Omaha daily bee., 1911-07-09

to the subbasement under the house side
ducts are seventy-five feet In area and
the air blows through them at the rate Of
$50 feet minute. The huge fan receiving
this air is twelve feet in diameter and re-
wolves 10s times a minute holding 5000
cubic feet of air in each such interval
This air is forced into the floor OF the
house through gratings in the legs of the
members desks and. where the floor is
elevated. through bronze registers. Seven
hundred and eighty-five square feet OF
such openings are found on this floor.
There are similar air vents in the gall
leries. and one. can easily detect the rush
of cold air by placing his arms down be-
tween the seats The warm air is expelled
through the ceiling at the same rate as II
enters, thus avoiding draughts at the
doors The thermometer proves that at all
times the temperature Is from five to eight
degrees less than outdoors in the shade
Hanging in the fan room is an electrical
tester which can be read in the chief en-
gineer's room by pressing a. button. A
hygrometer registers the humidity of the
air and is also closely watched by those
who have this feature OF keeping congress
cool as their daily duty.
Another fan draws from this same duct
and supplies air to the corridors and com
mittee rooms-of the capitol, the air passing
through flues buried in the walls like
chimneys, so that one room may be kept
cooler than another II desired In this
manner eight acres of floor surface are
cooled.
Busy Days for Fans.
Precisely the same method Of reducing
the temperature is used in the senate. with
thesdifference that the air is drawn from
grotto nearby in the capitol grounds The
suction fans are similar and the air Is
likewise distributed through the subway
and various rooms But, for some unac-
countable reason, both the senate cnam-
Der and adjoining cloakrooms always seem
cooler than the corresponding sections of
the house The members all insist upon
this and the senators do not deny II.
There are S25 occupied committee rooms
In the house office building. and numerous
other special rooms for the holding OF
meetings. In each of these at least one
and sometimes three electric fans buzz ali
day long in an effort to simulate ocean
breezes. In the eloakroom there are as
many az can be conveniently placed for
action. The speakers lobby has its quota
building, the restaurants and some of the
Railways are similarly equipped. In the
senate office building each senator has
two rooms-so the total OF fans used there
Us enormous. But what it costs to rui,
all Of them is not given out for publication
In every committee. room. In every pri-
vate office. In the Railways OF the capitol.
in the office OF each employe and In the
cloakrooms Of both house and senate there
are water coolers always filled with clear
cold water. For the ice used In these re-
eeptacIes and in the house restaurant the
daily purchase, according 10 one OF the
employees, averages four tons IN hot
weather. But this warm weather neces-
sty is purchased at a wholesale rate OF
$50 per ton the entire amount only totals
slightly more than so a day
No special minerals or carborated waters
are purchased out OF a house fund Some
while back, when the summer season
doomed ominously on the horizon, certain
members asked for an appropriation for
such waters. referring to the senate as a
precedent But their request was voted
down, and on the south side OF the capitol
or in the house building only plain. every
day Potomac river water is served. An
effort was made to secure special coolers.
but II suffered the same fate As the bottled
water motion.
There is nothing else left to drink but
lemonade In the cloakroom OF the house
for more than twenty years a colored man
known by his last name to every member
has dispensed this picnic connection 70
thirsty representatives.
he stirs up his lemon Juice. sugar.
cracked ice and water after a recipe all