Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-30
THEIR PERQUISITES
New Members of House and Senate
Looking Them Up.
INHERITED OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS
Those That Are Down in the Cap
itol Folding Room.
S E n A RS ROOM S

The new members of the House and Sem
ate are very busily engaged in looking up
their perquisites. Some time. by and by
the men coming into Congress for the first
time take up the study of parliamentary
procedure. rudimentary history of the
nited States, or perhaps historic state pa
pers and the public questions of present
hour. But these are matters of after con-
slderation: there are other things to be
learned which appeal to the spirit of self
preservation. Primarily. of course a new
member must study architecture. Every
new member has to do this and some of
them find it very difficult. Their study of
this question, however does not extend
into the ancient form nor discriminate be-
tween the Grecian and Gothic. the Egyp-
tian and Renaissance. 1t is merely study
of ground plan, curves. angles. portals and
the way to the elevator. But even before
they have become familiar with the archi-
lecture of the Capitol building they begin
a profound and energetic study of rights
privileges and perquisites. Two things that
are most interesting to the new members
OF the House are the amount of patronage
10 winch they are entitled in the organiza-
tion and the various government publica-
tons to which they are entitled. and wheth-
er these publications are bound or are in
pamphlet form.
Inherited Literature
An interesting, mysterious thing to the
new member is underground labyrinth
with vaulted ceilings and long arched
passageways, with sudden turns and dark
corners. like the catacombs of Paris. in
which are stored away the corpses of con-
crosses past. since the year 1901. The
corpses are in the form of congress
sional publications, which have accumu-
lated during nearly forty years The work
OF depletion and replenishment of the con-
tents of this vaulted chamber is constantly
gong on, and the number of volumes there
packed away is maintained constantly at
about one million. the number of subjects
treated of in the volumes being about
twelve hundred. A member of congress
Is entitled to only such publication as are
issued by the congress in which he serves
Dut there Is system of inheritance by
which new members come in the possession
or printed matter by the hundredweight
which is left by their predecessors. some
times through indifference to its value and
sometimes through spirit of generosity
when inspires the retiring member with
the idea of leaving his successor something
TO start on. Many volumes have thus
passed down line of inheritance covering
a succession of fifteen or twenty congresses
ana may lie there to be inherited again and
again for the next fifty years, while the
daSt ana miidew accumulates upon them
Prior to the enactment of the law estab-
ilSGlng the bureau of documents which is
sort of clearing house for the government
printing office. where stored all publ
cations unclaimed from the printing office
Tor distribution among all people willing to
pay a price for them equivalent to the cost
of printing, the accumulation of public
documents was vastly greater than it now
Is, but the folding room is still stocked to
its utmost capacity.
Catalogue Supplied.
Every new member of Congress is sup
piled with catalogue of the government
publications and in blank spaces left for
the purpose is designated the volumes
which have come to him by inheritance, with
the number of each Indicated During the
holiday recess the clerks of all these new
members are occupied in examining the
laws of inheritance and making an inyen-
tory of the acquired stock, and in irving
10 get some sort of an idea to the rela-
tive value of the various publications which
they have fallen heir to- As a rule these
volumes which are left for inheritance are
a worthless lot. which nobody can find any
use for, but the new member, finding him
self in the possession of a Thousand or
more bound volumes, feels a sense of re-
sponsibilfty which is ludicrously emharrass-
ing to him, and spends hours of anxious
consideration in determining to which of
his favorite constituents he shall send pub
locations the value and mean ming of which
he does not comprehend. The employees Of
the House folding room have been kept
busy since the holiday season began in
10 green congressman or to their equally
green clerks the character of the volumes
they have suddenly become so abundantly
possessed of.
Senator'S Office Rooms.
The senators have an additional matter
of interest to occupy them beyond any con-
Sideration of mere affairs of the state. and
in this the old as well as the new evince
the deepest concern. This is the selection
and fitting up of office rooms in the Capt.
tol. Each senator is entitled to a room of
some Sort in which is his desk, and where
he can do his work apart from the business
transacted in the Senate chamber. As in
all things else in the Senate the selection
OF rooms goes by seniority of service. The
chairmen of committees have their COM
mittee rooms, which are fixed and desig-
mated. but each senator is entitled to a pri-
Vate room, and first choice of those avail
able is given to the senator of longest ser
vice. There is a vast range of difference
between the rooms available. some being
in the Capitol building proper. some in the
MaItby annex, some inside rooms and some
outside rooms. some large and some con-
tracted There Is very lively scramble for
good location not the less lively for being
conducted with dignity. The men of long
service. having first choice, are apt to be
well satisfied but group of new senators,
all having equal claim, each with the other
md it difficult to adjust matters. and more
dlplomacy Is needed in getting them prop
eriy settled than is necessary to settle the
differences that arise in a convention of the
Daughters of the American Revolution or
of the Holland Danes.
CHARGED WITH IaRCENy