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Show THE BOYS OFCONGKESS 1 A Story of the Pages at the Capitol and : . What They Are Expected . To Do. EXPEET POLITICIANS IN EMBBYO The "Tips" They Receive From the MembersYoung Mem-bersYoung Men Who Know ' ' .' Politics, T The pages of the senate and house are sort of understudy to the statesmen. Each has some senator or member whom lie admires and imitates, and it is not be- . yond the range of his ambition that he nay some day occupy a seat in congress himself. They have a sort of fellow feeling for Senator Gorman and other J statesmen who have risen from a scat on the steps by the vice president's desk to chair in the legislative body. All the pages are statesmen in their way, and j are up in politics. Their fate is dependent depend-ent upon the welfare of their members, and they rise and fall with their party. In a Republican senate tho boys are all Republicans, and in the house they come and go as the majorities shift I The senate pages have a more seenre tenure and hold themselves to bo of a little more importance than the boys I who wait on tho representatives. But the latter profess contempt for a cIbbs of young individuals who don't take ths chances of politics at every election, and pride themselves upon their own close alliance to their party's vicissitudes. They look upon the knee breeched attaches at-taches of the senate as old fogies without knowledge of wire pulling. They are themselves au fait on all matters political. politi-cal. They are the "legs" of the congressmen, but they have heads of their own that are crowded with schemes to their full capacity. They are not usually well up in book learning, but are well up on affairs of state. They enter public life at the mature age of 10 or 11 years, upon a salary of $2.50 a day and such perquisites per-quisites as fall into their hands, and, if their political fortunes are good, remain in service until they are no longer boys. Then they go out into the world to become be-come politicians, drummers, railroad presidents or congressmen, or else take a downward turn. They usually enter the field of politics, as they are familiar with all its branches. They are fully equipped for the position of senator or representative, representa-tive, but deficient in almost all other useful use-ful knowledge. The average page of 14 or 15 years old counts in his wardrobe a beaver hat, a pair of knee breeches, a cigar case, a Lord Chumley overcoat and a horn , handled cane. Many of these have a brilliant career during their tender years and have gone through all excesses of mature manhood before they are old enough to vote at any well regulated election. On the house side there are thirty pages, fifteen who sit on the right of the speaker to wait on the Democrats and fifteen on the other side to respond to the call pf the Republicans. They are under the command of two chief pages, who Jiave been promoted from the ranks, and a one armed captain, who is chief in command. , The chief page of ft.e senate side is almost. as old as the senate itself and is custodian of the snuff box anoV all the antiquities and reminiscences of that body; while the pages who are under command of Capt. Bassett aro usually Tery small boys. ' When a senator claps his hands half a dozen small boys rush ont from different directions, coming to collision in the center aisle, and tho one who sustains the shock and picks himself up quickest holds the secret conference with the senator sen-ator and then with a pompous air starts off on a private mission to the document room for a bill or to the library for a book. - 7.- "7- - they are less assiduous in their attention afterward. As a membergiows older in service he discovers so maty ways of increasing in-creasing his expenses abve the limit of his salary "without piling away money just to impress the: little men that he gradually getoftt of the habit of "tipping." "tip-ping." Kie pages, too, have suffered througlThe graceless conduct of Silcott. The aiembers at the opening of this se-,iftn se-,iftn did not feel that they could afford to be quite at, liberal as usual. Another source of revenue for the boys is from the distribution of circulars and pamphlets through the house. Kear-ly Kear-ly every great project that is brought to the attention of congress from the outside out-side is supported, and generally opposed, too, by the circulation among tho members mem-bers of pamphlets and various documents. docu-ments. These are left with the doorkeeper door-keeper to be placed on the desks of the members. If they are merely left with the request that they be distributed they do not appear on tho desks. If the interested in-terested party comes back and leaves a considerable fee for tho pages he will I find the desks piled up with his circulars the next morniug. Wasliington Star. ' It takes almost as much political influence in-fluence to be a senate page in congress as, to get a foreign mission. The usual age is from 10 to 15, and very few remain after they are 18. . . ; Some of them, after outgrowing their positions, have done well in the world, but many have acquired dissipated habits hab-its which have ended their career disastrously disas-trously at an early age. Familiar con-tipicuous con-tipicuous examples of success are thos of Senator Gorman, ex-Eepresentata Scott', of Erie, and the late Representative Representa-tive Townshend, of Illinois, who ifecame eminent in public life.. Others he been quite as successful in business Jf professional profes-sional life, though not as welLnown. Pa'ges usually make consiijrabl p money and make it easily, anJ tbey sfend it with freedom. Besidhg their salaries they turn a good m,ftJy honest djollars. Tliey complain in these dayB that they Iiave not the opportunities they iised to have for moling, extra money. Eicli and hbjjjlnjeijjbers often paly them large.' sums for small services, In the housl each page has to file tne records toTjtcn members. ' fThis is part of tho duty for which they aro.'paid by the government, but each member, at the end of the session, usually usual-ly gives tho page who tends to his file from $5 to $10. If a member sends a page off to buy a theatre ticket or make some small purchase he often gives hiin a $5 or $10 bill and lets him keep the change of the transaction. Some of the rich representatives and senators are in the habit of making presents of money to the pages at Christmas time and at the end of the session. ! THE AUTOGRAPH BUSINESS. The autograph business used to be very profitable.' Every morning the' pages would go around from member to member mem-ber as they reached the hall and solicit their signatures in big autograph books. A book containing all the names was worth from $5 to $10 to the page who had it.' They found a ready sale for these books as fast as they could fill them, and it did not take long to get all the signatures. One of the regular duties of a member was to sign his name about tb'irty ' times each morning. An auto-(jraph auto-(jraph book is seldom seen in either tho house or senate now. , The fact is that iherp are' riot now us many chances lor the pr.ges to mako tuonev as there used taj oa. -me tew memoer is tne game hunted by the page. On his lirst appearance in congress the member isliboral, if be ever intends to be no nt all. The young men rush to wait on him then, and if he does not respond quickly they, know that he is not going ' topcjLiayjAa investment for them, and |