The Arizona champion., 1890-02-15
NATIONAL NEWS.
Washington, D, C, Sadly in Need of
 New Public Buildings,

as the White House, the Interior department and the government printing office Perhaps the incon- venience experienced by the Senate itself in finding suitable committee rooms has awakened some sympathy for others. The agitation is no new one. Every session much is pro missed in this line and nothing done No one doubts the necessity but che desire +o show small appropr- ations holds back1favorable legisla tion. In the meantime land in the business portion of the city goes steadily upward in price, and sites for new buildings could have been purchased fen years ago, or even five, atssfrom one-half or one-tenth their present value. What prices will be in five or ten years it would be daring to conjecture, With millions in his pocket and land go- ing up, Uncle Sam does not purchase what he needs more and more every
 
 day.
 Senator Merrill told the Senate the other day, in his careful review of the subject, s.that the, government is paying over SlOO,O00 per annum in this city for rents. some of the buildings rented are old dwellings awkward and unsuitable to the pur- pose, and not few are absolutely dangerous to the health, lily ventil- ated and regular fire traps. The government has to-day tons of record that could never be repIaced. and the result of work that costs years of labor aud many thousands of money, slowed away in buildings that make no pretence to being fre-proof.
 And these statements are not not only true of buildings rented iy the government; they apply with equal force to several buildings owned by the government. The most notorious example is the gov ecnmeut printing office. The gov ernment showed what 1t cou.d do for its workingmen and women when a few years ago it built the substantial and delightful bureau of printing and g wing, but nothing has ever been done to ameliorate the condition of the employees of the more ext-psive government printing office, where woik goes on day aud night. As Senator Mer- rill loid che Senate the other day, this building makes absolutely no tlaim to being fire-proof.
 It is crazy oil pile of barracks. one t3ssiEed on to the other, and h''ing the general appearance of an old time tobacco factory. The comparatively ils,h lit walls are racked by the heavy machinery, and tine iii sufficient floors sag under the weight of material The place is a verit- able dsatA t.ap Whaling passages thread bawildeling ani crowded va, Every where are worbnen cro vied into the least possible space ar souroanded by the finest mach inery and tie most co tly mltelial tat money can bay, There are stacks and stacks of electrotype pllt,s that coal3 not Le le rodu, e at the cost of 14any thousands of dollars.
 The light in the building is not good but is brilliant compared with the ventilation and the heating. Tie oyer-cvowding in such times as during the last recess, when the last of 5000 bills were being put into type for Congress, only serves to retard work. About the only thing that can be said for the build ing is that it Is located near the Capital, which is of importance to expedite the business of the Record, and that the location is in g neigh borhood were employees of moderate means can live near their work,
 The necessity of using only fire proof buildings can not be everesti- mated. The Treasury department was ounce destroyed by fire; the Patent office has been twice damaged by fire; the Congressional library and the Smithsonian have also sui fered severely.