Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-01
A Calculation When the New Fo,t
Office Will Be Finished.
BASED UPON PROGRESS ALREADY MADE
The Limited Number of Workmen
Thus Far Employed.
OFFICIAL ESTIMATES DIFFER


er 1t discounts pigs in Clover" 1.-The Fif-
teen Puzzle and "The Spider and the
Fly" 1t easily beats parchesi and domi-
noes and is warranted to give amusement
to a family circle for an entire genera
tion- The game is simple and easy to un-
derstand, to begin with, but it may have a
wearing effect on the nerves If enough diff
ferent means of solution are ATTEMPTED
The game Is to find out when the city
post office will be completed. The Star has
investigated this question today and ac-
knowledges itself quite unable to arrive at
any definite result
The answer may. only be given with ap-
Proclamation. The problem is susceptible of
the sport of the game. To illustrate the
way IL is played = couple OF sample calcula-
tons are given.
Sample Calculations.
The building was begun on the 17th Of
February, 1892 That was the date on
which the contract for excavating and
grading the site. which had previously been
cleared, was let to Albert Gleason. 1t has
therefore taken S21 working days to lay
the foundation and erect one story. Count
ing the foundation and the roof each as a
story, there are ten in the building. Thus
two-tenths have been completed. One
tenth therefore took Cne-half of S21 days,
or 40 days Ten-tenths, or the entire
structure, Will take 400 DAYS. This will
equal 13 1-2 years, counting from February
IL, 1892, which will bring about completion
on the 18th of August, 1875. This, how
ever, does not include the interior finish,
which cannot now be exactly estimated. A
reasonable amount of time for that work
would probably be year, that in the
light OF past experience there is mathemat-
ical probability that the Washington city
postmaster for 1906 will be the one to give
the hoCsewarming.
Five Consecutive AdminiStra tiOns.
This officer will be the appoir tee of the
Chief magistrate of the third sldministra-
ton succeeding the present one. The first
contract was let In the administration pre-
ceding the present, that the building of
the city post Office will on the basis of this
data cover five consecutive national admin
istrations- Five Presidents will have come
and gone, and probably ten supervising
architects.
1t will be difficult to conceive a post
route SO long, so slow, so difficult, through
Africa's sands and forests arctic SHOWS
and ice. that a letter posted today could
not go by such line thrice around the
world and then back again in time to be
delivered from the new home of the city
post Office. 1t Is said that letter can be
sent around the world by shortest routes
in about seventy days. Beginning on the
1Ith Of February, therefore. the packet
could be sent around the globe at least
seventy times between the beginning and
the end of the work, on the present calcu-
latlon-
Estimates as to wOrkingmen.
But there is another route to the same
end, that is, to the end of guessing when
the building is to be done. That is by es-
tinatinS the time on the basis of the num-
ber of men employed. This will naturally
be a sort of movable feast, for the number
of workingmen on the structure varies
A ha hear
as fifty men working at once, and again
weeks have passed without the appearance
Of any sign of lie on the Site. save the
superintendent and the two small black
tramp dogs that have taken up their quar-
ters under the office. A fair days showing
at times is about six men and a water boy
Perhaps 1t would be well to be generous
and calculate that there has been an aver
age of twelty men working daily on the
site since Albert Gleason first began his
digging.
Twenty men have taken s21 days to do
one-hfth of the work. Therefore, twenty
men a day would take five times S21 DAYS
or i, 10 days. This is about the same period
as Is reached by the other calculation 1t
gives Sleam of hope. however. for today,
Ihe star repol ter learns. there are thirty-six
men at work If this burst of energy should
be kept Up, the building NAV be com
Rleted except the interior finish, in 2,23O
oays- rms VIII bring the end, adding a
10, 1900 -'
This illustrates the value of labor. 1t NAV
De that the average will be raised during
the &C ming season. This will materially aid
the calculation. and will hasten the estimat-
ed close of the long waiting.
OniciaI Estimates
The official estimates do not correspond
with these views of the problems Official
estimates seldom do agree with the re-
suits Whether these VIII be subject to
the same rule or not remains to be seen.
Superintendent Kinsey said to the reporter
this morning that he believed the entire
work OF building the superstructure and
roof wo1ld be concluded in eigh cen m nths
This will bring the anxious citizen un to
the spring OF 1896, or over four years from
the Gate OF the commences ment of the work
This leaves the interior finish quite out of
consideration. For that Mr. K;nsey will
give no estimate.
He says. in addition, that the prospect Ia
that the second and third stories will be
finished by the 1st of January, 1895. Then
there is apt to be a wait of a coupie of
months on account of the frost
The building is just now in precisely this
condition: The erection of the iron work
of the second and third stories, which
should have been completed on the 9Th of
September. has just begun. The contrac-
tors. the Brown ketcham Company of
Indianapolis. are now supposed to. be un-
der penalty of $50 a day for non-cOm-
pletiOn. The stone for the entire second
Fox IslaEd qUarries in Maine. The first
vessel load of stone for the third story has
just been shipped. Work on the masonry
of the second story will probably begin
some time this month.
The Iron Contract.
The present iron contract is for the sec
ond. third. fourth and fifth stories The
sixth, seventh and eighth stories will prob
ably be Jumped with the two roofs-the
great roof over all the structure and the
smaller Sirder roof at the top of the first
story over the central roonl-and il is under
stood that plans for this contract are now
being drawn, so that the contract for this
great amount of iron may be let consider
ably in advance of the work itself.
But there are always delays occurring.
The failure Of one contractor to deliver his
goods will block the whole affair." and so
probably the best way out is to go on a
mathematical basis and estimate the future
on the strength OF the past.