The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-28
MET BY
FIRST LADY OF
THELAND MANY,
White House Needs 100000
to Replace Wornout Car
pets and China .s

Don't feel Inundated, Mrs. House.
wife, because you have to send out
and borrow flat silver when you give
a big dinner. Neither need you feel
sensitive about an odd piece of china,
patched curtains and threadbare rugs.
The first lady of the land has those
same trials right here in the White
House.
- And the first lady of the land, all
though she is getting bit tired of it,
doesn't see any relief in sight. The
Senate, in the excitement of the fill
buster by the group of willful men,"
neglected to pas the Sundry Civil bill. ;.
which provides among other things
for the maintenance expenses of the
White House.
The last appropriation has run out.
And SO, until a new one is voted, they
can't so much as glue a, chair leg on
or varnish up the kitchen cabinet and
here it is housekeeping time, too. .
The White House hasn't had a good
overhauling since the Roosevelts NOV
ed away eight years ago, and even the
mother of a large family of vigorous
youngsters has no idea how the White
House can ruin down in that time. The
Presidents residence is the public pro-
perry of tourists to Washington and
they insist upon the full rights of
American citizenship, even the feeling
of the curtains and the enamel on the
walls, lolling back in the big plush
chairs and tramping rough and wet
shod over the great rugs.
Visitors to palace of the Hohen-
zollerns, for instance, have to put on
great felt slippers over their vulgar
c1iI
which keep them at arms length from
the bric-a-brac. 1t is said of one tired
American with corns that he sank
down in plush chair at Potsdam and
before the springs were done receding
under his putting body the patrol wa
gon had backed up to the side door
and he was on his way. to the police
station for a couple of days.
Some such arrangement as that at
the White House would be fine thing
for the tenants, but SO un-American.
Who would try to enforce such a rule,
even if it were only on the books?
No American, certainly, and Ameri-
cans lay claim to considerable cour-
age at that.
And so it happened that in the great
East room, the filmy imported lace
curtains are darned and patched and.
tied together like a tramp's trousers.
Visitors have plucked at them and
compared them with their own at
home so often that they are wrecks.
Now there isn't even money enough on
hand to patch them again, unless the,
President reaches into his own pock-
ct for it.
In the East Room is a $4,000 rug
which has felt the tread of armies of
citizens until it is now worn down
like an October pasture. All the white
enamel walls are covered with finger
print souvenirs of admiring visitors.
Rugs and hangings in the Green and
Red rooms might be expected to be in
better shape, as only callers who are
introduced by Senators and the like
get in there, but there are Senators
and the like who are not fond of the
President and maybe they are not al
WAYS careful about whom they intro
duce.
At any rate, there has been a. lot
of feeling around done even in those
rooms They need to be fitted out
again.
Ordinarily Congress appropriates
$35, 900 a year for repairs. Once every
four years an additional sum is set
aside for accumulated needs. Col. w.
W. Harris, who has charge of repairs
at the White House. estimates that
this year 100000 was needed. The
House approved that figure but. that
was as far as it got. .ss-.-s@r p
Col. Harris estimates included 5000
to replace broken china, for the help
at the White House is like most other
help; 3d. for new glassware; $4,000
for new, silver, so there would be
enough of one design to furnish each
diner at state affair with his full
complement Of a dozen pieces of flat
ware; 81, 900 to replace the. $4,000 rug
in the East room, it>having been de-
cided to let visitors wear out a little
cheaper goods; $1,000 for a new rug
in the Blue room; 5000 for new rug
in the Presidents room, and 500 for
a new rug in the ushers' room.
The colonel believes it will cost $1,-s
900 room to re-enamel. The 400
chairs used by guests at White House
musicales need to be regilded, at cost
of $4,000. Many other items are in
cluded in the extra $4,000 asked.
Lucky the Presidents household is.
not dependent upon Congress for his
grocery allowance. The President pays
that himself, SO there will be the usual
amount of food, even though other
household facilities are somewhat Cir
cumscribed until Congress acts.