Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-05
Capital Sidelights
By WILL r. KENNEDY.

The IRE in the Capitol, attracting
Nation wide interest, has focused at
tention on this building, which is the
very heart Of the governmental body.
The southeast corner stone OF the
original building was laid on Septem-
Der 10, 1893, by George washington.
The building is Of sandstone from the
quarries Of Aqua Greek, Va, although
the best products of most Of the States
Of the Union have been used in vari-
Gus parts or in ornamental work. The
north, or Senate, wing was finished in
] 1900 and the south, or House, wing in
1911. A wooden paSsageway connect
ed them and this was used for storage
of the first modest library Of Congress.
On August "A, 1914, when the interior
of both wings was destroyed by fire set
by the invading British under Admiral
Cockburn, the Library of Congress vol
umes were used to kindle the flames.
In 1918 the central portion of the
Capitol Building was commenced under
the architectural superintendent Of the
noted Charles Bulf1nch. The original
building was completed In 1927 and
cost, including grading and repairs, less
than 81, 000,0 900.
The corner stone of the extensions
was laid on July 4, 1851, by President
Fillmore with Daniel Webster as orator
of the occasion, at which time he pre-
dicted the great monumental memorial
bridge across the Potomac River be-
tween the Lincoln Memorial and Airing
80 ~
Before us is the broad and beauti-
full river, separating two of the thirteen
original States, which a late Presi-
dent (Andrew Jackson, a man of de-
termined purpose and infiexible will,
but patriotic heart, desired to span with
arches Of ever-enduring granite, SYM
bolical of the firmly established Union
Of the North and the South"
The material used in the walls of
the Capitol extension is white marble
from the QuarrieS at Lee, Mass, and
that in the columns from the quarries
at Cockeysville, Md. The House extern
sion was first occupied for legislative
purposes December 16, 1887, and the
Senate January 4, 1859. The hall of
the House of Representatives Is 1879 feet
in length, 90 feet in width and SO feet
in height. When completed 1t was
considered the most SumptuouS legisla-
tive chamber in the world. The Sen
ate chamber is 113 feet 8 inches in
length, 80 feet inches in width and
So feet in height.
has just brought back to the Capitol
for the comfort Of many thousands of
tourists some of the original iron
curved benches which were first used in
the new House chamber. They were
then gorgeously upholstered in red
plush. Many years ago they were re-
moved to make way for individual
chairs for the members, and have since
been used in the Court Of Claims, which
occupies the original Corcoran Art
Gallery Building. at Seventeenth street
and Pennsylvania avenue.
The architect of the Capitol had
charge of the recent refurbiShing and
refurnishing of the court, doing a beau
tiful Job in walnut. At that time he
reclaimed these original House benches
and had them reupholStered in Spanish
leather. They now At into eight panels
in the rotunda of the Capitol, where
they are proving q welcome resting
place for foot-weary sightseers.
While the Capitol fire occurred in
the "old Library space" in the Capitol,
which had previously been the scene
Of at least two disastrous fires. 1t was
in rooms that did not exist in the days
when the Library Of Congress was
quartered there. These attic chambers
used as a storage place for old docu-
ments, as a model room" and artists
studio, were made when the "old Lii
brary space" was reconstructed in 1902
into the present ofiices, one of which is
occupied by Minority Leader John
Garner, and q number of committee
rooms.
49, 49, orIoiro1 ;orar1, 80 Ooy7-
gress was despoiled by the vandal Britt
ish invaders, Thomas jefferson, who
was then in retirement at Mount Ver-
non, offered his own personal library,
consisting Of $500 carefully selected
volumes, to the Government.
Two bad fires swept the library on
December %, 1925, and on Christmas
eve, 1851, when most of the Jefferson
library and more than half of the en-
tire Library of Congress was consumed
by the flames. This fire was discovered
by the great statesman Edward Ever
EFT, who had served the Nation with
distinction as a Representative and
Senator from Massachusetts,, as Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo-
Tertiary to Great Britain, who declined
a diplomatic commission to China, who
succeeded Daniel Webster as Secretary
of State in the cabinet of President
Fillmore and who was presidential
elector on the ticket Of Lincoln and
Johnson in 1864.
Uncle Sam has departed from his
usual custom in printing scientific and
statistical booklets that are pretty dry
reading for the ordinary citizens, and
in an elaborate report on "The Mohave
Desert,-A Region of Contrasts" by
David G. Thompson, presents volume
of $50 pages that holds many thrill
for the youth of the land. One Of the
dry" lakes, Lake Searles, he says, not
many years ago in geological history
covered 285 square miles and was 500
feet or more deep, while Lake Mohave
covered some 100 square miles and was
40 feet or more deep.
It narrates that the first white man
to enter this region, comprising some
Is 900 square miles Of desert, was a
Spanish priest named Garces in the
eventful year of ITS. In 1920 the pop
ulation of the region was only about
$4,000. Although so sparSely populated,
the region has produced abundantly OF
its natural resources and there Is an
allurtng field for future development.
The products of the greatest value come
from mineral deposits which since 1880
have yielded more than 100000 900,
chiefly In gold, silver, tungsten, borax,
potash and cement.
- -
the beginning OF tariff hearings before
the House ways and means committee
when the AGRICULTURAL SDOkeSmen gath