Show luau luxury ry f for 0 r S t al e q m e n AA 14 U 0 special correspondence the annual ho housecleaning use cleaning at united states capitol has been ally th orrigh this year and it is too much to say that the great white domed building at washington ashington A Is now a little cleaner ind more attract lve than it has een at any previous time in history the legislative head quarters Is more modern too many improvements have been in the big structure since the national lawmakers went home spring few persons not excepting the sen acors and representatives themselves have any conception of what a her aulean task it is to put the capitol in apple pie order for a se on of con gress the huge hugs building has an area of more than three and a half acres and inasmuch as it i ahlee tin stories in height there is an aggregate of more than ten acres of floors to be scrubbed there are separate rooms he the walls of which have to bo be cl eariel and the touched up to say nothing of the renovation of carpets and up bolstered furniture and twenty eight apartments all ail committee rooms of good size have been completely transformed the work embracing the redecoration of wallo wall and ceiling and refurnishing ith new carpets and new mahogany furniture huge housecleaning task let the average houe housewife wife try to Inid imagine gine what it would mean to wash lilt I 1 I 1 it W a 3 T 11 west front of capitol windows each twice as large as any window in an ordinary house and to clean the woodwork of doors and she may gain a slight conception of the immensity of houseclean ng at the nation s capitol and in addition there is more than an acre of glass skylights to be washed inside and out III fireplaces to be set in order III wash basins to be scoured and an in finite number of other tasks calca to keep a large force of work era ers busy for weeks before the date for the assembling of the legislators N W hen the members of congress came back to work after their long vaca tion they found that electricity Is to a greater extent than ever king of the capitol the magic current plays the most important part in heating light ing and ventilating the monster build ing and has lately enabled marvelous advances in the facilities for quick communication between the various parts of this official city under one roof just a hint of the conveniences afforded by the utilization of the twentieth century power I 1 is I 1 f found oun d in the operation of the new e electric bell system which has been installed result of the recent election come back to congress after an absence of some years will III be very likely to open th ir eyes in amazement a th awen bieth century congressman sits in a chair that cost 25 has bis his shoes shined free of charge at a bootblack stand that cost 55 and Is s served with drinking water from coolers which cost 26 apiece and each of which will hold 17 worth of mm min eral water the speaker of the house of representatives has a new magog any desk that cost and may rest on a leather cou con h for which uncle sam paid out 60 there are ninety toilet rooms in the capitol and four teen bathtubs have been installed for the use of congressmen these tubs are all cut from blocks of solid mar bli bl and are aped nith V ith shower apparatus and other up to date ad junces cap tol to be extended this session of congress will in all probability authorize an extension of the united states cap tol which will cost several million dollars and in crease the size of the building fully one third under the old conditions such an expansion of the already spa cious structure would probably have appalled the men who are frequently called upon to communicate with widely separated po ants in uncle sams biggest office building now they can regard the growth with se fenity for the capitol has all its own as complete a telephone system as Is to be found in the average city of 10 inhabitants the exchange being connected with more than telephones throughout the building steps are also to be taken to give the capitol a more efficient system of fire protection for whereas the mass IN he e structure is in its construction well safeguarded against fire its rooms contain ast vast quantities of rec books and documents of value which would be rapidly consumed were not means at hand for quickly extinguishing the flames the provi sion slon of a modern fire department is all that is needed to make the con gressional community a little city by itself tor for it already boasts a police department that numbers more men than are on the pay roll of the average small city a postoffice post office that does a tremendous business and an tion the office of the sergeant at arms which performs all the functions of a bank when the new office build inga ings are completed the capitol will also have its own underground rail vi way ay system 4 11 I 1 41 senatorial heading reading room throughout the big building tor for the benefit of members temporarily absent from the floor while the legislative body Is in session by means of one or another of these bells a law maker no matter in what part of the building he may be Is warned when any important action is to be taken in the legislative chamber so that it is his own fault if he does not vote on every measure which comes up arrangements of the best the visitor to the capitol under this rew regime may be surprised to note the total absence of lighting fixtures and yet at the first suggestion of dusk the chambers of the senate and house of representatives are flooded with light more than 25 incandescent lamps each of sixteen candle power tucked away in unobtrusive places give the e illumination similarly not a single coil of steam pipe nor so much as one radiator Is visible and yet no person can ever complain of cold so long as he is within the walls of the huge pile on capitol hill final ly 75 cubic feet of fresh air Is poured into the hall of the house and 26 cubic feet of clean atmosphere Is forced into the senate chamber each minute and yet the novel task is performed so scientifically that there is not the suggestion of a draught in any part of these vast rooms in this betterment of things in gen eral at the capitol there has as may be imagined been no special effort tor for econom the men in charge have gone on the theory that there can be nothing too good for a billion dollar congress and the men who as the |