The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-07-24
AN ALIEN VISITS THE CAPIT0l
EngIishman's Impressions OF The
House of Representatives
Congress Retiolent Of the Snil-Difer-
,nccs Between = Visit To the Capital
ut Washington and tn Westminster
Note Of Unm!ti.ared Liberty struck.
Sidney Brooks. in Harper's Weekly.

Sidney Brooks. in Harper's Weekly.
Congress is easily the mos American
thing in America. 1t IS more redolen;
OF its native soil than even Mrs, Car
flavor of the country Is blown in your
face the m you set foot within
the precincts of the Capitol. That IS
as it should be; that is precisely
what you have been hoping for; that
is. AT any rate, what you overwhelm-
ingly find. An American. no doubt.
legislatures the national mark is StaInp
ed broadly and Enthusiastically. and
yields an abundance of piquan, con
trasts in manner, bearing, personnel
and procedure.
The difference really begins 10 be
felt before YOU are inside either cham
Der. At Westminster there are fOrnnI:-
ties 20 be observed. An NJ. Z. las
&c be im]pOrtuned for a ticket of ad-
mission to the strangers gallery; The
ticket has TO be balloted for; your
name All address are written down in
register; YOU bag is cOnfiscated; there
is Il gauntlet of slightly suspicious Of
fcialS to be run; YOU feel that, logical
~ yOu ought to have dynamite bombs
concealed in you overcOat peck t.
there is al air of official diss point
ment at being obliged to LEI you in:
and even when the gallery is reached
and a drearier place | never Sat liz
and pompOus functiOnaries, with all of
George ITS contempt for the more
voter, marshal and watch YOU.
At Washington there is nothing at
all Of this. The note of unmitigated IL
berty is struck on the very threshold
of the Capitol. Any one can nter its
precincts who wishes to, without lc-
ference to age color or sex, previous
condition of servitude or present con-
ditiOn of clothing. Millionaire OF
tramp, white or black, the Capitol ard
all its corridors are Your to roam n
and to smoke in at will. No On2 is
at hand to challenge your right Of adj
mission or inquire after your business.
10 tickets, passes Or credentials Of any
sore are asked for. TOT just walk
straight in and wander about as you
please. II there is 4 vacant seat i'll
the galleries, and you wish to listen to
the debates, you are entirely welcome
to take it. Liberty, in short, could so
no farther. It seems to me entirely
and satisfactorily American, and alto
gether c%OnsOnant with my ideas of the
country and its spirits, that matters
should be arranged this way. and that
congress should be conducted on the
lines of a huge legislative free-lunch
counter for all to nibble at. At the
same time | W that my English no
tons are occasionally secOnd-rate hotel
[ see a man which no SecOnr-rate hotel
would allow TO enter its lobby lounging
the precincts of the natiOuaI
legislature. | have to stop now and
then and remind myself that his pres
ence is more than compensated for by
the system that makes it possible. 1t
is such sights and such reminders that
make democracy take on a new siglti-
fcance for the English visitor. And
they have the further usefulness of pre-
pairing him for what is to come. They
advise him not to expect eirth IN
the house or senate any character
less imitation Of European ceremony.
but rather genuine Americanlsm in rs
freest and easiest undress.
That at least is what he gets abun-
dainty, from ell sides, wherever h
turns. 1t is not least noticeable in the
galleries Of the two chambers. WASH
ington is a city of visitors, and con-
gress m just after the White House
and the Washington monument as ore
of the sights that have TO be done
You see cohorts of tired tourists US
cred into the galleries, sitting there
for ten or fifteen minutes. and then
marshaled out again to take uD the
spectacular routine. Ninety per cent
of them are women, and their pres
ence, their dress, their bearing. add
to the prevailing informality. feel
them TO be ali intensely patriotic and
intensity b~ewildered. 1t is one Of he
charms Of congress that nobody ever
seems to know what IS being done.
Procedure in both houses is rs much
a mystery to the OnlOoker as congress
iOnal government itself; and me
good ladies of Wyoming as | watch
them in the galleries seem 4 little
anxious. They are wondering shame
facedly why they are not as much i'm
pressed as they ought 10 be, and they
are trying almost patheticalIy 10 con
yey at least the impression of under
standing What is going on below them.
As an entertainment | do not thiak
much Of congress, and neither apDac-
emily do they, They are bored, though
they would not for the worlds admit
it, n their boredom blossoms into
chat and comment among themselves
and little outburSts of laughter and
applause whenever anything on rhe
floor of the house happens 10 strike
their fancy. That encourages Il very
homelike feeling and puts the stray
visitor at his ease at one. He infers
that it IS not expected OF him 20 le
overwhelmed by the dignity Of he
assembly at whose deliberations he is
assisting. Indeed. dignity is hardlv
the note Of the house of representa-
<:ror IT, n%n-ni- -