The Washington times., 1912-06-04
SENATOR WILLIAMS
OBJECTS TO FANCY
BATHS FOR SOLONS
Populist Figures 1t Costs $40
to Wash, and $1S to Shave
Lawmakers, He Says.

on the legislative bill, Senator John
sharp williams swooped down on Senate
extIavagances, and tore them in tatters
he was especially severe on the Senate
paths. He declared II cost the people
or America ten times as much to have
the Senate and House Of Representa-
uves waited on as It costs the people
OF Great Britain to have the house
OF lords and the house of commons
waited on, including office accommo-
dations.
Senator williams wanted the Senate
path rooms. with their luxury, abolish
eos ana the room used for documents
he declared that calculations by a
fopulist down in Mississippi showed II
cost $l2 to bathe a Senator and SIS To
shave him. He objected to appropri-
atins money to keep up the Maltby
building, and wanted It sold. He also
wanted the measure to buy land be-
tween the Capitol and the Union Station
repealed, saying 1t helped only real
estate men.
What He Said.
The Senate did not follow Senator VIII.
nams suggestions, but his advice will
doubtless command wide attention. He
said: Ai'
About half of one floor of the office
pudding Is filled with utterly useless
pain arrangements. There is not a
Sens.or mere who wants the public to
believe that he does the washing Of his
to me absurd and foolish. There is not
a senator who saves $40 a year out of
ar sraft 81 that t;,Is pig graft is wicked; little
dsmsso d m stupid; ,.rt, It merely gives the
ffakers an excuse to rake, as my friend
tLom iiSo,Hm georgia says. 1t gives the popu-
nsuc demagosue a chance to get up
bits Of things that amount to nothing.
ne we 90 not not get any benefit from it. I
never went Into those magnificent and
varied bath Arrangements there but
principally to see how it was carried
on. Every Senator has his bath at
MIS- own home. There is no use having
tne United States Government bathe us,
detre' on the roll is to battle us and
who do not do 1t.
IF you will get rid of that. you will
nave place to store these books, and
TO spend 81, $50 to strengthen the Maitby
tSa guiding. II strikes me as being worse
foosS xerB Sunde4s MrSns' ,B 6eGs1sa posos it is
sometimes worse than a crime. A very
great man said that, and he was right.
Another very great man said that more
freshness and bad MANNERS manner or of aUSSkeHs S eHs
tnan oy pad laws. There are little bits
OF things that nag. Tourists come here
ana 60 around. and the guides say:
public expense A calculation has been
made. and they will say 1t costs so
many dollars to bathe a Senator
His Estimate.
"A Popuiist down in my State once had
calculation by which he proved that
when the baths were here in the old
Capitol 1t cost $l2 to bathe a Senator
and SlS to shave him. The graft is not
worth while, outside of every other
consideration; II Is foolish as a mans
going down into a pasture with a red
nag and Haunting 1t at bull. There is
no sense in 1t. What Is the use? You
can go through the pasture just as well
without the red flag. You have no need
for the. red nag. 1t does not keep the
rain OF you; 1t does not keep the sun
off you; 1t does not do any good, and IL
makes bad impression on the bull.
There is no sense in this. Rome built
magnificent baths; the Baths Of Cara
Gala, the greatest fool among the en-
perors, was the greatest of them; but
they, at least, built them for the peo-
pie.
."1 suggest that the Committee on APP
preparations could find a place in the
Senate Office building for all the offices
and officers over In the Maltby building,
especially. those that are attached to
and things Of that kind. II this bath
foolishness were removed. Then we
could sell the Maltby building. One of
the very first things we ought to do
Is to repeal the act whereby we agreed
to buy twelve squares from the Peace
Monument up to the new Union depot,
and including the new hotel, which I
believe they call the Continental, and
~ N n N frNTf he, kxx,~
squares on the other side-I have for
gotten exactly. but to First, Second,
or Third streets-1 do not know which
in the northeast Not only must we
houses, some of them very extensively
constructed.
Help Realty Men.
Whom is it going to help? Merely the
real estate men who are renting prop
erty in Washington at exorbitant prices
You are merely tearing down that many
well-built houses which have been there
long time and are very convenient
from the standpoint of a park. because
II you want a part in northeast or
southeast Washington, that is not where
you want 1t. You have one for this part
of Washington right here. Keep three
squares there right in front of the
Union Depot, or four squares II you
choose, for a depot greenery and vista
and then repeal the law as to the other
eight squares.
"Mr. President. 1t is no wonderland
am going to repeat It almost as often
as old Cato repeated his everlasting
phrase that Carthage must be de-
stroyed"-that II costs the American
people ten times as much to have the
Senate and the House of Representa-
tives waited on as 1t costs the people of
Great Britain to have the house of lords
and the house of commons waited on,
including office accommodations as a
part of the waiting
The consideration of the legislative
bill was not completed. Much debate
vas stirred up over 1t, and today 1t was
Mterfered with by the Lorimer case.