St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-07-23
CAPiTOL'SGALLERIES
BUSHELS OF CARDS FOR THEM
ARE GIVEN AWAY.
John Goodforonevote Can Easily Gain
Admission by Applying to His
Coneressman-Sees but
Can't Hear.
Strangers In
Washing to n
can be spotted
easily \ when
khou .xini& thu

woman discovered HuTFyluS along lue
corridors armed with an important ex-
preston and a pink card may be safe
ly set down as just arrived from Sno-
homish, Deadwood, New York or some
other outlying district
The important expression comes
| from the possession of the card, and
| the card comes from the bearers
member of congress- These cards are
printed by tens Of thousands every
session. Each representative has a
bushel or more of them. 1t isn't I'M
| usual for a member to give out $500
| in one season.
It's easier to get card for the gal
| lery of the house than to get street
car ticket. The tickets are six for a
| quarter. The cards are six for the
asking; but the foxy members know
better than to look careless when they
are dealing out their bushel Of pink
cards.
| When John Goodforonevote blows
into his members committee room
| the Representative valiantly pumps
up lAC oA6Ao "a JOy, oSho al tSA tAAo
| boys, hopes Mrs. John came too and
then, with the air of straining a point
| to confer a favor. says cheerily:
We'll, suppose you'd like to see
| how We do business down here at
| Washington, Ell? Now, let me see.
believe can fix you up. I'll tell
you. Just let me make cut permit
that will admit you to the special re-
served gallery. That'll be the thing,
won't it,"
Then he dives into his desk, ex-
tracts one of the pink cards, fills In
the visitors name, signs his own with
flourish and hands 1t over with a
smile of beaming benevolence. Five
minutes later the important express
sion and the pink card with Mr.. Good
foronevote behind them, make their
unmistakable debut at the door of the
card gallery.
AS matter of fact the card gallery
of the house of representatives Is a
delusion. The member who gives you
admittance to it in order that you
may see congress at work is on the
square. If he had said hear" instead
of 'see" he'd have been an Ananias at
large. You could hear almost as much
Of congressional debate If you
stayed at home in Snohomish.
There are eight divisions of the
house gallery. The division known as
the card gallery Is the last place to go
| 10 rI
best place to hear is of course de-
voted to the press gallery. It is d.
rectly above the speakers desk and Is
open only to the reporters.
Next to it on one side is a public
gallery and on the other side the Ia
dies gallery. No cards are required
here, and next to the press seats they
are the best places from which to see
and hear.
| You must choose between hearing
and seeing the members who take
part In debate or seeing the speak
er. He can always be heard, but
nine-tenths of the talk on the floor is
inaudible from the galleries opposite
the speaker.
The executive, the diplomatic and
the members galleries (for their fam
ilies). are located at the ends of the
house in an attempt to give the occu-
pants view of both the floor and the
speaker. The result Is that in the
executive and the diplomatic galleries
you can hear the Democratic orators,
while the members families at the
other end can catch most Of the pearls
of Republican wisdom.
Directly opposite the speakers desk
Is the mems gallery. AS most of the
remarks on the floor are directed
away from this quarter it is undoubt-
eddy an excellent place for meditation
and occasional slumber.
The doorkeepers have way of
rudely intruding upon these forty
winks. You are not supposed to eat,
sleep, read or write in any Of the gal.
leries of congress during the sessions.
In the senate they are much more
strict than In the house. No one Is al
lowed at that end of the capitol to
carry any kind of package into the
galleries. The rule was made at the
time of the Spanish-American war,
when eranks were many and excl
table. II Is still enforced in the SEN
ate but Is laxly observed in the house.
You are allowed to carry a newspa-
per or an unwrapped book into the
senate gallery and you may sit and
read or write, perhaps even Sleep un-
til few minutes before the vice-pres-
Ident comes in. After that nobody may
read anything except the list of SEN
ators with the diagram of their seats.
Nobody Is allowed to write anything.
not even notes of the speeches.
On special occasions such as the
opening of congress or some much ad-
vertised debate in the house galleries
may be seen people quite openly sta.
wing of the pangs of hunger with ap.
Piles or biscuits or chocolate. No such
dissertation of the sacred precincts OF
the senate is permitted.
Not only must the plain people dis.
criminate between the two bodies, but
the representatives themselves are ex
pected to treat even the environs OF
the upper chamber with respect For
instance, the corridors at the house
end of the capitol are crowded. noisy
full OF cigar smoke and litter. 1t is a
different world over in the senare
wing.
Smoking is not allowed In the pub.
lie corridors there. Even represent
alive is not supposed to cross the line
between the senate wing and the main
section of the capitol carrying light.