may
be shifted around. The room of the jour
/ nal and printing clerks is inadequate to the
/ needs. Chairman Burton. of the Committee
! on Rivers and Harbors, wants larger
committee room. The present room is one
of the smallest about the House. and when
! a delegation is being heard before the full
! committee there is scarcely enough room
! for one to turn around. This room adjoins
! the file room. and Mr.. Burton would like to
! have il turned over 10 his committee, while
/ the clerks OF the file room want the COM
mittee assigned to an apartment in the LII
! brary and the present committee room add
| ed to the file room.
On the first floor of the House the cloak
! rooms for the members are tucked away
under the galleries, and contain two or
| three barber chairs. well as quarters for
| pages Such tight quarters would be a
1 source OF complaint in a school building.
! With all his power the Speaker has been
! able TO secure only very small room.
| which is nearly filled with table, two or
| three desks and 4 few chairs. No thou
sand dollar solid silver inkstand graces his
I desk, nor has he any reehundred- dollar
. curtains and four ur-hundred-doilar rugs. like
| the Vice Presidents room, at the other end
OF the Capitol.
! In the matter Of luxury there is no com-
parison between the Senate and the House.
The best furnished of the House committee
. looms is tha, OF the Ways and Means CON-
mittee the most powerful committee of the
House. ii not OF Congress, and yet it is
! scarcely as well furnished as the poorest
4 committee room of the Senate. AS soon as
a visitor enters the Senate wing OF the Cap
! itoi he is impressed by the mere frescoins
of the walls with a sense of the luxurious
tastes of that body. The frescoing at the
10 81 ha r,Ta haSn tlTi
f! and anything hut impressive.
In little dingy room under the galleries
! in the old hall of the House now the home
of the collection of bronzes. marbles. and
| echoes and known as Statuary Hail. is the
1 House document room. where papers are
piled to the ceiling and clerks can hardly
| pass each other. Across the hall in a SINH
lar room are located the engrossing and en-
rolling clerks. whose desks almost overlap.
/ The Clerk of The House is in an almost in
I accessible recess beyond this room. The
restaurants OF the House and Senate, as is
well known. are located in the darkest
parts of the basement where good light
! and air are comparatively unknown.
| With the exception OF the old library
rooms. it is doubtful if there is a single
! inch of space in the Cariiol not utilized
! TO its fullest extent. The renewal Of the
| Supreme Court will give some additional
! room TO the Senate. and when the relics
| iii Statuary Hall are removed TO a museum
| the House will take possession of that
| room. In the meantime. however, the
House Committee on Insular Affairs must
be housed. AS it is expected to be one of
the most prominent committees of the
| House. it should have desirable rooms, sc it
is probable the Committee on Rivers and
| Harbors and the journal, file and printing
| clerks. will be removed to the old Library
and their rooms turned over to the Com
| mittee on Insular Affairs.
The Committee on Merchant Marine and
Fisheries also promises to be of consider
able Impotence this session. and has been
increased to seventeen members. Its COM
mitiee room i at present located in the
basement. far from the House. and Cen
eral sGrosyenor. its new chairman. would
like 10 have a raorc desirable room.
1t was fancy of Mr.. Reed. when he