The Washington herald., 1911-03-14

An interesting question. involving the
comfort of the House of Representatives
in the Immediate future, is to be settled
this week at a conference between FL
lott Woods, superintendent of the Capt.
tel building and grounds, and the
commission named to conduct the
remodeling of the hall of the House
Supt. Woods asserts that the over
hauling of the chamber can be accom-
plished and the complete list of pre-
scribed changes can be made in time
tor the regular session IF Congress. pro-
vidinG the extra session adjourns by
July l.
Will Take Five Months.
The sundry civil bill recently passed,
places $4,000 at the disposal of the COM
mission for the House remOdelinC. The
plans have been drawn and accepted.
The hall of the House Is to be greatly
decreased in size. and compact seat
ing arrangements installed. Supt-
Woods asserts that five months of night
and day work will accomplish the re-
Mobilization. 1t will be necessary, how
ever. according TO his statement to
spend considerable money ahead Of time
before the commission tire question OF
making this outlay in the hope that
Congress will adjourn and the House
be vacated by July l. In other words.
it is up to the commission to do some
guessing.
Commission Named by Congress.
The commission to effect the re-
arrangement of the House, created for
mally by resolution. consisted of for
mer Speaker Cannon. Representative
Mann, and Representative Mccall In
the recent legislation. appropriatinE
funds for the work, the commission
was augmented by the appointemcnt Of
Representatives Champ Clark, Swagar
Sherley. and John j. Fitzgerald. The
completed Ommission is considered a
representative House delegation. drawn
from both parties. Its verdict will he
watched with interest. If Supt Woods
is authorized to proceed with prelim-
indry expenditures in the line of get
ting ready his force of wOrkmen and
his materials, it will be evident that
his advisers predict that the session
will end in time to allow the House
remOdeling to proceed. If the super
intendent, as a result of the confer
ence, withholds all preliminary ar
ranEements, il will be apparent that
the date of adjournment is a decidedly
uncertain matter. and the House over
hauling may have to go over until the
Sixty second Congress has completed
its labors in the spring of 1913.
Making the Hall Comfortable.
The newly authorized refrtgerating ap-
paratus for the Senate and House wings
of the Capitol and the Senate and House
Cffice buildings also will be installed dur
ing the coming spring and summer. At
an approximate expenditure of $1,000,
ice water plants will be installed. and
also a means Of cooling the air Of the
Senate chamber and the han of the
House The device for the last named
purpose calls for injecting the cold air
at the top of the respective chambers,
rather than from below, for the reason
that the specific gravity Of Geld air
causes it to fall. This will mean a COM
plete reversal OF the present system
whereby heated air in the winter time
and ordinary air in the summer Is in
jected into the legislative halls through
the bases of the desks.
Depending upon the speed with which
Supt Woods viii be able to install
the refrigerating apparatus, the legis-
lators will be likely to spend a much
more comparable warm period at their
work than they did during the tariff ses-
sion of the summer of 1903. Owing to
their noise, electric fans were never in
stalled in the House or the Senate, and
the atmosphere during the warm sum-
mer days often grew insufferable.