Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-30
DOING DOUBLE DUTY
How Workers at City Post Office Move
Around.
A Comparison With a Big New York
Private Enterprise-WOrk
on the Wall.

On the stage there is a pleasant fiction
managed by means of a few supernumer-
aries, who travel around and around the
wings with lances and guns in their hands.
and SO give the appearance of a vast army
of soldiers. 1t is delightful example of
the conservation of energy. A very few
men are thus made to make q great ap-
pearance. So 1t Is with the force on the
city pest office building. The citizens who
pass that soporific pile in the early hours
of the day were astounded this morning to
see stone masons at work on that famous
northeast corner, which has been ready
for these artisans for 10! SO many days.
This was good tidings indeed, for 1t indi-
Gated that at last the Grim Determination
and the Burst Of Energy had begun to
take" as they say now during these days
of vaccination. But this was not as great
O departure from the order Of things as
might have appeared on the surface. The
men who appeared on the ramparts were
two members Of the same gang that has
been at work for some days past on the
central arch Of the main entrance. The
"supe'' act had been cleverly done.
1t was just this way: The three rims or
courses of the great arch had been finished.
and before another of the arches could be
This might take a day, and meanwhile the
whole of the great force Of four masons
could not be utilized. So the force was
divided into two parts, and one-half of
the men were given orders to start the
long-neglected northeast corner The I'M
wonted spectacle Of men actually working
on the walls themselves drew quite a crowd
OF would-be employees to the main gate. and
there was considerable excitement for a
while But just as, on the stage, the au-
dience at last begins to recognize the per-
sistently reappearing supers, so in the pres
ent instance the applicants at the entrance
remembered the features Of the masons
and entertained them for some time with
familiar calls, which rang above the shrill
whistles of the engine starters.
The plans thus having been changed some
what 1t may be that the brick work will
begin on the east wall tomorrow. and in
anticipation of this a large quantity Of
bricks have been hoisted to the scaffold.
"Comparagements are odoroas," said Mrs.
Maiaprop. They are, in this present in
stance, most especially, as they inevitably
result in the diminished fame of the local
enterprise. A number of them have al
ready been given to demonstrate the lack of
business methods at the site, but the latest
one that has come to the notice of The
Star Is, perhaps, better than all that have
preceded 1t. A contract has just been en-
tered into in New York city for the con-
struction of what will be the largest COM
mercial building in the world. This build
ing Is to be erected on the site of the old
New York Hotel, bounded by Broadway and
Mercer street, Waverly and East Washing
ton places, containing a little over thirty
thousand square feet. 1t is to be twelve
stories above ground and two below ground,
making fourteen in all, and will cost about
S2,OO,OOO. 1t will be more difficult of con-
struction than an ordinary building, from
the fact that 1t will be practically four
buildings in one, each of the four buildings
having thick inclosins walls instead of thin
partitions. The materials will be brick and
stone. and the plans contemplate a most
complete finish. The architect has been
given carte blanche as to the design, with
the single condition that he shall complete
the building, ready for occupancy. by the
list Of October, 1895, a little more than
eleven months hence. The ground Is today
partly cleared and surrounded by high
board fence. By the time it is occupied by
this magnificent creation which, as has been
said, will probably be the largest CONNER
cial structure In the world, the local post
office building will scarcely be above the
third OF its eight storiess although 1t will
then have been under way for over three
years end n half. No wonder that compari-
sons are "odorous."
There are today. Notwithstanding the ap-
parent Increase Of force, only fifty-six men
at work, the same number as yesterday,
still keeping the possibility of completion,
according to The Stars munifcent estimate,
at April 1, 1897.