Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-13

five lives to be smoothly disposed Of as an acct
dent for which nobody can be held to blame or
is there to be some effort made to establish the
principle that when officials or contractors, by
their criminal neglig snce, accomplish the death
or human beings they are to be punished? The
scandaious behavior Of the officials was sup
plemented. apparently. by the correspondence
scandalous behavior of contractor who pro-
ceeded upon the assumption that the cutting
away OF its foundations could do no harm n
wooden beams were interposed here and there
to bear up the weight which had previously
been sustained by stone walls. 1t would be in
credible that such things had been done were
the proof not before us written in letters Of
blood.
The law which purports to deal with crimes
of this kind 10 not explicit enough. It leaves
too many loophoes Of escape. 1t allows the
architect to shove of responsibility upon the
inspector, the inspector on the contractor, tie
contractor on some foreman and the latter on
somebody else. 1t is always either Providence
or some equally indefinite cause upon which
the blame is finally laid. Houses fall quite
frequently. but nothing is rarer in the annals
of American law than the punishment of men
who put up houses that will fall and safety
will not be secured until it becomes under
stood that such punishment will be melted out
The truth is that in nothing is the public more
deluded than in the notion that they can de-
pend upon the stability of houses because some
and passed the work as satisfactory.
The people need to be walked up to the fact
that contractors are permitted to do pretty
much as they please in the erection OF houses so
long as they do not offend the public eye or
nostrils. They must conform to the statutes in
things that are upon the surface, but as to other
matters they have very much their own way.
That this was what took place at Washington
hardly admits of doubt The officials did 10.
care what the contractor did, and the latter
proceeded entirely according to the plan which
seemed likely to put most money in his pocket,
quite irrespective of any danger to the human
beings whose safety ought to have been the
subject of first concern. The Cleveland admin
istration will render the country good service
If 1t makes this catastrophe the means OF effect
ing a reform in a system of building inspection
which is curse coextensive with the continent.
Unsafe Buildings.
From the Brooklyn Times
The fatality attending the collapse of the old
Fords Theater building at Washington Fri
day suggests the necessity for the employment
Of an inspector Of buildings used for official
purposes at Washington. Apart altogether from
the question OF the ability of the government
to provide suitable quarters for its employees
there does not seem to be any real necessity for
the hiring of dilapidated rookeries for their ac-
commodation. Ford's Theater Ia not the only
condemned building of the kind rented BY the
government. In the Winder building, which
has also been condemned unfit for occu-
pancy, there are hundreds Of War Department
clerks employed every day, but there is plenty
room fo- them all in the War Department
building. in which the Navy and Stnte Depart
ments are also accommodated. if the depart
ment could cut itself free from the absurd ira
dition which requires the conservation of five
or six large rooms for the conservation Of the
dignity Of every head Of bureau or the chief
of a division. II all the room that is now given
up to the demands Of fuss and feathers and red
tape was devoted to practical uses there would
be no need for herding the men and women
who do the real work of the department in
dangerous hired premises, to the discredit Of
the government and the danger of its employees.
There should be immediate reform in this
matter. Even if it should be necessary to shear
off some Of the plumes and the gold lace that
adorn the department, the safety Of the civil
staff should receive some attention.