Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-04
BITS OF WASHINGTON LIFE.
Scenes and Incidents Sketched or
the Spot.

the Spot,
Four women who are prominent in Off
cial life in Washington went to a recep-
ton recently, each wearing a brand new
Paris costume, which she was absolutely
certain was an original creation without a
duplicate on this side OF the Atlantic.
Each on arriving at the reception was sur
prised to find that there were three other
women present dressed in gown identical
in material. trimming, ornament and
design with the one she had on. The four
women were Mrs. Hitchcock, wife of the
secretary OF the interiors; Mrs. Kean,
mother of the senator from New Jersey.
and Mrs. Foraker and Mrs. Hanna, the
wives Of the Ohio senator's. Mrs. Hitch
cock purchased her gown in st. Louis. Mrs.
Kearn got hers in New York, Mrs. Hanna's
came from Cleveland, and Mrs. Foraker's
from Cincinnati.
Early Saturday morning the pages OF the
house Of representatives held a mock ses-
sion of the house, reports a New York
World letter. They elected the Oldest
page speaker, organized, received a mes
sage from the senate and from the president
in strict parliamentary style and unani-
mously adopted a resolution increasing
their salaries from SIS to $3.50 a month.
TIL proceedings were interrupted by
Jerry Constantine, a house telegraph oper-
ator, who appeared on the floor, waving
a dollar-bill and demanding recognition.
81 move that the gentleman's bill be laid
on the table" said a boy from Ohio. The
motion prevailed and Constantine was
dragged to the bar of the house and forced
to act in accordance with the motion.
81 visited the house of representatives
the other day." remarked a stranger to the
Washington Star, "and l was impressed by
one or two facts which interested me.
'In this, one OF the two great legislative
bodies of the United States. / expected to
see a great many, the majority, in fact, of
the members of venerable aspect. 1 could
but observe the absence of gray heads
among the representatives. In short, men
OF venerable aspect were so largely in the
minority that / was at once struck with
the fact. Most of the members appeared to
be young men and men in or under the age
of middle life. l pointed out many of the
gentlemen on the floor Of youthful appear
ance and asked the doorkeeper IL they were
really members of the house. He replied
in all instances they were members and
seemed surprised that | should ask the
question. l consider this fact a striking IL
lustration OF the possibilities for the young
man in American political life. AS / am a
foreigner and used to seeing gray boards
in high legislative and executive positions
on the continent the contrast was the more
noticeable. / was also informed that the
bill under debate had been before the house
for several days, was bitterly contested and
that much feeling existed on either side.
The feeling the doorkeeper referred to was
not observerable to me. II Americans con-
slider the debates in their lower house to be
animated they should see what a really
animated debate amounts to in the French
Chamber of Deputies. They would expert
ence a change of mind.
81 could also but remark upon the lin
tied space in the galleries allotted to the
general public, and l was informed that
this space had been even more curtailed
during a reconstruction of the interior of
the chamber last summer. l supposed, of
course, that the best part OF the galleries
would in this country be given over to the
public. At every door but two / was re-
fused admission except upon the production
of a card or a personal identification that
1 was a member Of the diplomatic corps or
one OF the official government family. In
the space allotted to the public there were
not over 100 seats. II that number. OF
course, the seating capacity OF the gal
leries is not great. but the reserved space
must take up over 80 per cent, while I
thought the opposite rule would be found
to be true"