The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-09-01
WASHING ON LETTER
Especial CORRESPONDENCE

Especial Correspondence
Those cute little electric railroads
which were to have connected the sen
ate and house office buildings with the
capitol are not to be installed, at least
not for the present and perhaps not al
all. The subways are to be finished
with a coat Of cement, hard and white
and giving an excellent rejecting sur
face, but the travel in the subways will
be in the good old way, on foot, ex-
cept that freight will be handled on
rubber tired electric trucks.
No Subway Trains.
The house building commission, con-
sisting of Speaker Cannon and Repre-
tsentatives Hepburn and Richardson, has
not been enthusiastic over plans for sub
way electric trains, moving platforms
or any other of the various devices
submitted for handling traffic between
the capitol and the Office buildings.
They and others among the older mem
bers have a strong tendency toward
practicability and economy. They even
insisted that there should be no osten-
tation in the finishing, fitting and fur
nishing of the offices. and in conse-
quence whatever money has been spent
for such things has been spent chiefly
in the public rooms, where the people
and not members of congress will get
tho honofif of tbnn
Cost Would Be Heavy.
To install an electric road over the
present routes from the capitol to the
house building and from the capitol to
the senate building would cost from
$4,000 to 100000 it is estimated, and
to operate it would cost about Is per
cent of that sum annually, perhaps
more
Taking these arguments into consid-
Grafton, the house building commission
practically vetoed the railroad, but left
the matter in the hands of Superin-
tendent Woods. who has decided to
postpone the embarkatfon of the gov
ernment into the railroad business. As
for the senate, it has also washed its
hands of responsibility and more COM
pletely than the house has done, for it
gave to Mr.. Woods absolute authorize
ton to follow his judgment
Hundreds of cords Of wood are used
at the capitol every year, besides guam
titles Of coal, wagon loads of station
cry and sundry other items Of mer-
hon iCas Tn f,1ft1 III
will be delivered by wagon on the G
street side of the house building or on
the corresponding side Of the senate
building, unloaded right on to the cleo
trio pneumatic tired trucks and whisk-
ed swiftly to their destination
New Elevators In Capitol.
Probably the most important inn
provement at the capitol this year,
from the standpoint of the public, is
the work of installing two new pas
senger elevators at the main door of
the house wing.
This will involve moving the postof-
fee to the new house Office building,
where quarters have been provided for
it, and the space vacated will be given
to the sergeant at arms. The public
will then be able to- go upstairs at the
door of the capitol and leave the men,
bers' elevators entirely for their own
use
Another piece of work at the capitol
is the removal of the partitions be-
tween the quarters of the naval affairs
and the passageway along
the light we'll. This will throw the
wall of the committee room out to the
light well and will give additional room
and light. A similar change will be
made on the floor above.
To Condemn Land. II
The United States has filed a petit
ton in the District supreme court to
secure the condemnation of the prop
erty in the five squares bounded by
avenue and B street
and Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets
for the purpose of which
appropriated $2,500000. The
squares are known on the plat books
as 226 to 800 The land is to be used
as site for two or more public build
ings.
Plaza characterization.
Plans showing details of the orna-
mental work for the plaza in front of
the Union station have been received
by the commissioners, and work will
soon begin. In the center win be the
memorial statue of Columbus, some
distance in front of which will be a
large flagpole. On each side the Co
lumbus memorial, slightly toSthe rear,
will be two artistic fountains. At close
intervals along the roadway will be
placed tall bronze columns and lamp
standards Details Of the Columbus
memorial have not been worked out,
but rough sketches have been pre-
pared The front will show PROV
of carayel, with Columbus standing
at the front. The boat and water ef-
feet will be in stone and the figure of
Columbus in bronze
Small Naval Glass.
The complete list of the new fourth
class at the Naval academy, complied
at the. navy department, shows the
class to be composed of 208 members.
The fourth class, as rule, contains
from 275 to 300 members. The low
number is accounted for to some ex-
tent by the fact that a large number
failed to qualify. OF the POS about
twenty are yet to be re-examined, they
having failed on minor physical de
fects.
At the opening of the term there