The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-05-08
Assertions That 1t Lacked the
Proper Practical knowledge.
HE WAS FORCED TO RESIGN
Blind Confidence in inexperienced
Men-City PostOffice Quoted as an
Example of the Architects Faulty
WOrkmanship-Oth Cities Pre-
sent similar Instances.

| Treasury Department, and the disclosing
| Of the facts that led up to it. has been the
| great topic Of interest to the employees of
| the Treasury Department for the past few
days and presages a general reorganiza-
| ton of this bureau.
10 Secretary Gage recently appointed an in
vestigating committee consisting Of APP
| peintraent Clerk Brackett, Chief Clerk
! Swayze and Private Secretary yandeIip TO
! inquire into the efficiency OF the employees
| and the general fitness of the chiefs OF diviS-
| ions and the heads OF bureaus. One of the
first results OF the laborS of this committee
| has beea the demand for the resignation OF
| the Supervising Architect.
As the office was formerly constituted
Mr. Charles L. Kemper was known as the
| chief clerk, but at the time OF its reor-
| ganization he succeeded in having his sal
! a. Y raised from 81, 800 to $4,000, and his
designation changed from that OF chief
! clerk to chief executive officer, or fIom
| the assistant OF the architect to position
which gave him the final decision on al
matters relating to the business manage
! ment uf the bureau
1t is claimed that Mr.. kempeI was, in d
! great measure, responsible for the res
| ignation Of former Supervising Architect
| O'Rourke. who refused to Toe held RESPONSE
| hs for the work OF the office unless given
! fun sway i'll the management.
Mr. Aiken 5 failure to make a success as
! a supervising architect is greatly due TO
| his lack of practical knowledge, and also
! because lac selected ineXpeIien ced ana
mtried men as his advisers and to carry
/ out his ideas
| Upon assuming charge Of the affairs uf
| the office, Mr.. Aiken created the position
/ Of chief designer, at a salary OF s. per day.
| The man whom he selected to fLl the
| position, G. o. Totten, OF New York, was
| without practical experience, with merely
an academic training. AT his inst1gahon,
work on many of the public buildings was
stopped The designs, formerly haTmnnl-
Gus, were either wholly changed, and
| new design substituted, or so modified that
| the original designers would be unable 10
recognize them.
Many instances are to be had. Among
the most notable are the buildings now IN
process Of erection at Washington, Buffalo,
Kansas City. New York, Pueblo, law
tucket and Paterson. The construction f
the city postoffiCe, as approved by the
cabinet board, was so arranged by the
narrowing OF the corridors, etc. that
ex-PastmaSter General Wilson instituted
an inquiry but owing 10 the shortnrss of
his term. he left it legacy 10 TIE in
coming Postmaster General. It may he
addedthat these changes were made against
the protest Of the daughtsman in charge Of
the building.
The design OF the Buffalo building was
almost wholly changed In this ease tie
architect explained his action by saying
it was done al the request OF the people Of
Buffalo So many changes and additions
were made in the design and construction
Of the New York appraisers warehouse
that il was found that when the work was
submitted for bids that the lowest bidder
was so far in excess of the appropriation
allowed Tor the construction of the building
that the changes had to be abandoned al d
the original design more closely followed.
Another instance OF the Encouragement
Of the office is to be found in the difference
between the estimates of the office and
the contract price of the work This is
largely due to the fact that the computers
VINO prepare the estimates failed to keep
form themselves as to the fluctuations
10 the price Of labor and material These
estimates are prepared from the sketch
plans submitted by the draughting divi-
sion. II the style and size Of the building
outlined in the sketch plan is found to be
within the appropriation made by Con-
gress and to be the best building that can
be erected for the amount Of money avail
Fl,,.E.
with the sketch plan, are submitted for the
approval OF the cabinet board.
If approved, they are returned TO the
draughtsman 70 whose charge the build
ing may be assigned. He then proceeds To
lay OUT the plans according to the sketches,
the estimate and preliminary speCifica-
ton. When the dra wings are completed
competitive bids for the erection of the
building are invited, and the contract is
awarded To the lowest bidder. Invariably
il has been found upon the opening OF the
bids that the lowest bidder was many thou
sands OF dollars within the limit Of the
appropriation. The surplus occasioned by
these errors in the estimates are, as a
rule, used up in what are termed better
ments.
These, however, ca mot be made except
by allowing the contractor good bonus |
upon special estimate prepared byhimself
The estimates prepared by the computers
for the buildings erected in the last two |
wears have been from 10 TO so per cent in |
excess OF the contract price, and as result |
those cities in which public buildings have |
been erected have been deprived of a |
building commensurate with the cost.
Another reason for this may be found il |
the fact that there is but one or two of the |
entire force employed in this line OF work |
who ever had any practical experience
prior to entering the Treasury Department |
Perhaps the most noticeable instance OF |
the work of these calculators Is to be |
found in the estimate for the postoffice |
building at Buffalo, n. Y. When the |
dra wings for the superstruc ture, etc 1
which We're prepared from the estimates |
submitted by the computel, were put upon
the market the lowest hid received proved /
TO be SI43, OO0 less than the amount esti-
mated. From this surplus an additional |
contract has been made for an extra |
story at a cost of S133 ,000 and another |
contract amounting to over $40, 900 has /
been allowed the same contractor for |
other betterments. Another fragrant err
ror of this kind is to be found in The |
Treasury Department itself.
Not long ago it was decided to erect
glass ceiling light in the draugh ting
room. Upon plans being prepared and
submitted to the computers an estimate
was made, putting the cost at $3.50.
The contract was finally awarded to
the lowest bidder for the sum of 81, 800.
OF less than one-balf the computers' eSti- |