Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-07-24
WASHINGTON LETTER
Especial Correspondence.l


-Four white walls and dark red
roof, with piles of rubbish. broken
bricks, boards, scantling and splinters
OF all sizes and varieties, with here
and there al excavation, tall pillars
of white incased to height of ten feet
IN plain pine boards, iron ratings in
every form Of crookedness-All this in
khe center Of a beautiful park flled
with majestic trees and tropical plants,
with fountain playing on a rpagnifi-
rent lawn is the picture presented by
the White House as viewed from La
fayette square,
Its once handsome interior looks like
the track Of devastating Kansas cy-
clone 1t is undergoing renovation
sudh Vs 1t has not experienced since
1915, after the British entered the city
and burned the building AS far as
the interior Is concerned, the building
Is being practically reconstructed and
will then be used by the president cx.
rlusively as residence. as was origi
hally designed by the LIST Of October
the contractors in charge of the work
ready for occupancy. and on account
of the short time they have to do the
labor the men are working almost from
sunrise to sunset.
The contractors seem never to leave
the vicinity of their employment A
rough board building has been con
structed on the broad pavement be-
No two vet ma
state, war and navy building, and here
the executive heads Of the work OF
construction can be found night and
day working out the plans they have
received from the architects and pre-
pairing the tasks for the laborcrs VINO
nre tearing out the old to make way
for the new
The Work OF Congress.
Benjamin s. Platt. enrolling clerk of
the senate. has prepared a statement
showing the extent Of the business
transacted by congress during the past
session. According to this statement, a
far larger number of bills and joint
resolutions was introduced than in
any previous session of congress. lar
gress whether of two or three sessions.
The total number of bills and joint
resolutions offered in the two houses
mp to the time of adjournment was
q. 0o2. of which 1903 We're sent to the
president. OF those introduced, 1852
We're offered in the house of representa-
tives and 6, $50 in the senate
At the close of the week ended June
2S, the last Saturday Of the fiscal year,
there remained in the files of the civil
service commission 1O.DG1 sets Of I'M
marked examination papers. This to-
tai exceeds by more than 5000 the
record of last year and has excited
some discussion as to the inadvisa-
bility of limiting the work Of the COM
mission hy an insufficient clerical al
lowance. Under ordinary circunstan-
ces the whole civil service force can
dispose of a few less than 1000 sets Of
papers each week. But with the extra
work now scheduled in the form of
special examinations it is unlikely this
pile of unfinished work left over from
the last fiscal year can be cleared away
before Nov. /.
Canes From Historic Wood.
The repairs in the White House
brought t. the mind of Colonel VIII
liam II. Crook. disburSing officer of the
executive mansion, many memories of
the days when he served under Presl-
dent Lincoln. The floor in the room
where President Lincoln sat to trInf
act business was torn up by the work
men recently, and Colonel Crook Sc
cured some Of the flooring for prr>'r
Walton. From 4 piece of the llhorlI-
on .wh..A. IL president often sto'