Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-17
LONG PERIOD OF CALM
Has Been No Strike on City Post Office for
Hours
Some More UnfavOrnble Companions
Water Boy Pat to Work.

post Office building for over forty-eight
hours now, and matters are running more
smoothly. The magnificent weather is In
spring the men to their best efforts, and
they have been aided by the encourage
ment Of a new water boy. Little Willie he
who waited and watched for the schooners
has been finally shelved, and the new boy
took charge Of the pipe line today with
brand-new bucket and an air of great i'm
portance. He showed some nervousness as
he walked around on the open-work floor
ing, and once or twice there came near
being drop of the bucket department.
But he is learning, and there is hope that
by the end of the week he will be as proIl-
cent in balancing on the narrow edge of a
planK ana passing his bucket across abyss,
maj depths as was his late lamented pre-
decessOr.
Not counting this young man, who Is too
new on the work to be estima ted as a factor
yet, there were forty-two men laborIng
within the fence this morning, thus making
a potenuabty that, il uninterrupted, would
complete the work on the structure on or
about the 18th of March, 1883.
Interest centers just now on the great
stones that are being placed on the short
columns at the main entrance on the north
side. These stones are fully carved and,
when unlocked, are objects of great beauty.
This necessitates their being handled with
extreme care, and SO the rate of progress
great as it might be. Today the gin" was
moved to the second of the pillars and the
caps were there placed. Meanwhile, the
blue derrick that Is to help the elevation of
the second story is nesting among the red
beams of the first story, not yet having
been hoisted into place, as was predicted in
The Star carly last week. Thus the mason
ry work on this corner Is now hindered, and
cannot begin. The estimate of the superin-
tendent that II would be commenced in the
latter part Of last week Is in danger of be-
Ing just week too soon. There is a large
force of iron handlers at work on the other
frames but there seems to be something
radically wrong with the northeast frame.
which is just now the keystone of the whole
the basement of the building working on
some tackle that Is to help the bricklayers
when they finally get to work on the walls.
This gives the whole landscape a tentative
tone, that may be promising, but Is not al
together satisfactory.
Some ComparisOns.
Out Of the vast mass of comparisons that
do not throw favorable light on the pres
ent case a few more can he culled to Illus
trate the advanta. .sc3 of private methods IN
the matter Of lIme as against the govern
ment system of constructing public bUJl2-
inSs.
The city post office building which, it is
estimated, will cost about S1,TdU,OO0, has
now been under way Two years, seven
house built by Allegheny county at Pitts
burg, Pa, cost 81. 10000. and was finished
in three years and seven months from the
time it was begun. That is, though cost
ing million more in money, and probably
being proportionatey larger. it was fin
ished In about year more than has now
been spent on about one fifth of the local
structure. The Exchange building in Bos-
ton, costing s1,S0O,OO0, or 100000 more than
the Washington post office was finished in
two years and five months, two months less
than has now been spent here. But the best
example of all is the Auditorium building
in Chicago, which, costing SS,JOO.OOO, was
completed in just three years.
All three of these buildings cost more
than the post Office and all three were
finished in what now promises TO be far less
time than will be occupied on the local
structure. 1t will be noted, too, that the
two strictly private buildings-the Audito-
fium and the Exchange buildng-took less
time than the Semi-puelc building, which
was built by county. All three of these
buildings were designed by private archi-
tects. who infused into their work the busi-
ness methods that are SO sorely needed on
Pennsylvania avenue
A Proposal.
TO complete the basis of comparison 1t
should be said that at the rate already
established the post office building will prob
ably take aboIt thirteen years in all before
finally completed. This is independent of
the daily estimates that are made based on
the number of men employed. which, being
fiuctuating average and dependent wholly
upon the weather. which Is now unusually
fine, cannot be regarded as stable.
1t has been suggested that the local his
torians and almanac makers abandon the
old style OF counting time from the begin
ming of the Christian era, and adopt a more
modern domestic method. Why should not
the era of local time be calculated hence
forth from the date on which the post office
was begun? That will greatly reduce the
problem of keeping up to date. 1t would
be just as easy to Write "P. o. 3" meaning
I'm the Year # Our Post Office - or,
when the building is about to be occupied,
"P. .. 437,' to signify In the Year of Our
Post Office 437" as "a. d. 1884,