Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-24
INTERESTING FIGURES
What It Costs to Run the State, War and
Navy Building
superintendent Baird Develops Many
Things Worth knowing in His
Quarterly Report.

| Chief Engineer Baird, L. S. N, superin-
| tendent of the State, War and Navy De-
/ partments building, in his last quarterly
/ report gives some figures of interest to
! those operating large buildings To warm
/ the building for the three months ended
| December II. 6t-3 tons of coal were burnt.
/ To light the building by electricity, run
| elevators, printing presses, etc, IA tons
| of coal were burnt. The consumption OF
| coal 6I2 per cent less than for the
! same months of last year. During 1897
| there was burnt / a}9 tons of coal, and in
| 1898 there was LOS tons burnt, being d
| reduction of "a per cent. Notwithstanding
the increased load on the dynamos and the
| extended hours of elevator service during
and since the war. The saving has been
| effected by using q better quality of cleo
| trio lamp. substituting electric motors for
| steam engines TO drive the printing press
| es. introducing feed water heaters and by
| taking advantage of the weather predc-
! tons "a to light &n1 Clark days. The cost
| of gas in 1897 was S2fi5.40, and in 1898 it
| was $3.50. The burners now in general
| use in the building give three times the
! quantity Of l:slt per foot of gas, that the
I old burners gave.
| The Executive N&rsion is lighted by the
| dyTamos Very excellent arrangement, as
! one building needs this light by day and the
| other at night. There are 2.591 electric
| lamps. 81 electric fans and IA large-power
I ii
| ing; 1000 lamps. II fans and large mo-
| tors in the Executive Mansion. The total
| electric load it is possible to throw on the
| dynamoS exceeds the output of the latter
| by 80 per cent.
| Dust Injuries Records.
| The superintendent says 122 patches have
been put on the copper roof in three
| months. The patches average nine inches
| square. One man is kept constantly en-
MI afrli he Il hos
| again asked Congress for $4,000 to pave
| the road on the east ard south sides of the
| building. The dirt from the road, he says,
| has not only dishgured the granite front,
| but in warm weather the dust comes in lhe
| WINDOWS, and is injuring the records. In
| the State Department all the treaties ever
| made by our government are filed. On
| these are the signatures of every crowned
| head i'll Europe. These records cannot be
| replaced. and. carefully as they are kept,
| the red dust from the roadway reaches the
records.
During the past two years the Guperinten-
| dent has replaced nearly all the plumbing
| in the south wing a the building.
He has improvised a small foundry where
| the old brass is utilized in new castings,
| effecting much saving. The sale of old ma
! terial must be advertised and paid for out
| of the current appropria lions. while the
| proceeds of the sale must be covered into
| the treasury. The proceeds sometimes do
| not equal the expenses. The machine shop
| equipped with up-to-date tools and motors,
| and nearly ali me repairs are made in the
building.
Precautions Against Fire.
| Small automatic sprinklers have been
placed in every place where a fire is at all
| likely to occur. These sprinkiers are little
valves, held on their seats by fusIble plugs
which will melt at 125 degrees of heat and
which will then sprinkle volumes of water.
They are in common use in the great cot
ton mills in New England. where they have
prevented fires many times.
The superintendent urges the purchase of
the property on 18th street opposite the
| War Department for storage and dead rec
| ord file rooms for the overflow of the build
| ing. The personnel in the building has in
creased more than 80 per cent since the
| Spanish war began. and the departments
have been obliged to rent outside buildings
Some of these are 50 far away as to be in
convenient of access.