Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1920-07-30
EN- ROUTE TO BOSTON.
BY JAMES FAULKl
THE CAPITOL BUILDING.

We presume that pretty well all
who visit the National Capital or ex-
pect to do so will first look round for
the great dome OF the Capitol Build
ing and we were no exception as we
we're peering for it time we got into
the city. Now we are passing 1T.
Its an iron dome now. When the
building was originally constructed
il was made of wood but has since
been converted into metal to meet
changed conditions. The main capt.
toll building is situated on high ele-
walton some distance off from the
! Potomac and the rises give it quite a
commanding view Of the city The
school boys and girls will remember
that the British burned the capitol
in their raid made in 1914 but was re-
built and cost complete about $lo,0OO
600 and was a number OF wears being
constructed. AS the day was Sun
day we we're not permitted to go in
side of it. So you can see that our
view was hasty and from the outside.
1t forms quite large pile OF marble
and granite and the steps to both
the wings the Senate Hall and
House OF Representatives are great
strung out flights initiated somewhat
by those of the capitol building at
jackson, Miss, and other state and
provincial capltols on this continent.
Those Of our citizens who have visit
ed and some of whom have lived In
Washington could give you a much
better description of il thLn we. We
can ouly give our impressions bur
ried.y formed and some official tig-
ures as to dimensions. The Capitol
building stands on plateau 81 feet
above the level of the Potomac. The
entire length of the building is 75l
feet and its greatest dimension 300
feet. area OF ground covered is l53,
liz square feet. The rotunda is 81
feet in diameter and 100 feet in
height from floor to top of the cano-
DIV. The dome is crowned by a
bronze statue of Liberty" 19 feet
high. Height of the dome above the
base line is 287 feet and its greatest
diameter at base is 135 feet. None
of these measurements meutlon inch
: es OF which there are few over each.
Z. We roamed round the building in its
rear after viewing 1t from the front
and after having walked over and
: looked at the great Library building,
S the Senate and House Office Build
: ings respectively There is a nice
!, park of shades and drives in this
@ rear as well as botanical gardens
r From there we made our way on
: towards the river where stands the
= Washington monument on a high
: par of the bluff, and wondered as
i we went along how these capito
Q building; compared 10 size with thai
= of many which have been buiIdeC
since in the United STAGES and Cana
N da as State Houses, the question a
rising in our mind if their greatness
and grandeur had not been to de
gree detracted from by the approach
of these to it's size etc. which W.
:, have seen in getting round on trave
N trips, and how many years more i
would be before a nation which nov
10 numbers over a hundred millions
10 would conclude that the building
- had been outgrown by It's great ex
% panson IN population aud would at
y tempt something greater in an archi
y tectual way. But that would b,
!" hard to do and the present Parlla
70 ment building in London as we'll a
Buckingham palace have served Eng
land for from time back to we do no
recall IN memory now how far. Thel
= we thought of how deep the war ha
:. put che nation in debt which pre-
- cludes for a time to come any such
move.