Evening star., 1925-02-15

Irlntlng once, mail shipping depart
ment, and a large cabinet shop for re-
pairing the furniture used by the House,
and there are some 12, 900 pieces used.
The direction. maintenance and
cleaning of the House Office Building
come under superintendent who Is
appointed by the architect of the Capt
tol. The House Office Building and the
capitol power plant are operated under
the supervision (by law of the House
Office Building Commission. composed of
the Speaker, one member of the major
ity party, Representative Isaac Bacha-
rach of New Jersey: one member Of the
minority party, Representative Finis
Garrett, Tennessee, and the architect OF
the Capitol.
In this building there are ~ win
dows, IL elevators. S staircases, $50
interior doors and 10 entrances. There
are 142,044 square feet of copper roof
ing and $4,000 feet of heating pipe.
There are 10000 electric lamps re
quired.
In addition to the Offices and COM
mittee rooms, the building contains
accommodations for the following: 4
conference room, with cloak and
lounging rooms adjoining; a dining
room. and all the little shops re-
quired in a small city.
THE duties of the landscape gar
dener William A. Frederick, un-
der the Office of the architect of the
Capitol, consist in maintaining the
Capitol grounds and a general super
vision of the grounds of the Library
of Congress. The Capitol grounds,
Including the acres Immediately a bout
the House and Senate office build
lngs, comprise some 5S acres. Within
this area are IS acres of walks and
drivewaysA which are cleaned daily.
and from which the snow is removed
in the Winter months
The lawns are kept in short grass
with modern motor equipment, and
are treated annually with expert
skill. During the Fall season the
leaves are raked and hauled to an
adjoining reservation and allowed to
decay for a period of one year. when
they are returned to the ground as
fertilizer of excellent quality. APP
proximately $50 cubic yards of de
cayed leaves are used in this manner
Within the Capitol grounds are
many fine trees and shrubs, some of
historic interest which must have
constant attention. The work of re-
moving deadwood and the treatment
OF decayed cavities, in addition to the
bracfng with steel cables Of heavy
limbs of tall trees, is carried cut at
all seasons of the year The lives of
the trees are heightened considerably
and the physical condition decidedly
stimulated by the surgical treatment
of cavities. Many excellent examples
of the value OF this work can be
round on the Capitol grounds, and
tree culturists from all over the
country come to study them
Many new trees and shrubs are
planted each year. and many thou
sands of blooming plants and bulbs
are planted in the marble 1owerbeds
on the terrace about the Capitol
building.
The hot and dry weather of Sum
mer destroys much of the grass. and
each Spring finds the forces under
Mr. frederick busy preparing these
spaces for reseeding. with about l25
bushels of grass seed thus used each
year.
Just at present the forces in this
department of outdoor work are as
sistfng in preparations for the inau
guration. They are empIoyed in
making special preparations for many
pubic functions held on the Capitol
grounds, including band concerts.
Ihe Capitol power plant furnishes
neat, light and power to the United
States Capitol. Library of Congress.
Senate and House Office Buildings.
united states Coast and Geodetic
survey, Public Health Service. Ro-
tanic Garden, Washington CITY Post
once. Government Printing Office and
ilght and power to the Government
notels Its average output when Con-
gress is in session is $1,000 XIV.
hours on fair day and 10000 XIV
hours on a cloudy day. The output is
about 10000 XIV. hours less when
congress is not on the job.
Besides 16 boilers of ST. horse
power each. this plant has coal and
ash handling equipment that can nm
load and store coal from a 7O-ton car
In 80 minutes. The bunkers can hold
l.eo0 tons of coal. The water feed
heater has capacity for softening and
hltering and heating $4,000 gallons of
water per hour.
THERE are substations of this plant
in the Capitol. Senate and House
Office Buildings. Library Of Congress
and the Government Printing Office.
The City Post Office is fed from the
substa tions at the Government Print
ing Office; the Government Hotels
from the Senate Office Building: the
Botanic Garden, the Coast and Geo
detic Survey and the Public Health
Service from the House Office Build
ing substation The Capitol has five
motor generator sets; the House Office
bullding four sets and Senate Office
bu1ldlng, the Library of Congress and
the Government Printing Office have
three sets each
Extreme care is taken regarding the
heating and ventilation of the work
snop Tor the Congress and Supreme
Court The Capitol Building is venti-
lated by 29 electric motor-driven fans
aggregating $50 horsepower-6 of
which are used in the legislative halls
of the House and Senate and for
the Supreme Court chamber This
equipment was installed and the work
carried on under the director of Prof
5. Homer Woodbridge. and has been
in operation for % years. Hereafter
the hall of the House will receive
fresh air at the rate of $4,000 cubic
feet per minute, when required which
is a rate OF supply equal to the net
cubic contents Of the hall every five
minutes.
Changes made during the year in
clude radical alteration in the man
ner of admitting air to the House
chamber, by which former trouble
some air drafts have been eliminated.
The steam-pipe system installed 90
years ago for warming the House and
Senate wings has been moderniZsd
and put undec q new economy system
of valve con,roi originated by Prof.
Woodbridge. This improvement, 49, 49,
be continued while Congress is alb
sent from the legislative halls.
The Importance of improving the
conditions existing within the legis-
lative chambers during Summer
weather is stressed by the consulting
engineer. 1t is proposed to dry and