Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-12
TO BE EXAMINED.
All the Government Buildings to
Have a Critical Inspection.
THE PRESIDENTS INTEREST.
He Does Not Desire Any Such an Accident
to Happen Again-The Supervising Archi-
tect of the Treasury Will Go Around in
Executive" Session.


not only to see that the responsibility is placed
where it belongs, but also that like accident
shall not happen to any of the public buildings
where government employees have to work He
has consulted with members Of his cabinet, par
ticulsrly the Secretary Of the Treasury, with
view Of having a most careful and thorough ex-
animation made of all public buildings where
records or other heavy weights are stored. the
intention being to have immediate steps taken
to remedy defects and to remove heavy weights
from any structure not found perfectly strong
and safe.
| BUILDINGS TO BE EXAMINED.
The result Of the Presidents desire is prob
ably the cause of the activity Of the officials Of
the Treasury Department. While no written
order to the effect has been issued, there is
verbal understanding between Mr.. Carlisle
and the supervising architect, Mr..
O'Rourke, that a preliminary examina-
ton Of the buildings under the control
Of the Treasury Department shall be made at
once to determine their safety and fitness FOR
| occupation. There are in this city eight
structures utilized by various branches Of the
Treasury Department. They are:
| The Treasury Department proper.
The bureau Of engraving and printing.
The Winder building, corner Of 18th and r
streets northwest. occupied by the second aud
itor's Office.
The Butler house, corner Of street and
New Jersey avenue, occupied by the marine
hospital service.
The coast and geodetic survey building, ad-
| Joining the Butler house
| United States custom house and post Office
| building in Georgetown.
The Busch building on E street between Sth
and 9Th streets, occupied by the sixth auditors
| Office.
The Adams building, in which is located the
| bureau Of statistics
The Maltby House, in portion Of which the
supervising inspector Of steam vessels has his
office.
TWO ALLEGED TO BE INSECURE.
OF these eight buildings two Of them-the
winder and the Busch-have been accused of
being unsafe. while the Georgetown custom
house has been erected for long
time: Some time ago the Busch
building was the subject of an
examination, and the storing Of some
to be removed, as the flooring had sagged some
distance. The Winder building is a very old
structure and has been under suspicion for
some time.
The examination win be conducted person
ally by the supervising architect as he is un-
willing to trust such an important matter to
any of his subordinates
Mr.. O'Rourke is a practical architect of
thirty-hve years experience and is well fitted
for the responsibility of this work. There will
be no delay, as Mr.. O'Rourke will examine this
afternoon the Busch and Winder buildings.
AREPoRrER COULD not ACCOMPANY HIM
A STAR reporter asked what time the investi-
cation would be made, but Mr. O'Rourke did
not reply, as he said tn, reporter could not &C.
company him as the preliminary examinations
| weuld be executive sessions
He will probably be accompanied by Col
Law, chief Of drafting division Of the Super
vising architects Office. The reporter was in
formed that there were reports on file in the
office OF the supervising architect in reference
to the security of the Busch building. but an
| examination Of them was not allowed him.
Though the supervising architects right of
examination only extends to the buildings
mentioned above. Mr.. O'Rourke will gladly
assist In looking over any Of the other govern
ment buildings in the city that the proper off,
cials should ask him to.
TO AVERT ANOTHER, DISASTER.
| The Heavy Weight in the West Gallery Of
| the Interior Department Building.
The lesson Of Fridays disaster was followed
by practical action on the part Of the Secretary
Of the Interior and the commissioner of patents
Their attention was called to the tons of weight
in the west gallery Of the third floor, where
printed copies Of patents stored. They
directed that the weight should be lessened and
the work at once begun. large quantity
of the copies has been removed to the north
gallery, where they are being placed on shelves
between the cases of models Of patents The
work is still in progress, ana it Is proposed to
continue the removal until the weight is re-
duced below that of the estimated carrying
power of the iron beams. The only reason that
! hao haa,, haf &c
in finding space in the Interior Department
building. As every one knows, this building is
very much overcrowded. and the necessity for
better accommodations has been pointed out so
often that 1t is now an old story.
THE LATEST OFFICIAL STATEMENT
The latest official statement was made by
Secretary Noble in a communication to the
Senate dated March IS, 1892, in response to a
resolution requesting ''any information in the
department upon The question whether any Of
the rooms occupied by the patent Office have
been rendered unsafe by the storage of heavy
| paper and other material over such rooms and
what means are necessary, if any, to be taken
to render such rooms safe for occupation" &C.
In reply Secretary Noble stated in part as fol-
| lows:
Upon the reconstruction Of the portion Of
the building destroyed by the fire which oc-
CURED September "a. 1877, the patented flies
and the printed copies Of patents which had
| ovcrnowed from the space In the lower por-
tions of the building were stored in the gallery
of the west model hall. These have accumu-
lated with every weekly issue of patents until
nearly the whole of the gallery Of the west hail
is filed with these files The weight of this
closely packed mass of papers and the cases
containing them is found by the report Of the
architects, submitted herewith to be beyond
the safety limit of construction. The floor Of
| this hall. which was not intended for Offices il
occupied by II large force OF clerks Of the gen.
eral land Office.
THE PROPOSED REMEDY.
In answer to the inquiry az to "what means
are necessary, if any, to be taken to render
such rooms safe for occupation have to
state that there appears to be no remedy short
Of the construction Of a building Of sufficient
size to accommodate all the bureaus Of the de-
partment now occupying rented quarters in
private buildings, together with the gen.
eral land Office, leaving the pres
ent building to the patent Office and
the Office Of the Secretary of the Interior, or,
as temporary expedient, the enlargement Of
the present building. For there is no place
within the building to which the files now over
loading the west model hall can be removed,
and indeed no space which can be assigned to
the additions to these files in the future. Not
only are the walls Of the Office rooms covered
by cases containing files and records, but the