The Portland daily press., 1900-06-22
PUB. DOCS. TO BURN.
Probably . Quarter az . Million ver-
umes eoisg 90 Rain fn the Capitol.

aMt3* 10.M8 " E.as1* - ~-*@ @eEe@1es
(From the So. Louis Giobe-Democrat.)
Some interesting light Is thrown upon
the manner Of keeping public documents
in the Capitol building by a report which
has been made by Congress by COM
mittee which has investigated the mat
ter. The committee In its report gives a
graphic description of the conditions
and interior Of the sub-basement of the
Capitol building.
There is one room In the sub-basement
Of the Capitol. the report says, where a
large number Of books in sheep, variousiy
estimated from 5000 to 175,0o) copies
large number OF which are on shelves,
the books being from two 10 four deep on
shelf. The floor Of the apartment.
which is of brick, is piled up i'm all the
alcove spaces and along the aisles lean
ing from one to the other with these doc
uments from two to four feet in depth.
These books are thrown into the alcove
spaces as kindling wood would be piled
up In yard.
The aisles In many places are so filled
with books that there Is barely space for
a person to walk through, and the books
are being constantly knocked down into
these spaces, and are being continually
walked upon and ruined.
The books which are piled up on the
floor would, as nearly as the committee
can estimate 1t, occupy at least 4, )0O GU
bic feet space. Many of these books
are In mail tags, which apparently
have not been opened for years. Many
more are In packages never opened since
they were deposited In the room.
The room above described contains
by far the larger number OF volume
and they are most Improperly housed.
There are steam pipes running In every
direction through the rooms to steam
coils. The ceilings overhead are net
work of electric, telephone and telegraph
wires, and the room is constantly resort
ed to by mechanics to repair the steam
pipes and the electric wires. The steam
pipes frequently burst and del Ige the
books with water, which, Of course, ruins
them. In addition, some OF these books
show evidence Of having been In contact
with live electric wires or hot pipes, as
the covers are scorched and In many In
stances burned, making 1t an element OF
great danger to the south wing OF the
Capitol to have this large amount of
books in SO exposed place. A confia-
grafton once started among them would
be most disastrous The books In this
room, and this statement Is true OF all OF
the rooms which will be mentioned later,
are covered with dust and a sort OF black
oily SCOT, which has ruined the bindings
Of SO many and In some instances has
badly defaced the pages of the books.
Another room Is perfectly dark, with
no artificial light; has shelving around
its four sides with stacks OF shelving
across the centre so that 1t Is barely pos
sible to walk around between them, and
must contain not less than 20, OO0 vol
umes, almost all Of them being bound In
sheep.
A larger room Is similar as to dirt
a nd lack of light, and contains by esti-
nation from %, 600 to 5000 volumes,
bound In sheep.
A triangular-shaped room contains a
great many volumes, the number OF
which 1t Is impossible to estimate. The
books are piled up In stacks which, from
the shape OF the room, It Is difficult to
measure. Five thousand volumes would
be very conservative estimate of the
number in this room, which Is partly oc-
cupied by two steam coils, and the tenn
perature, when the steam Is on in the
winter, runs considerably above 100
degrees.
wall containing stitched back documents,
not many in number, and large room
records which belong to the
file clerk, stored in most unsuitable
place and being rapidly destroyed by heat,
dampness and dirt.
In what are called stack rooms" un-
der the caves. southwest OF Statuary
Hall, and in similar rooms northwest of
Statuary Hall, are large number of
bound books, a greater proportion OF
sk. hot. in aha tCh hAu nnf
been measured up or estimated There
are many thousands Of them, however
and these are all in nearly as bad condi-
tion with regard TO dust and dirt as are
those In ths sub-basement rooms.
On the gallery running aro1nd the
northerly side of Statuary Hall are some
200 to l, 800 of these bound books, and
on the back side of the cases containing
them and on cases against the wall OF the
gallery are stored documents, reports OF
the House and Senate for many Con-
crosses back. They are contained in pa
per jackets, which admit dust and dirt,
and It Is impossible to say whether there
are complete files for the several Con-
grsses until the same have been further
examined.
On the basement floor there are two
large rooms one of them having shelving
around It's sides, with stacks In the CEN
tire running co the ceiling. which ara
flied mainly with House and Senate re-
ports as far back as the Nineteenth Con-
gress.. There are also large number Of
books piled on the floor In the aisles, the
number being difficult to estimate.
The House document room, situated
in the corner northwest of Statuary
Hall, and the chambers and alcoves adja-
cent, Is in a badly oongested condition,
and has on shelving, In addition to the
bills and reports of the present Congress,
the House and Senate documents and re-
ports for many Congresses, this making
two sets OF these documents in jackets,
one belonging to the House document
room, the other to the clerks document
room.
Connected with the document room of
the House are six rooms, situated under
the southwest terrace, which are lighted
BY Hyatt lights in the roof Of each room,
one to each, and such light as comes from
the corridor. Here are kept the House
documents OF the current session, togeth-
er with such Of past sessions as have not
been taken out by members, and include
the stitched back documents from which
Is made up the binding list of the present
Congress. These rooms are most insult