Capitol Page School - Congressional Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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THE DAILY LIFE OF A PAGE -By Don Braedon A page's life is a tough one in so many ways and very easy in so many other ways that we must consider all of these things with an open mind. Let us consider the educational point of view. We are fortunate in that we have an op- portunity to see our government in action and see how the people react toward the men in Congress who are representing the masses. Debate, heated arguments, bills of national and international importance, all are dis- cussed before us and we can see what the dif- ferent parties stand for and how they differ from each other. The page, as I see it, is lucky in many ways, but he does not always have the opportunity to see the real debates and the workings of a bill because they are usually taken up in committees before intro- duction on the floors of either House. The usual routine life of a page who lives in the city begins at five-thirty A. M. The boys are at breakfast at about six and at school by six-thirty. At nine-thirty-nine school ends for most of us and we proceed to work. We file Congressional Records and run to the document Room during the earlier hours of Work. Then comes the real job. At noon the Senate and House normally convene, and from that time until they adjourn the page is kept busy. We run House Office Building slips to the Congressmen's offices and also Senate Of- fice Building slips for the Senators. The ave- rage day for a page consists of about four bell calls on the floor, six trips to the House or Senate Office Building, and six to eight trips to the Document Room. lt varies, of course, according to the position the page may hold. Positions on the phones or on the doors require other types of work.. When the Congress adjourns for the day the page usually goes home, changes clothes, goes out for dinner, and then returns to do his homework. A frequent pastime of most pages is writing home. Letters to parents and that best girl are, of course, considered first. The average salary of a page is about one hundred and ninety dollars a month, after taxes, of which approximately one hundred and ten dollars goes out for food, rent, and other necessities and pleasures. Many pages are able to save as much as eighty dollars a month for future use, such as college. Life at Capitol Page School is very interest- ing, which is largely due to the many activities which keep us on the go. Clubs, sports, and lively debates are all a part of the daily school life. Teams for these activities have been or- ganized through the wonderful cooperation of the Faculty and the Principal, and they're to be commended for the liberal donation of their time which made possible the further- ance of these activities. Sports, many of which were taken up with an incredible amount of enthusiasm, are supervised by Mr. Fowler, Chairman of the English Department. He has devoted many an hour to the basketball team. Miss Hammond, Chairman of Mathematics and Sciences, has given a great deal of time to The Congressional and the Dramatics Club. Mr. Kramer, Chairman of Social Sciences, has done a fine job in trying to bring about the making of a superb Debate Club. Miss Ethier, Chairman of Languages, has pro- cured information from various colleges deal- ing with admission, and has also advised the Honor Society. ln conclusion, let us say there exists a great spirit among the pages. It is a spirit of co- operation, self-reliance, ambition, and grati- tude-all moulded into one. lt is an indomnit- able spirit eminating from all over the Re- public and meeting here on The Hill . lt is the American Spirit.

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SPECIAL EMPLDYEES The title, Special Employees, covers a very extensive field ranging from elevator opera- tors to messengers. However, we shall be in- terested here primarily in those special jobs in which members of our student body par- ticipate. The Folding Room employs the largest group of Special Employees. Here the delivery boys spend their busy day distributing books, reports, and other documents to the Congress- men who send this informative material to constituents. ' They also' make pick-ups and deliveries to and from offices, getting material that is re- quired to be wrapped, bundled, boxed or placed in mail bags for mailing. After this has been done it is.mailed out directly or re- turned to the office from which it came. Another very interesting job on Capitol Hill is that of working among the laws of the na- tion, Yes, laws, bills, documents, reports, reso- . y. ..... M . s t lutions, many passed, defeated, side-tracked, out-dated, all these are found in the Docu- ment Room. Here the employees file, re-file, and un-file all sorts of scriptures. lt is the duty of this personnel not only to keep the demand from Congressional offices filled, but also to take care of information seekers, curious individuals and people in gen- eral who are continually roaming in and out of the Document Room generally asking fool- ish questions. Usually the page is not the least bit interested in what these characters talk about, but, he will grin, drop a casual remark and bear with them. These constitute the main jobs of the Spe- cial Employees, though there are those who function in different capacities, including the elevator operators. The Special Employees, like the various pages, are a necessary part of Congressional proceedings. D. E. C.

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