The Washington critic., 1888-03-24
DIARINI HALL AGAIN.
Our Statements of Its Condition Co
tradicted by Its owner.


..EDlToR CEuc The article in your issue
OF the 2lst instant, under the heading
"Unft TO be Occupied" rejecting so
severely on Marini's Hall, is altogether a
sensational exaGgeration. It is not in
the condition it Is therein represented to
be. There is no "long crack parallel to
the floor in the wall The clerks who
are making pools on the time when the
wall falls" ifany are engaged in gambling
of this sort, could better employ their
time in earning their salaries. Walls
do not crack parallel to floors. They
crack horizontal to floors. What your
reporter terms "a long crack parallel to
the tloOrn is simply The shrinking of the
woodwork from the plaster moulding on
the ornamental columns along the sides
of the main hall. "Tho dripping wall"
was caused by a water-spotlt freezing
during the recent blizzard, and the fact OF
the leak not being reported to me at once,
the heavy rains and a leaking spout made
the wall damp-something likely to hap
pen TO any building.
So far as the sewerage of the building
is CO ncerned IL Is only necessary to say
that the sewer of Marinis Hall has only
to carry OIL the water from its roof. The
sewage, which could by any possibility
be offensive, is that of another building.
The toilets are outside of Marini's Hall,
in q building erected for that purpose,
and communicated with by passage.
Where the '.overpoweripg stencil" comes
from must therefore be left to the imagi-
nation ofyour reporter and the complain
ing clerks.
am not responsible for the scrubbing
or the non-scrubbing, the tidiness or un-
tidiness of the building or of the clerks.
The Government employs scrub-women,
janitors and superintendent, and. if they
fail to earn their per diem II is not the
fault of those who rent their buildings to
the Government The Washington public
know that during the many years Ma
Tinis Hall was used for select entertain
ments and for my dancing-school it was
kept tidy, and that no "overpowering
stencil assailed the nostrils of our most
iastidious society people.
MarinIs Hall was entirely recon-
structed under the supervision of the we'll
known architect A. b. Mullett, Esq,
who cannot be excelled as a thorough
constructor The building inspector ap-
proved the construction. twas not
mere superficial inspection after the
building was erected, but a thorough one
while in course of construction. Not
only this, but before the building was
rented it was thoroughly inspected and
SAd'ulllSu ana uDplONtu. III lIONlulllB
the toilet and other oonveniences spent
over $1,000. The Government has more
space and better accommodations for its
clerks than it had before Marini's Hall
was rented.
The main hall, in which the
great body of the clerks are located,
Is 173 X 40 feet, with ceiling
20 feet high, and abundance Of
light. The principal cause of dissatisfac-
ton is the fact that the chief clerk can
have all these clerks under his eye--but
the health Of the employees and the in
terests of the Government ought not
thereby to suffer. According to your re-
porter's statement l12 out of 150 clerks
are employed in this main hail.
If the Health Officer has condemned
the building as one unfit to be occupied
| have received no intimation thereof
If q Senate Committee and one from the
Supervising Architects office of the
Treasury Department have "unqualitiedly
condemned the building, have not
been notified. IN fact the Postmaster
General and the Sixth Auditor have APP
parently been well satisfied with tile
building, as they ought to be, because
the Government gets more for its money
than it ever did in all the time il has
rented buildings in Washington.