Gilpin observer., 1908-11-05
WILL BE PALAIiAL
NEW SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
NEARING COMPLETION.
Two Rooms and a Bath fer Each
Statesman-Tunre and Electric
Cars to Carry Member to
Chamber,

That palatial establishment for the
| comfort of senator's, the new Senate
efice building, 1t is now announced
! viii be ready for occupancy by the
| time congress meets next December.
It is now about so per cent. comolet-
| cd and the purpose is to rush 1t 10
completion in the next few months.
When finished the new Senate Of
/ fce building will have cost S4,500000.
! inclusive of the site. This provides
office rooms for SO members of the
senate and their attaches. 1t is rath-
er more than the cost CT the Hou5e
o4ce building, which was occupied
early in the last session of congress.
There is no doubt that a genuine
need for an Office building Of some
sort, both for the senate and the house
members, has existed.
In the capitol there are not enough
| committee rooms to go around. Some
of the senators have little, dingy
rooms down in the terrace and many
are obliged to have their Offices in the
old Melby building, known as the Sen
ate Annex, short distance northwest
of the capitol. The senator who is
able to get an Office room inside the
capitol building, even If it is dismal
and cramped, considers himself for
tunate.
When the Senate Office building is
completed it will connect with
the capitol by a subway, as is the
House Office building, and in the SUBJ
way will be sidewalk and an electric
car line. One will be able to de-
scend an elevator in the capitol, get
into an electric car and get out at
the foot of an elevator in the Office
building. The subway itself is al
, ready finished.
Each senator will be entitled to 4
suite, consisting of two handsome
rooms and a private bath. Tie build
ing will have 80 such office suites in
the three principal stories above the
basement, ten single Offices ard six
committee rooms. besides a confer
ence room and a dining-room. The
larger room Of each office suite is in
tended for the use Of the senator him
self. and will be 16 by % feet. The
smaller room, 12 by 20 feet. is for the
senator's secretary.
One OF the convenient features of
the building will be the conference
room. back of the main stairs On the
second floor 1t will be So by II feet,
viii seat 800 people easily. and is in
tended for public hearings.
Not the least interesting room of
| the office building will be the dining
| room, 30X65, On the second toor,
| overlooking the caritol grounds and
I the library CT congress. Here the
senators hope to be able TO partake of
/ their mush and milk and senate pie
IN something more OF peace and soil
tude than they have been able TO find
| in the senate refectCry at the north
end of the capitol.
/ One OF the banaiities of senate
membership is that, whereas the aver
/ age senator would like to HE himself
\ away to some secluded spot for lunch
where his ears will not be beset with
1 the troubles of pension-hunting and Of
| fiCc-seex!ng constituents. it is impos-
sible to exclude the proletariai entire
| ly from the senate restaurant as It
j.
| that a senator has TO wait for serv-
! ice while waiter is serving a meal
| to some mere private citizen. Sen
atcrs hope that under the new regime
/ they will be enabled 10 be more thor
| oughly in retreat when they want to
| partake of something 10 eat
| In design the Senate Office building
! resembles the House office building,
the two being fashioned to harmonize
with the exterior OF the capitol The
| house members are allowed but one
| room each. \ number of tie com
mittee rooms will be rearranged when
the cftice building is completed, some
OF them being in the new Structure.
While in some respects the new build
ing is expected to prove great con
venience. yet 1t will have its draw
backs. This has been shown in the
experience on the house side
Many members find their rooms in
the office building so convenient that
they absent themselves more freely
than before from the house chamber.
So 1t is expected to prove on the SEN
ate side, especially when Superin-
tendent Elliott Woods gets installed in
each Office the ticker apparatus that
will enable the occupant to see at a
glance just what is going on in the
body to which he belongs. The new
office building will, moreover, greatly
increase the difficulties of finding mem.
bers. This was the experience with
the House Office building last winter
The next great building that will be
erected by the government near the
capitol will doubtless be a commodi.
GUS home for the United States su.
preme court. The present quarters in
the capitol are inadequate and unsatis.
| factory. Even the accommodations