Evening star., 1901-12-19
REFuRNlsHlNG THE HOUSE
REPORT OF cHAlkMANs CANNON Of
THE COMMISSION.
Proposed Amendm esit to the Rules Ex-
Guiding the Rablic From the
Floor at All Times.

Representative Canton, chairman of the
commission consisting besides himself OF
Representatives Daizeii Of Pennsylvania and
Richardson of Tepnessee. which was in
structed at the last session to refurnish the
House of Representatives, today made re-
port to the House on the work done in that
direction. u
The commission held its first meeting
March 8, 1901, and appointed as Its clerk
James c. Courts, the clerk of the commit
tee on appropriations. At this meeting they
also conferred at length with Wallace h
Hills, now chief clerk of the Treasury De-
partment; Bernard r. Green. superintend-
ent of the Library of Congress; Elliott
Woods. assistant architect of the Capitol,
and w. j. Browning, chief clerk or the
House of Representatives, all OF whom in
their official capacities having had more
or less extended experience in furnishing
public buildings. At It's next meeting the
commission formally fnstrusted to Elliott
Woods, the assistant architect of the Cap
itof, the practical execution of all the work
provided for under the appropriations above
referred to.
Last Refurnishing.
After reciting in detail the work done
the report says:
1.-The last complete refurnishing of the
hall of the House occurred in 1878, when
the small oak desks familiar to members
of the last and previous Congresses were
installed. The membership Of the House
then numbered 3O3 including delegates,
and the desks, without label frames, desk
plates and inkstands, cost $2L75 each.
Prior to that expenditure and incident to
the first occupation of the new south wing
of the Capitol by the House Of Representa-
tives appropriations were made, from 1856
to 1858, for furnishing the hall, committee
rooms and offices, aggregating $50, 600. The
membership Of the House, including dele
gates. then numbered 244 The desks and
chairs provided on that occasion were OF
oak, elaborately hand-carved.
Continued increase in the population OF
the country proportionate. to that which
has marked the last decade and the same
Is now fixed by law will, after the next
census, require material enlargement of
the present hall by the removal Of its south
wall and gallery so as to embrace the lobby
corridor within its floor area, unless the
use of desks for members be abandoned.
Indeed, the limits Of the hall, as con-
templated by it's designer half Gentry
ago and as actually constructed, will have
been reached, if not exceeded, with the
coming of the Fifty-eighth Congress. The
forty-five panels in the ceiling, designed
as settings for the seals of the several
states, Have all been filled, and every foot
of available floor space will be required to
accommodate the desks and chairs Of the
800 members and delegates who Will COM
pose the next House Of Representatives"
The report compliments Architect Woods
in the highest terms, saying he performed
his onerous task, in all of its infinite par
ticulars and details, with exemplary zeal,
fidelity and intelligence.
To Exclude Fubifc From Floor.
The commission suggests that the rules
of the House be amended so as to exclude
the public from the heor of the House at
all times. On this point the report says:
''ft will conduce greatly to the comfort
of members who have occasion to occupy
their desks during the periods when the
House is not in session, and to the orderly
and cleanly appearance of the chamber, if
the following amendment to rules, which
we recommend, should be adopted and en-
forced: =,
"'There shall be excluded at all times
tives and the cloak rooms all persons not
entitled to the privilege of the floor during
the session, except that until fifteen min
utes of the hour of, the meeting of the
House persons employed in its service,
credited members of the press entitled to
admission to the press. gallery and other
persons on request of members, by card or
in writing, may be admitted"
The commission also recommended the
adoption of the following:
Hereafter the architect of the Capitol
shall supervise and direct the care and re-
pair of all furniture in the hall, cloak
rooms, lobby, committee rooms and offices
of the House, and all furniture hereafter
required for the House of Representatives
or for any of it's committee rooms or offices
shall be procured on designs and specifica-
tions made or approved by the architect
Appended to the report is an extended ac-
count of all work done by Architect Woods