Pueblo chieftain., 1922-03-01
BY Frederic ]. Haskin


WASHINGTON, u. c., Feb. a--,-'Thc
little boys one sees sitting on the dou-
BILE steps of the rostrum, at the feet
I of tho Vice President in the United
States Chamber. are the senate pages
Bright-faccd, cheerful. manly little fel-
lows, they wait daily upon the coun-
I Itrys statesmen. Republican and De-
mocrat alike. They are as sharp as n
keen steel blade, quick as lightning,
ready and willing to fetch" for the
north and tote" for the South. maxi
| ing the most OF their term with
wary young eye turned toward the fu-
ture.
| These pages have rather env!abie
position for small boys, being appoint
| ed by the Senators for a term of four
years at salary of $3.50 per diem ana
a bonus. They enter at the age of Il
and leave at IS, provision being made
by the Senate for them to attend
night school,; thus for four years they
are in a position to acquire most
intimate knowledge of political econ
onny; of being able to study and TO
\ learn something of the art OF oratory
under the best OF masters; of being ac-
quainted with the country's statesmen
and hearing their opinions publicly cN-
pressed and of coming into intimate
contact with public life.
! Their pastimes and sports fiji an
important part in their terms; they
have their football eleven and their
baseball nine and last year were the
proud and triumphant winners of the
silver cup given by Senator McCor-
mick for both those sports in compet'-
ton with the pages of the House OF
Representatives. AT Christmas time
it is the custom of the Vice President
to give the boys dinner. which IS
held with all the dignity of grown
up function, there being no end of re-
guar grown-up toasts and lengthy AT
ter dinner speeches given and enjoyed
by the participants. When Leland
Stanford sat in the Senate Chamber he
presented each boy with five dollar
bill at the Yuletide and dinner at his
home followed by performance given
by hired talent to entertain his little
guests. AS parting souvenir of such
evenings, a gift OF cuff buttons or
some other small article designed TO
delight the heart of the growing youth
is presented to each page. IN Spring
when the outdoors IS calling. the cir
Gus comes to town. 4 Senator always
provides the tickets and the pink le-
monade for all OF the pages. and there
is a happy expedition to the Dig top.
ALL COLLECT SIGNATURES
Nearly every one or the pages treas
ures an autograph album. These con-
tain nearly, IL not all. OF tho sigma
lures of the great men of the present
day in official life.
The favorite paStimc is mock scs-
sion OF the Senate. when the pages are
allowed the use OF the senate Chamber
on days when the Senate is not meet
ing and sometimes IN the mornings
OF meeting days. The most important
legislation ever brought before this
body OF Junior solons is bill to write
into the statutes provision for increas-
ling the salaries OF the senate pages
MANIFOLD. One page presidcs In the
Vice Presidents chair, and the session
Is carried on in a serious way. Nls'-
tors who drift into the galleries during
these sessions invariably are SO In
tercstcd that they Will stay to the
close. astonished at the orator!cal gifts
displayed by some of the lads. While
this Is only amusement TO the boys.
they are gathering n presence and ad-
dress certain to serve them well in the
future.
There are In all - Senate pages
| 10 regulars. 3 ".emporarics' and :
for the telephones. Their duties IN
the mornings before the Senate meets.
consist OF tasks that are light. varied
and divided. Some boys are assigned
to duties at the beginning OF the scs-
sion and do not change their tasks.
There must be n copy of every bill
report Ind document on each desk
daily, n file OF the Congressional Re