Evening star., 1936-11-28

COrrlQ JulyS! NO more mop
" ping Of legislative brows dur
a ing the high Moons Of Sum-
mer! No more willing at senatorial
or congressional desks when the mer-
curry goes skyrocketing in the months
ahead and adjournment is not yet
in sight. Senators, Representatives,
clerks and secretaries will laugh at
Old Man Sol this Summer. and not
even in his own Office will disturbed
legislator have the slightest excuse
for getting hot around the collar"
For, at the cost of more than S2,000,-
600 they are going to keep Congress
cool in the dog days.
A major part of the work on what
Is perhaps the biggest air-condi-
tioning job in the world is now
full steam ahead at the other end of
the Avenue, being rushed to compile
ton in time to clear away all the
debris before Congress gets back to
town and wants to know. as David
Lynn, architect of the Capitol, re-
fleets ruefully, What you been doing
here all this while we've been away?
We don't see any mess around
There won't be a sign" declares
Mr.. Lynn, "of all the tearing down,
the tearing up, the ripping and hack
ing and hewing that have been going
on for months. They won't be able
to see anything but newly plastered
walls. Little will they know what's
behind them, and they'll think we
haven't done a thing 1t won't look
much like s2OO0,000 worth when they
get back, anyway. Everything will
be too tidy. Congress wants a lot
Of upheaval for $2,000,000"
There is, of course, a little twinkle
In Mr.. Lynn's eye as he says this,
but the fact is there will not be much
to show for that s2,000,000 when Con-
gress starts tramping up and down
the halls again up on the Hill. It's
when the blazing heat of mid-Sum-
mer smites the city that the legis-
lators will be glad enough of the ex-
penditure that is going to assure them
comfort and happiness. torrid or
humid as the season may be.
THEY have-Mr. Lynn and his able
- crews-practcially rebuilt the two
House Office Buildings. the Senate
Office Building and the administra-
tive wings of the Capitol, so far as
we can see during the absence of
Congress these past months.
To get about in the Capitol at all
you have to be good at balancing on
wobbly planks, peering the while into
deep abysses far below the earth; you
have to know how to go up or down
q few flights clinging to temporary
remain unmindful of head beams and
cross beams and wooden staircases
and heaps of bricks; you have to
overlook great gashes in brick walls
and surprising little heaps of cement
or sand at the base of Corinthian
pillars, You have to be immune to
ladders jutting up suddenly out of
nowhere and wooden horses set across
your path. You have to be able to
talk in shrill shrieks and whoops to
be heard above the clatter and bang
and rat-tat-tat and knocking and
pounding and dropping and dragging
that are going on in this bedlam OF
preparation.
This has gone far enough" you
may decide, and make hurried re-
treat in the direction of the House
Once Buildings, where you have
known something Of tranquility In
other days.
A lot Of good that will do you Just
now. You can't even recognize IA
miliar corridors, for they've torn the
walls out, and you come bang UP
against some Representatives Office
that looks for all the world like 9
tidy scene on little stage, with the
front left open for you to look at it
Things are no better, or no worse
at the Senate Office Building either
At any moment you must be prepared
to find floor simply but completely
missing in your meanderings. Yor
mustn't let those frightful scars thai
run up around doorways and acros.
marble ceilings and across serene ane
lovely walls disturb you. There won
be trace of them when the occupant
Of these offices returns.
How in the name of heaven" vol
want to know, "are they ever goins
to clear all this up before January
How in the name of heaven are theJ
ever going to restore unmarried sur.
faces to these violated walls? How
In the name of heaven are they goine
to get that object that looks, leaning
against the wall, for all the world likl
the lining Of gargantuan tunnel
hidden behind wall structures or lais
under floors so that nothing will re-
veal its presence but the cool washet
air 1t will draw and emit?"
"Oh, we'll be through In time" Mr.
Lynn assures one, with an optimism
we do hope is well founded. And tn
men banging and scraping and hew