Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 174, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1911 — THE CAPITOL A WHITE-WALLED CITY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE CAPITOL A WHITE-WALLED CITY

UPWARD of 40,000 people annually visit the Capitol building in our national capital city. They see the rotunda, the marble room, the president’s room, statuary hall, the hall of the house of representatives, and the senate chamber; but there are wonderß and beauties within that building that visitors never see. In and by itself, the capltol is really a wonderful white-walled city. It is a city under an Immense roof, surmounted by a marvelous dome; a city containing a permanent population; a city having all of the comforts and conveniences that are to be found in any populous modern city. Facts concerning this wonderland were recently disclosed by one of the veteran residents of that walled city to one who had long imagined that he knew the capltol fairly well. In this white-walled city there are two excellent restaurants; two halls for the greatest debating societies in the United States; two post offices; five barber shops; seven telegraph offices; a labyrinth of local and longdistance telephone connections; five perfectly-appointed - sanitary bath rooms; two stationary and document rooms; two complete libraries; a great storeroom contSinlng all sorts of machinery appliances; s blacksmith shop; a machine shop, a carpenter shop; a big paint shop; a perfect cabinet-maker’s shop, where all sorts of furniture is made and repaired; a large plumbing shop with an army of plumbers, all of them busy and well paid; two splendid modern sanitary kitchens for the restaurants; a tool room that is a model and a marvel; superior cooks, and corps of salaried waiters that are unexcelled in any city; an underground connection with the great library of congress, whereby all of the books in that perfect storehouse of knowledge and learning are placed at the Instant disposal of the great men and small men who people this wonderful whitewalled city beneath the dome and roofs of the capltol.

When you “consider the lilies of the field” and study theta- miraculous beauty with a microscope, and realize “that Solomon, ip all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these;” you may also consider the wonderful walls of the ground floor of the senate wing of the' capltol, and realize that Solomon’s temple was not beautified as are these walls. Every Inch of them, every pinpoint, glistens, glitters and glimmers with, the genius of the brush of the great Brumldl; In some respects the greatest designer, decorator, fresco artist and portrait painter in the world; and yet, a man of whom you may have never heard. Well, the walls of this walled and roofed magical city were decorated by a man more than fifty years of whose life history may be stated In less than fifty words. He was born In Italy, was educated in art and stood at the head of his classes. He became a revolutionary soldier, was ultimately defeated, captured, imprisoned and banished from Italy, when fifty years old. Then, after more than twenty years of a stormy life, he came to America and timidly took up the brush to see if with it he could earn a living. Very soon he demonstrated that he was still at the head of his class, the best fresco artist In the world. Now for the reason that you never heard of this remarkable man. As soon as his superior merit had been demonstrated, he had alluring offers to go to large cities and make for himself fame and fortune. He declined every offer and he spurned every allurement. Constantino Brumldl became an intensely patriotic American citizen. His daily prayers were answered. He lived to work for 27 years, and he made the capltol of Ms adopted country the moat beautifully decorated capltol In the world. This wonderfully walled city Is the best place in the world for art students to visit, to spend their time and develop their talents. You should see the length of the capltol. and then study its strength. Stand on the ground floor at either the north or the south end of the building, and look all the way to the other end, s distance of 751 feet. Then walk to the center of the building where there Is a white star in the floor, and you will be In the crypt beneath the rotunda. Look around you at the massive pillars and the arches, and realize their strength. These walls uphold about 9,000.000 pounds

of structural iron and steel in the great dome. There are two public restaurants in the walled city, and back of each of them is a private restaurant for senators and representatives. At either end of the walled city there are splendid bathrooms, but these are not for the use of the employes of the house of representatives, nor of the senate, but for the statesmen. The senate library Is one of the most complete to be found In any city, and the library of the houße of representatives is also an excellent one. Thousands of people use the thoroughfares of the walled city, and yet they are always spick-and-span clean. Thousands of ladies anually visit the capltol, and all of them marvel at the magnificent housekeeping manifested in the cleanliness of those spacious corridors. The superintendent and the sergeants-at-arms manage their forces so quietly, unobtrusively and efficiently that results are produced, and of course popularity is a necessary sequel to those results. In addition to the public telegraph offices in the walled city, there are other telegraph offices in the press galleries for its use of the scores of hustlers for news who send by wire throughout the length and breadth of this great country, faithiul pen pictures of the doings and sayings of the men who make affairs for the nation. In this walled city there are 398 representatives, delegates and commissioners; and there are 92 senators; a total of 490 statesmen with salaries of 37,500 each. Their united total salaries amount to |3,675,000. There are 398 private receiving salaries of 31,000 each, with a total income of 3097,000. Then there are 92 secretaries and committee clerks, receiving an average of 32,000 each, making a total Income of 3184,* 000. Then there are carpenters, blacksmiths, plumbers, cabinet makers, watchmen, policemen, and every other class of men to he found In any city, and their Incomes vary as do the Incomes of your neighbors. The total working population of the walled city is about 1,500; and with an average of five to a family, the working men of the walled city represent a total population of 7,500. This is the only city In‘America that controls Its own atmosphere. In winter time the white-walled city Is kept comfortably warm by having fresh air constantly pumped over colls of heated pipes. In summer the air is pumped into the walled city over many tons of Ice. The superintendent of the capltol is able to raise or lower the temperature and keep it at any desired degree. He Is able to distill water in any quantities. He can furbish any amount of electricity that may be required at any hour of the day or night and at all seasons of the year. There Is no library in any city of this country which contains such marvelous collections as are to be found in the document room of the senate, and In the senate library, two important Institutions which are located on the gallery floor, and in contiguous rooms. Here mgy be seen copies of substantially every public document issued, from the formation of the government; all committee reports, favorable and adverse, on all bills and resolutions. These documents contain* the of the history of our country. The tool room contains every kind of too! that can eve* be required for the manufacture and repair of any part of the capltol or any of Its furniture. It is claimed that this is the best tool room maintained in any city In the land. There is an official photographer with a perfectly equipped studio. The photographer has negatives of pictures of all of the most important parts of the capltol. ' In the senate carpenter and cabinet shop, they not only repfir chairs and other furniture, but they make chairs and desks and whatever kind of furniture may be desired. In the stationery rooms of the white-walled city may be obtained everything that can be found in any stationery store in any city, and everything is of the very best, and at reasoaable prices. Taken in its entirety, the capltol of our country la a complete municipality; indeed, a veritable white-walled city. 1 \