Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-22
A SERIOUS MATTER.
A Disaster that Might Occur at the
Government Printing Office.

Some days ago it was deemed necessary by
the water department to replace broken tap
in the neighborhood of the government print
ing Office, and it became necessary to reduce
the pressure in the main for a short time in
order to replace the broken tap. Public Printer
Benedict in a letter to the Commissioners,
complained that the water was turned off with
out the knowledge or consent of the proper Of
ficials, and that the water in the three boilers
reached a most dangerously low point, and not
only endangered the safety of hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of public property,
but the lives of the two thousand persons en-
ployed in the building as well. The water
office officials denied Mr.. Benedict's state
ment, and asserted that the superintend-
ent of the building was notified that the
pressure would be reduced. The matter was
supposed to have ended, when a few DAYS ago
the Commissioners received another letter
from Mr.. Benedict stating that he had the
positive statement of the superintendent that
he was not notified. Mr.. Benedict said further
that he deemed it his duty to call the Commits
sioners attention to the conflict in testimony,
as the whole truth and exact facts in such a
serious matter should be fully shown.
The matter was again referred to Capt. Lusk
for report. In passing upon the case, he says:
There is no doubt that the water Taper not-
fed the engineer in charge of the boilers and
the person whom he understood to be the
superintendent of the building. that it would
be necessary to reduce the pressure for not to
exceed five minutes. The work was done as
promptly as possible, and, in my opinion, all
the notice that would be reasonably asked was
given considering that haste be necessary to
prevent danger to the main. much more i'm
portant consideration arises from the statement
Of the public printer that this temporary reduc-
ton of pressure for period not longer than
five minutes. and with notice given both to the
engineer in charge of the boilers and to some
one understood by the water Taper to be the
superintendent Of the building not only en-
dangered the safety of hundreds of thousands
Of dollars worth Of public property, but the
lives OF the two thousand employed in the
building as we'll The water supply to the
government printing Office is dependent upon
the integrity Of line of cast-iron pipe, COM
posed of thousands of sections any one of
which il liablv to be ruptured at any time. The
water pressure may thus at any moment be
taken entirely off without notice for an un-
known period. From both the letters of the
public printer it appears that an accident of the
kind would almost certainly be followed by the
destruction of the buildings under his control
and the loss of human life in great numbers. II
the circumstances are as indicated in these
letters, then the present connections for feed
ing the boilers are terribly defective, and no
time should be lost in providing tank or tanks
of sufficient capacity to remove the liability to
disaster, which, with the existing arrange
ments, Mr.. Benedict declares to be ever
present" The case will be looked into by the
Commissioners.