St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-12-25
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER

1OOIs
He stood in the hall of the house NJ
representatives contemplating the rich
mahogany desks, the handsome fur.
nishings, the gilt and decorations. with
A choleric and deprecatory eye. He
was attired in black broadcloth. the
vest low cut, showing a wide expanse
of unstarched shirt front, crossed bv a
black string tie. His thin soled boots
of soft leather were carefully polished
and he held black SLOUGH hat in his
hand.
Il was in congress in the days of re
trenchment and REFORM" he said
'and we had no such doings as these
Them chairs, with little recaning.
was good for ten years longer, and
there wasn't nary an initial carved in
the desks. In my day the red and
plush sofys in the lobby was dream
of oriental spleDdor, but | see they
must have fine leather sofys now.
And as for these new committee
rooms, the appropriations in particu-
lar, they air a scene of imperialistic
sumpshusness that the Caesars never
imagined. l walked through this morn
ing, my feet sinking to the ankles in
velvet carpets, and every move reflect
ed in the polish of the mahogany ia
bIes. desks and chairs. These here
plain congressman, corn fed products
of the west, must feel mighty out Of
place amid such surroundings of luxu-
robustness and regal splendor. They
tell me there is $1,000 worth of gold
in the ceiling of the speakers room by
way of decoration and that a third Of
n million dollars has been put in filing
and mahogany, leather, gilt and paint
ing
well, l reckon, after ALL there amt
nothing too good for the great Ameri-
can people, and these air the repre-
sentatives Of the people, and the peo-
pie they pays the freight" whereat he
shook his head and walked away.
Flood of Petitions.
According to the constitution the
right of petition shall not be abridged.
1t is quite evident from the numbers
of petitions which are being sent to
congress this year that the people are
disposed to take every advantage of
their privilege.
The long recess of congress gave Op-
portunity for petition makers TO pre-
pare innumerable requests for all sorts
Of things. the result being seen in the
mass of signed papers now flooding
congress. The most widely circulated
petition seems to have been in behalf
Of homogeneous as against pOlygamOus
marriages Thousands and thousands
of these Sheets bearing the petition at
the head and neatly ruled with blank
lines. were apparently sent broadcast
all over the country. They are coming
in from every city and town and cross
roads postoftice; but, like a good many
other petitions, they will merely bur
den the files of the senate for little
while and then be thrown away. There
is no indication ut present of any ac-
ton along the lines of the proposed
legislation.
The Minister From Siam,
Phya Akhara Oradhara is the high
sounding name of the envoy eXtraordi-
nary and minister plenipotentiary of
his majesty the king of Siam, who re-
Gently arrived in this country. He was
accompanied by his English secretary,
Mr.. Edward Lotus. Phya Akhara
Oradhara is the first diplomatic repre-
sentative from the Land of the White
Elephant to be stationed in Washing
ton. The Siamese minister at London
phya PraSiddhi, is also accredited to
the United States in diplomatic ca
pacity. but he only visited Washington
occasionally. transacting the little dip
omatic business between the two Coun-
tries from the Siamese legation in Lon
don. Mr.. Lotus, who accompanies the
new minister to the United States, has
been an attache and interpreter of the
Siamese legation at London.
To Prohibit Docking.
President R0oscvClts refusal to buy
horses whose tails had been locked
has led Senator Gallinger, who agrees
with the president on this subject, to
introduce bill in the senate making
it unlawful for any person to dock the
tail of a horse within the District OF
Columbia
The title of the bill is "tO prevent
cruelty to certain animals in the DIS
trict of Columbia" and goes into the
subject thoroughly. Provision is made
for the registering of horses with
locked tails and makes it unlawful for
a person ito import or bring into the
District any locked horse or horses OF
to drive, work, use, race or deal in any
unregistered locked horse or horses
within the District of Columbia"
Fer n Hall of Records.
Representative Bromwell of Ohio has
introduced q bill in the house making
an appropriation of $4,000 for the
purchase of property in this city for
hall of records. The property mention
ed in the bill is that bounded on TIL
north by G street, on the east by Sev
enteenth street and on the west by thu
Winder building. 1t is also provided
that the building now on this site b.
put in condition for the storage of doc
uments at an expense Of $4,000. Th
purchase is to be made by the secreta