The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1908-03-28
WELL LOOKED TER
ELABORATE ARRANGEMENTS FOR
4 COMFORT or STATESMEN.
Senator'S and Representatives at Wash.
ington Can Make No Complaint
About the LiberaIity Of the
Government.

Each United States senator. and rep
resentative is allowed $125 year for
stationery. In the past that general
head has covered a wide variety Of
articles. Up to a few weeks ago one
could see in the show case Of the SEN
ate stationery room the most elabor-
ate feminine fancies in card cases,
pocket books and photograph cases.
Senators who did not need $125
worth Of paper, blank books, pens,
clips, ETC., were allowed to take out
the balance in items which must have
been extremely welcome to the fe-
male members of their families. The
knickknacks have disappeared from
the stationery room now, and the SEN
ators are dealing strictly in the usual
items, to which they are allowed to
add the expense of such newspapers
as they subscribe for.
The drug. stores are not elaborate;
still, they contain supply of the com
moner remedies, as well as some
things for use in emergencies. The
barber shops are well known. Within
the past few years they have been
very much improved. The senator's.
by. the way, are barbered free OF
charge in their shop. At the house
end members pay for their shaves.
The baths adjoin the barber shop.
Some of the tubs are cut from solid
marble, but most Of them are porce-
1oSr 1ryi1 ~ 1>~ IN
great demand now that the office build
ings will supply better accommoda-
tons. In connection with the bathrooms
there are resting rooms, where mem
bers can receive electrical treatments.
The restaurants are familiar to all
capitol visitors. It is declared that
capitol pies have special delectable
quality. The restaurant on the house
side has been enlarged within a few
years.
The postofice, libraries and banks
come in pairs, one each for the senate
and for the house. The bank is not
strictly "a bank, but it looks like one
and acts pretty much like one. It is
the disbursing office where salaries
are paid, money changed, checks
cashed, ETC., but only, of course, for
members.
Down in the sub-basement and in
the marble terrace along the west
front you could find, if any one should
guide you, the hardware store, the
carpenter shop and all the other
items which sound so irrelevant to the
profession of law making. They all
come under the control of the super
intendent of the capitol. Elliott Woods.
The division of authority, by the
way, is one of the most peculiar things
about the capitol. Mr.. Woods has
control of the heating, lighting, ven
tilating, repairs and alterations, the
care of the grounds, Of the engine
house (fire) and stables, refurnishing
and reconstruction. But under him
the chief clerk of the house controls
one group Of supplies, the sergeant-at-
arms is boss of something else, and
the secretary of the senate of some
thing else.
The doorkeepers run the galleries.
The policing of the capitol is under
the control of a board composed of the
sergeant-at-arms of the senate and the
superintendent of the capitol. But the
supreme authority goes back Of this
board and in the senate belongs to
the vice-president, in the house to the
speaker, and in the central part of the
huilding to the Superintendent of the
capitol. And so it goes.