Rock Island Argus., 1894-03-28
PUBLIC BUILDING.
Fred Hass Addresses Congress
man Post on the Subject.
ATTENTION CALLED TO FACTS

heminoe0 OF the Proper Place for il ON
the List, and the Way 1t Was Pushed up
Once Before-Iime for Determined Ac.
tion.
Fred Hass, chairman of the COM
mittce on public grounds and build
ings OF the Rock Island Citizens I'm
provement association. has addressed
the following letter to Congressman
Post on the public building situation:
ROCK ISLAND, March 22.-Hon.
Philip S. Post. NJ. c.. Washington. ID.
G.. DEAR SIH:-In reference to your
letter to j. W. Day, secretary of the
Citizens Improvement association of
this city, beg to say that the infor-
nation you report from the supervis-
ing architect is in error. 1t appears
that you have been informed that
there are eight buildings ahead of
our postoflice building for this CITY.
! fail to understand why the super
vising architect should make such a
statement.
On or about August IS last. Sena
tor Palmer and called on the super
vlslng architect in reference to our
public building. and he claimed that
the Rock Island building had not been
authorized until Dec "a. 1891.
knowing well that our building was
authorized in the last session of the
tifty-frst congress, on Dee. "A, 1890.
/ therefore got the original acts on
all of the Illinois buildings author
lied. and also the Davenport building
| lnW1 which t,tb h.,
same session of congress, all of
which | produced to the supervising
architect, and after finding them as
| follows: In the first session of the
| Fifty-iirst congress there were au-
| thorized, the Galesbur@ building
| April 26, 1890; Aurora building June
6. 1890. In the second session of the
tlfty-hrst congress were authorized
the Rock Island building Dec. "a,
1890, the Bloomington building Jan.
., 1891, the Danville building Jan.
II, 1891. the Rockford building Feb.
9, 1891. the Davenport building Jan.
%. 1891. Upon this Information our
building was then put at the head
OF the list, and you will see
| bv the contents of the two enclosures
that the letter TO S. NJ. Cullom
! from Mr.. O'Rourke of Aug. -, 1898,
acknowledges the error, and says
| that 1.-The Rock Island building now
has priority on the list and said let
ter from Mr.. O'Rourke is altogether
of different tone from the one he
wrote to Hon. j. NJ. Palmer on Aug.
p, 1898. only one day before. On
Aug. -, 1898, l presented to the
supervising architect the foregoing
named facts, and thereupon the
necessary corrections were made. |
cannot now see how there can be
eight buildings ahead of ours. All
of the buildings mentioned, / am in
| formed, are in course of cOnstruc-
ton and some nearly completed. /
was promised at the Office of the SUI
pervising architect last August and
september that our plans should be
completed during the early winter,
and proposals advertised for. so that
the work could be commenced early
in the spring. and I've reported to
our people. and the community was
much surprised when your letter to
Mr.. Day appeared in the Rock Island
papers. Please call Mr.. O'Rourkc's
attention to the part of Mr.. Cullom's
letter where he says: The drawings
for it shall be taken in hand al the
earliest possible moment" and kind
" ascertain why our drawings are
not completed. 1t appears that
through some mistake while Mr..
Edbrock was supervising architect
we were put a year behind. and were
last on the list of all buildings, but
this mistake was corrected in my
message at the Office of the supervis-
ing architect. and we were put at the
head of the list on Aug. % last, seven
months ago. We cannot therefore
understand how there come to be
eight buildings ahead of ours on the
list. ! was promised while at Wash
| ington that as long as we had suffered
| by the first mistake, that we should
now come first of all on the list. |
hope that you will kindly see that we
do. and that we hear from you upon
the subject. Obliging your obedient
servant, FRED HAsS.
| Time to Act
In view of this statement of facts
and the misunderstanding as to the
Rock Island buildings proper place,
it would seem to suggest that meet
ing of the Citizens Improvement as
sociation be called in the near future
and some action taken such as will
lead to the building being placed
back where it belongs-at the head
of the list.
| The Sewing Society supper.