The Washington herald., 1907-04-28
CAPITOL OF NATION
One of the Unique Pubic
Buildings Of the World.
QUEER ARCHITECTURAL FACTS
Building Covers six and One-sixth
Acres, and Cost over Thirteen
MiIiiOns-Owns Its own REPAIR
Shops-Hosv PeddIess Are Barred,
hut Liquor Always Gets by.

The Capitol OF the United States do not
md their way into print. The average
American who has never been in Wash
ington has rort of general idea That
the Capitol Is large building OF roble
architecture, where Congress enacts. and
the Supreme Court interprets, the high
est law OF the land, but if he We're told.
for instance, that in the subterancan
depths OF the Capitol, FAR beneath Jaw
makers and Supreme Court judges, there
is a miniature industrial village, he would
be very much astopished, and vet there
are carpenter shops, machine shops. up
holstering shops, tin shops, paint shops,
and other kindred establishments that
employ scores of skilled artisans. While
the solons in the chambers above are
expounding the Constitution, the work
men in the bowels of tia Capitol are
busy with brush and hammer snd saw
The ring of the anvil in the easement
keeps pace with the ring OF oratory in
the House and Senate but the solons are
never disturbed by the ring OF IL. anvil
and the din of hammer and saw, be-
/ cause the Industrial village is so com
pletely shut of Dy dead walls that none
of its sounds penetrate To the halls OF
legislation. The Industrial village is a
necessary adjunct Of the Capitol. There
is always a great deal Of repair work 70
/ be done and Uncle Sam finds il much
more satisfactory TO employ his own ar
/ tisaDs than to let the work 0ut by con
tract When "a chair needs upholstering,
ID is sent down TO the upholstering es-
/ Enlistment II piece of furniture
needs paint il is sent To the paint shop
/ Carpenters with their kits OF tools can be
dispatched at amy time to any part Of
/ the building where repairs may too ut-
/ gently needed. Visitors wandering
through the basement can hardly believe
/ their eyes when they encounter this col
/ lection of workshops and behold the evil
{ dences of industry on every hand
For wood Fires.
/ Wood-plain, ordinary woods stored
/ by the hundreds of cords IN other rooms
/ of the Capitol. The wood is kept dry
as toast and there is an ample sup
piy of wheerbarr0ws, wood boxes, and
muscular coiored men ~ convey it to all
/ parts of the building. 1t IS "a very cone
mon sight to observe "a negro trundling
/ a wheeibarrow heaped high with wood
/ through the Capitol corridors In many
+ parts of the country, particularly in the
rural districts. wood is regarded rs "a ne
+ ccssily that must Pc endured. and coal as
luxury IIuch 20 be desired. In the
I United Slatet Capitol this order is exact
/ ly reversed Coal Is regarded as Heces-
sity and wood as "a luxury.
There are many open CRATES in the
Capitol where wood is burned. The Cap
itoi is heated throughout 10 constantly
even temperature by steam, and the
CRATES are as superfiuOus as the fifth
wheel of "a wagon. but there is a Chez
fulness about cracking CRATE FIRE. with
Blazing log, that somehow attracts the
fancy of statesmen. and if one OF them
happens 10 be assigned to committee
room that has no fireplace, he is mighty
likely sooner or later TO register a kick
How many tons of coal are consumed
by the Capitol annually? The answer Is
surprising, and il shows that the Capitol
is one of old King Goals best customers.
he quantity OF coal required 10 produce
the steam thar heats the building and the
electricity that lights it does not vary
far from 5000 tons year Only the best
anthracite is used and, while private Gus
toners are paying from s. to $50 per ton
A't- '-HfAA sly A-iN alAAl-t Alut4ltA Ul tNttts
Uncle sam gets his at the special bargain
rate of from $3.50 to SOS ton. Year in
and year, out the Capiroi coal bill aver
ages about $4,000 annually.
Ice is another commodity in great de-
mand at the Capitol Il costs Uncle Sam
a pretty penny 10 keep the so}ons of the
United States Congress in a cool and
cqua5lc frame of mind The quantity Of
ice consumed at the Capitol averages
about 600 pounds a month, or 1855. 600
pounds year. In the year 1904 when
there was Il long session Of Congress. the
Senate alone consumed 1.133.555 pounds of
ice. Uncle sam gets his ice at the UNI
usually low figure of q cents per hun
dred pounds, and his Capitol ice bill
amounts every year TO over $4,000
Collection of Trees.
Another interesting fact about the Cap
itoi Is that i'm the ffty-two acres Of
gr5und-p perfectly square in form-on
which it is situated. is 70 be found the
finest collection Of trees on earth The
forests of nearly every country on the
globe are represented in this collection.
and each specimen has tag attached
giving its scientific and common name.
The trees of Germany Japan France.
Austria Russia China. Japan. and the
islands Of the seas are there in pro-
fusion. The Capitol attaches say that ex-
Senator David Turpie, of Indianapolis,
knows more about these Capitol trees
than any other man on earth While ne
was a Senator he was fond Of wandering
through the Capitol grounds. He lit
orally made the acquaintance Of every
tree, and his mind is storehouse of in
formation concerning this most interest
ing forest growth
The largest collection Of tame SOUR /
Tels in the United States, if not in tie
world, is found on the Capitol grounds. !
They infest the trees and romD AT viii
over the green ana spacious lawns. Box /
nests are provided for them, and woe be- /
tide the misguided individual who tries /
20 harm one of them A lynx-eyed official I
would have him in tow in the twinkling I
Of an eye and he would receive q desc OF (
even-handed justice that he would not
soon forget. The squirrels have Yielded 4
to kind treatment and become very tame J
They approach visitors unhesitatingly and /
freely 9artalSe of nuts and other tidbits 1
that are handed to them.
Police Protection.
The police protection over the Capitol |
and its environs is superb It is one of
the duties Of the officers to keep q close
surveillance over persons who enter the /
Capitol, and to show suspicious charac- /
ters out Of the building II is against /
the rules for a stranger 10 carry a pun |
die into the Capitol. On occasions Of /
great public moment. such as the inaug-
ratiOn of a President or Vice President.
when the leading officials of the nation
are gathering in the Senate chamber. the
strictcst scrutiny is observed tn keen
dangerous characters out of the Senate