Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-12-28
Bad Condition of the Department Of
Justice Building.
THE ATTORNEY GENERALS STATEMENT
Structure insufficient to Accom-.
modate the Force.
A RC II TECTS' REPORTS S

ed by the Ford Theater disaster that in
the future the earliest warnings of danger
to public buildings would be needed. 1t
was believed that when u government
structure sheitering scores or hundreds of
human beings was declared unsafe by Off
cials, it would not be necessary to wait
until the building collapsed and killed some
of the unfortunate inmates before steps
were taken to remedy the defects.
Only few years have passed since the
Ford Theater building caved in, not enough
in number to dim the memory of that fear
full catastrophe. 1t remains to be seen
whether the time has been sufficient to rem
der Congress needless of the possibility of
another and more frishtful disaster oc-
curing in this city.
The building now occupied by the DEPART
ment of Justice has repeatedly been de-
clared unsafe. Notwithstanding all that
has been said. reported and written upon
the subject, the 1.o inmates of the struc-
ture are still compelled to remain in peril
of life and limb, while the condition of the
building daily becomes worse.
The Attorney Generai's Statement.
L say to you, gentlemen, every one of
us is in danger of our lives in sitting in that
old building, and that if you will come there
l will dmonstrate it to you said Attorney
General Griggs to subcommittee on APP
propriations of the House a few days ago.
Il do not want you to take my word,' he
continued, but when you come there on
the front of that building | will show
cracks in which you can put your two fing-
ers from having the pressure Of the top of
the building on the forward wall: and
body can tell when that will fall out and
let the building down on our heads.
That is the most pressing suggestion. In
that connection it is a fact that the build
ing is entirely too small for our needs.
Three or four lawyers have to sit in the
same room with their typeWriters and so
on preparing briefs under great disadvan-
tages, and you have got a condition which
requires immediate action. We have got
the ground to build the building on.
The supervising architect of the treasury
says We can build on the adjacent space
occupying the old building until there is
room in that end of it and move into it. and
then We can proceed to build up the other
end, tearing down the present building. The
Court of Claims occupies the lower floor.
The library is on the fourth floor, and it is
the weight of the library which makes the
danger, it being very ponderous.
The Court of Claims ought with proper
regard to our safety, to be immedia tely
moved to a temporary place and the library
put on the lower floor, or packed while the
building goes on. If we build that building
when we are ready to do SO, we will build
quarters for the Court of Claims in the
building and save the government a great
deal of money in that way"
Architects' Report.
The Attorney General stated the case very
mildly when he spoke of the dangerous con-
dition of the structure, as will be demon
strated by the official reports of the archi-
tects. These, of course, speak by the card
and cannot be contrOverted. Even to the
eye of the layman, however, it is apparent
that the old shell is badly cracked and one
marvelS why it holds out as it does
Beginning at the fourth floor and extend
ing to the basement, the front or south wall
of the structure seems to be gradually part
ing company with the remainder of the
building. Either the south wall is bulging
outwardly or the foundation is crumbling
as both the architects think.
Whatever the cause the defect is pIainlv
visible. The point of separation is about
two feet back of the wall and shows in
every partition on every floor. The cracks
are of different widths, in some of the par
tit1ons being nearly an inch wide, in others
a quarter OF an inch or less, and they are
constantly widening, shown by meas
urement. The clerks have a playful way of
pastlnS strips of paper across the cracks
and specializing upon the time required for
the paper to break. Experiments of this
klnd are now producing startling results.
1here seems TO be a settling effect also,
and under some of the cracks the walls are
crumbllng. This effect is also shown by the
parting OF the door frames and the splitting
of the woodwork. A crack recently discov-
cred is one and one-half inches wide some
OF the door frames in the partitions
arc one-half an inch lower on one side
than the other, the descent being toward
the front of the house
Another sign of danger is found in the
hrst heaVy partition running east and west
parallel with the front wall. The south por-
uon of the floors and partitions have noved
OH ABOUT haif an inch, following the general
trend OF the structure toward the middle of
PENNSYLVANIA avenue.
There are about 10000 volumes of heavy
law DOCKS In the library, the greater part
stored on the fourth floor Ii is in the
library that the largest cracks begin
stretching downward through the rest of
the building.
Danger of Collapse
The danger of a collapse is of course
the principal feature of the objections to
the present quarters. That menaces human
life and endangers the priceless records of
the department. There is another side to
the situation, however. The building is SO
overcrowded that it is entirely unsuitable
for the purpose to which it is put 1t would
be difficult to find more uncomfortable in
sanitary or inadequate quarters for the
government service in Washington
Inc rooms are small poorly ventilated
ana II Is necessary to crowd five and six
clerks into space which should ordinarily
suffice for two persons. The character Of
the duties performed by the employees re-
quires that they should have more room
than the same number of people engaged
III ioidlng envelopes or pastng addresses
yet, the law clerks. requiring quietude and
sohtude. are jammed together in noisy
places, where it would seem impossible to
thlnk or to conduct researches, subjected
as they are to constant Interruptions
From long habit, the employees have be-
come resigned IL not accustomed to the
discomfort of their surroundings, but they
nave not become oblivious of the danger of
their situation They are daily reminded
OF this by the cracking of the settling
structure, and the overwhelming gaps in
the walls between the partitions Neither
are they comforted by the reports which
have been made by the officials upon the
state of the building
1 do not consider the building perfectly
safe or entirely fitted for such use as 1t is
now. or is likely to be put to under the
present administration" wrote the super-
vising architect of the treasury to Attor-
ney General Olney, after an investigation
THE building is of brick with stone trim
mings and consists of cellar, four stories
and French roof attic The floor beams are
of iron with brick floor arches 1t was
erected about 1868 for Freedman's Savings
1873 1p ~
The construction of the building Is of
ordinary contract quality not first-class.
pronounced cracks are perceptible in the