The Washington herald., 1907-12-26

win permit the member to hear all that
is going on on the floor of the House. as
he sits at his desk and works
OF course, the much exploited tunnel
from the Capitol to the building viii be
greatly patronized in the winter time.
but most OF the visitors TO the building
will come in from the main entrance, in
the rotunda The eye Of this dome is
6S feet above the floor. and its diameter
from wall to wall is % feet inches. The
feature Of it, however, will be the eight
cen marble columns. making another cir
Gle. the diameter OF which viii be 81 feet
4 inches.
Big Conference Room.
Leading off this rotunda, which is not
yet completed, but which viii be hand
somely decorated, is an intramural double
stairway to the conference room, which is
built just like a miniature House cham
ber with cloak rooms for minority and
majority. and installed for the purpose
of permitting public hearings, the attend
ance TO which is such that II cannot be
accommodated In the committee rooms.
Nearly all these committee rooms are on
the four corners of the building, and
about double the sis of the office rooms.
giving the chairman a public as well as
a private office.
On the first floor will be the post-office,
telegraph and telephone stations, which
Will be removed from the Capitol in time.
Below this viii be the barber shop which
Is also incomplete as yet. but where the
member may get any kind OF a bath for
the asking. and where the furnishings
/
when the session ends. Baths in tubs cut
from solid blocks of marble and equipped
with silver faucets he may not be able
TO get, but there are eight bath tubs
that are almost as expensive that Will be
at his disposal.
DininG-rOOm Seats $50.
On the main floor at the southwest cor
ner of the building will be the dining
room, which will seat 80 persons. but
which VIII not be opened. so II is under
stood, until further appropriations have
been made for it. Nevertheless. IL will
be a dning-room that would be a credit
to any hrst-class hotel, ard the member
who cannot please his appetite there
will indeed be in a sad way. But should
he not care to entertain his visitors in
the main dining-room. or should he be
compelled to stay late at his office, he
may avail himself of the cafe that will
face the c street side. and where 100 per-
sons may be cared for by the corps OF
walters.
The arrangement Of the staircases and
elevators was a problem in isSelf, and
each was so placed as 10 be as handy as
possible There are eight staircases and
twelve elevators To facilitate the hand
ling Of the voluminOus correspondence
that will originate in the building, there
are five mail chutes and five gravity con-
veyors. To get into the building. there
are fourteen entrances, and twenty-sever
drinking fountains about the corridors
will keep the member from parching OF
thirst on his way to his committee room
or the restaurant. He will be Well light
ed on his way about, FOR there are lO,00
electric lamps in the building, with q
lighting power equal to that Of l6.O.
lamps Of 10 candle power.
Needs Army of Help.
II will take small army 10 operate
the building. and the job OF custodian
will not be a bad one for the constituent
OF some influential Representative. There
must be janltors. watchmen. walters. ele-
vator conductors. stOkers. engineers. elec-
tricians, and common laborers, all tC
work. probably. under the direction OF
Elliott Woods the superintendent OF tho
Capitol. and who superintended the con-
struction Of the building. as well as that
under way for the use Of the Senate.
The members OF the commission in
charge Of the work at the start were
Speaker Cannon, W. p Hepburn, OF
Iowa, and James z. Richardson. of Ten
nessee. with j. g. Courts acting as Sec
retary Thomas Hastings, of New York
was the consulting engineer; s. S. Hunt
the constructor in charge Of the erec-
tion; c. 2. Glen. chief engineer U. S
Capitol. in charge Of the electrical install
lation, and oscar Wenderoth. head drafts
man.
There will be no foTmality about the
opening Of the building. The members will
get their choice as their numbers are
called. and will move In at once. but the
indications are II VIII be principally a
secretaries Office building, nOtwithstaud-
ing its elabOratencss