Evening star., 1924-12-21
Real Workers in the National Capital

| ERES q man-and he mas
been more than IS years on
the 5ob--who actually keeps
! l. Il the wheels of Government
| moving. If Congress didn't
operate there'd be no laws for the
Chief Executive to execute or for the
Supreme Court to interpret. II Ar
thur q. Cook (better known to every
Member of Congress as 'Gus") failed
on his job Congress would have to
stop functioning-and so would the
| Government Printing once, with It's
$500 employees; so would the Wash
ington City Post Office. which handles
| all mail for the President and his
Cabinet, for the diplomatic repre-
sentattves of other nations; SO would
the Library of Congress. etc.
Gus" Cooks job is that Of super
| vising engineer. in charge Of all me-
/ chanical departments under the Capt.
tol plant, so that he Is responsible
| for furnishing proper heat, light, ven-
eilation and acoustics for the 631
| men representing all the people OF
| the United States in Congress assem-
| bled. He literally keeps the wheels
| of legislation moving and is thus
real worker in the National Capital.
while as a little co-ordinated job he
the biggest printing establishment in
! the world under one roof.
And mono OF this essential work of
| the Government has been delayed five
| minutes in the last quarter of a CEN
tury because of a break In the serv-
| ice that Gus" Cook supplies.
y = 4
Mr.. Cook was appointed in the ar
chitect's office Of tho United States
Capitol on November s, 1898, as as
sistant engineer in the lighting de-
nj rt yr1a nf "a "a nj nl frh ot
time was a very small plant. Since
that time. with the erection of new
buildings in the congressional group,
the work has expanded TO such an
extent that he has received various
promotions which have brought him
to position second only to the ar
chitect OF the Capitol and in direct
charge of all the mechanical work
connected with the operation and
maintenance of these buildings.
Here are some OF the things he
has done and Is doing: He sees to it
that the Senators and Representatives
and judges of the Supreme Court are
not bothered by rats or bugs. He has
the air they consume washed reg
ularly. He operates more than so
elevators for their convenience and
has them carefully inspected every
morning. He operates more than a
smiths, electricians. painters, glaciers,
boilermakers. steamfltters, plumbers,
carpenters, cabinet makers and en-
gineers--all OF which are in the cata-
combs OF the Capitol. He makes
gavels for the speaker and snow
shovels and all manner of tools He
makes arrangements for the official
guests at the inaugural ceremonies on
the east front Of the Capitol, and
broke in under strenuous conditions
during the blizzard on the day that
Taft took the oath OF Office and the
Capitol was cut on from all communi~
cation with tho outside world. (That
was long before the days Of radio).
He has the dome OF the Capitol
painted every four years with some
$4,000 gallons OF a special paint, and
the whole building washed by fire
hose each year.
Now that Congress IS seriously
contemplating the enlargement of its
Offices and OF the Senate chamber.
there Is good prospect that Cook will
have more important work thrust
upon his shoulders. He had personal
charge of the building of the Senate
and House ONCE Buildings and the
new Capitol power plant in 1a07-S-
e-i0. He previously had charge
of reconstructing the old library
space in tho Capitol in 1902. after the
Library of Congress was moved to It's
handsome new homo across the plaza
from the Capitol.