The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-05
The Enormous Increase in the Cost of Public
Buildings Caused by the Interference
of Meddlesome congressman.
General ROsecrans and Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher's Son Given Offices.
The Next Congress Will Be Asked to Consider
Regulation of Interstate Commerce
The Crow Greek Reservation.
WHERE REFORM Is NEEDED.
The Interference of Congressman with Pub
lie Buildings and the Expense 1t Causes.

The interference of congressman with Pub
lie Buildings and the Expense 1t Causes.
Special to the indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, June 4-There is one depart
ment of the government that needs reforming,
but which seems to be neglected every time the
reformers make their rounds with the broom.
This is that''of the supervising architect of the
Treasury. 1t is not that the officials, clerks and
draftmen employed therein are dishonest or that
their methods are bad, but simply that there
should be some law to regulate the business of
their office so that members of Congress should
be deprived from interfering in the conduct of
affairs therein. AS it is now, there is more
money wasted in this office in making plans that
are never used, or if used, so modified as to
entirely change them, than for any other pur-
pose under the Treasury. The city of Detroit
is a case in point Some two or three years ago
Congress appropriated $780, 900 for the purpose
of building new postofice, custom house, etc.,
in the City of the Straits. A site was selected
under the regular rules, and the foundation was
begun. Then some of the Detroit people
concluded that they wanted a larger
and more commodious building. An onslaught
was made upon Judge Folger, ther Secretary of
the Treasury, and after repeated attempts he
was induced to order the work to stop. The fol-
lowing winter Mr.. Maybury, the congressman
from Detroit, introduced bill increasing the
limit to something like million dollars. The
bill also provided that new commission should
be appointed and that a new site should be Sc
lected if this commission decided that it was for
the best interests Of the city. This bill hung
fire in Congress for two sessions and was finally
passed, with some slight amendments, just as the
Forty-eighth Congress drew to close. A new
commission was appointed month or so ago and
their report has just been made to the Secretary
ofthe Treasury The committee recommends that
the site for the postoice and United States Court
room be changed from that selected three years
ago. but that the old building be retained for the
purpose of custom house and internal revenue
Office. In other words, the act which author
lied the erection of a building directed
the supervising architect to build d structure
which should answer for all federal purposes in
the city of Detroit. The commission, on the
other hand, recommend two buildings to be
used for these purposes, one of which is still to
be located. Of course no one has authority to
violate the instructions of Congress, and the re-
suit will be that Detroit will have to wait until
further legislation is had before it can be sup
piled with proper federal building. This is
only one instance of many. There is scarcely
public building authorized in the United States
that some member of Congress does not object
to, and before the work is finished he usually
succeeds in having all the original arrangements
changed. Repeated attempts have been made in
the Treasury to prevent this state of affairs but
without success. The only remedy seems to be
that proposed last winter, which is, that, when
ever it is deemed necessary to erect public
building in any city in the United States, the
Secretary of the Treasury should first be author
lied to prepare suitable plans and an es-
innate of the cost of requisite
building. If this suggestion should be followed,
all this scandal about log rolling for the purpose
of getting public building measures through Con-
gress would be avoided Until some such plan
is adopted the supervising. architects Office of
the Treasury will continue to expend thousands
of dollars each year upon plans which are found
useless because some ambitious congressman
succeeds in changing the originals of the archi-
tac