Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-01
Mr.. Benedict Expresses Himself
About Use of Printing Office.
BOTH UNHEALTHY AND UNSAFE
No Factory Inspector Would Allow
OF Its Occupancy.
UTSIDE GU A r 7 E r S

The much-needed repairs on the govern
mcnt printing office building are soon to be
begun. Some time ago the office was visited
by a commission OF er eineers OF the army,
Of which Gen. Casey was the head, acting
under authority Of the appropriation made
at the last session of Congress. They made
several inspections of the entire plant,
especially the H street wing, which Is
thought to be wholly insufficient in strength
to support the great weights that are con-
taireG in it. They then made report to
the joint committee on printing. under
which the work was to be done, which re-
port has not yet been given to the public.
In purclance CT its recommendations, how
ever, Senator German, chairman OF the
Senate committee on printing, into whose
hands the matter has been placed by MS
collea CUES, addressed letter on Tuesday
to Mr.. T. E. Benedict the public printer,
authorizing him to lease outside quarters
for sufficient people to relieve the H street
wing Of much Of the weights, and speaking
most emphatically Of the necessity OF
new building for the office.
Acting under these instructions, Mr..
Benedict has leased the fifth floor OF the
Union building, on G street between oth
and 7th streets, partly occupied by the
city post office. He has detailed two d.
visions to be transferred there, and the
change will be made as soon as possible.
1nere are ABOUT oUO people IN tne TWO sec
tons thus chosen, comprising the patent
specification room and the job finishing
room Of the bindery. Mr.. Benedict said
this morning to a Star reporter that these
employees will now be the favored hands of
the office
They will have a beautiful room, clean,
airy, with lots Of light and ventilation.
They will be out Of danger from crumbling
walls and they will have facilities for pre-
serving their health that they cannot have
here"
Are there not sufficient accommodations
in that direction in this building?" asked
the reporter.
Mr. Benedict then made a most emphatic
statement. There is not a factory inspec-
tor in the, state of New York." he said,
who would not instantly recommend the
destruction of building used for the hous
ing of hundreds of people with SO little
means for the preservation of health as
this 1t is abominable, it is inhuman, to
make these employees work here daily with
out even the actual necessities of hygienic
comfort. / can understand why en-
ployer, eager for every cent of profit, might
do such a thing, but l cannot for the life
of me understand how Congressman, who
have such intimate relations with this office,
and whose personal friends-f i am to
believe them--are here employed. can per
NIT these conditions to go on year after
year, without consenting to the very meager
expenditures that would place in this build
ing modern and sufficient plumbing. They
go ahead and appropriate millions Of dol
lars for post offices and court houses where
they are not needed, and yet they grant
only pitiful sums for this structure. which
Is one of the most important in the whole
list of the holdings of the government.
but we must expect that. What We are
to do is to relieve the pressure as much as
possible and so with the $4,000 that Con-
gress gave last session we can do a little
toward preventing, maybe, disaster. we
can put 800 people in an outside building
and SO save that much space in this one,
which will go toward relieving the pressure
en- the H street wing. But in addition the
engineers are going to build fifth story
en- the southwest wing, and fill in all but
one story of the wide wall between that
and the south wing. There will be drive
way left at the bottom, but over that there
will be a solid structure for four stories.
That will give, as you can see good deal
more room. 1t will also enable me to ex-
tend some Of the rooms in the south wing
toward the west especially the stereotyping
department.
This addition Of space, together with the
reduction of the occupants of the building,
will give a great deal of relief, all of which
will be applied to the II street building.
The er rgineers were authorized to look at
that part of the house and to see If 1t could
be so repaired as to remove the danger
of it's collapsing. They made a most thor
ough inspection, testing the walls and cal
culating the strength of every brick and
rod and beam. 1 do not know what their
report was. but 1 have a distinct idea that
they advised the committee on printing
that the wing is SO bad that no repairs can
be safely made. and recommended that the
wing he leveled to the ground.
THE advertisements for this new work
and for the materials have already been
published. and l have no doubt that the
work will be begun without any delay. The
repairs will be in charge of Colonel Wilson,
superintendent of public buildings and
grounds, with Lieutenant Sewall, his as
sistant, as the active inspector of the work.
Lieutenant Sewall supervised the recon-
structon of the Fords Theater building"