Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25
CONGRESSIONAL GOSSIP

There is one member of the House of
Representatives who does a great deal of
hard work, important to the public service,
which never appears in the Record, and for
which he receives no thanks and but little
credit. That member is the chairman of
the committee enrolled bills. Mr.. Hager
of Iowa fills the position in this Congress,
and as the session draws to a close he is
overwhelmed with work.
The chairman of the committee on en-
rolled bills is charged with the duty of
pertaining if the bills passed by Congress
are correctly enrolled: that is, If the Of
fetal copy which goes to the President and
which is to be law is identical with the bill
which represents the final action of the
two houses.
Mr. Hager, in fulfilling this duty. must
read the bill, line for line, comparing 1t
with the copy coming over from the House
which last passed it. Today he went
through the immense legislative appropria-
ton bill, noting every punctuation mark
and every word, and it can be imagined
that the task is not an easy one.
The enrolled bills are printed now, instead
of written They are printed on parchment
made of the best quality of sheepskin.
Each page costs about GO cents for the
parchment and printing The appropriation
bills alone number about 200 pages this
session, not to speak of the hundreds Of
other measures, large and small.
Inc chairman OF the committee on en-
rolled bills has a small room near the
clerks office and spends there a great deal
of his time attending to his inconspicuous
but important duty.
Among the visitors at the Capitol the other
day was Commissioner Evans of the bu.
reau of pensions. There is probably no gov
eminent official who has more visits from
members of Congress or carries on
larger correspondence with them than Mr..
Evans. He is seldom seen at the Capitol
but yesterday took advantage of the holi-
day to look in on the Senate and House.
Senator Ross. who succeeded Mr.. Morrill,
as senat tor from Vermont and who deiv-
cred his first address IN the Senate cham
Der Wednesday, has been faithful attend
ant upon the sessions of the Senate, and
probably has missed no vote on a question Of
Importance that has come up since he has
been in the Senate. Mr.. Ross voice when
he delivered the first of the series of
eulogies in the Senate on the life Of his
predecessor was so feeble that he could not
be heard except by those Immediately about
him. His words, however, were a high trib-
ute to the man honored by his state so long
with seat in the Senate.
The great ST ccsss of Representative Sher-
man as chairman of the committee of the
whole House is due to the very peculiar
quality of his voice. He is a good parlia-
mentarian. but that would count for little
If he We're not sustained by his voice.
Speaker Reed might exercise his wonder
ful will power in vain if 1t were not for that
penetrating, semi-nasal voice of his, which
forces itself into every ear within the range
of the hall of the House. But Sherman s
voice has a quality not possessed even by
| the Reed voice. 1t does not possess round
ness and volume: it is not harsh and is not
! peculiarly nasal 1t is like a delicate shaft,
| hurled with great power 1t gives i'm
| preston of inexhaustible lung power, held
| in control. 1t has not the great volume
| which distinguishes Senator Thurston' S
he IN
| the voice of Senator Lindsay, but seems
! to have as much power behind 1t as is pos
| sessed by either. 1t seems to be supported
by q volume of compressed air, piped
| through e trumpet. No amount of noise in
the House prevail against it. When
| Sherman calls for order his voice seems to
| seize every member by the collar and jerk
| him down in his seat, cutting speech off in
| his throat.