The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-29

The majstic columns that form the front
of the Treasury Building are fast crumb-
ling into ruins. Already they form q
menace to passers by, for fragments of
the stone falling to the ground h@ve mar
rowly missed doing fatal injury. So ser
ious is the condition of the stone work
that James Knox Taylor, the Supervising
Architect of the Treasury, will use his en-
deavors to have Congress this winter pass
an appropriation for replacing it at once.
There are thirty of the pillars in the
portico on the Fifteenth Street entrance.
New Cnes of granite will cost $4,000 each,
and the stone coping overhead Will require
an outlay of S125,0G0 to replace 1t. 1t is
expected that at least 100000 must be
appropriated to make the masonry safe.
1.-The damage has been confined to the
stone work in the original portion of the
Treasury Building fronting on Fifteenth
Street." said Mr.. Taylor. THE builders
used Seneca stone, which has deteriorated
rapidly under the influence of the weather.
We have been doing our best to preserve
the columns, but the task is a useless one.
The stone is falling to pieces. A section
of rock weighing nearly 100 pounds fell
few days ago from the cornice to the side
walk. and although it happened not to hit
anyone, 1t mashed bicycle. l believe
that for 100000 the old Seneca stone
work in the front of the Treasury can all
be replaced with granite. The present
columns are in sections, but the new ones
would be solid. All the columns in the
new portions OF the Treasury are solid
and the quarries at Fox Island. Me-, that
furnished them, can furnish duplicates.
The Treasury building. which houses
1900 clerks. has become SO crowded that
Secretary Gage will request Congress this
year to pass an appropriation for adding
another story. Ever since the Spanish
war, when many new clerks were added
to the Treasury force, the capacity of the
building has been taxed to the utmost.
Rooms intended as private offices for
heads of bureaus have, through necessity,
been occupied by three or four clerks, and
the same crowded condition is general all
over the building. But one Of the most
serious problems is not merely to provide
room for the force OF clerks. 1t is heavier
task 10 furnish storage for the vast piles
of records that have been accommodating.
Every payment made in any Department OF
the Government is finally recorded by the
officers of the Treasury. In most cases re-
ceipts are filed and preserved. The bulk
OF these documents is enormous. They
now number hundreds of millions and their
weight is thousands upon thousands of
tons All the ordinary file rooms of the
building were long ago crowded TO over
flowing, and for years the documents have
been preserved on the fourth. or attic.
floor. Now practically all of that space Is
filed with them. The pension documents
alone, dating back to the Revolution. fill
almost the whole of the top floor Of the
building on the Fifteenth Street side, and
are being added to at the rate of four mil
lions every year The growth in the other
nile rooms is comparatively as rapid.
With the approval of Secretary Gage.
plans for adding a fifth story have been
drawn by Mr. Taylor, the Supervising Ar
chitect Of the Treasury. The old building
is considered by architects to be one Of
the handssmcst pubi,c structures in Amer
i'm and IL was no lgnt task to plan an
addition that would compare with its
classic lines. Mr.. Taylor, however, has
completed drawings for another floor. 1t
would be. placed upon the present roof
sufficiently behind the balustrade sur
mounting the building so that the addi-
ton would hardly be seen from the street.
1t would cost about s159.G0o. and would
give great relief to the present strain upon
the CAPACITY of the Treasury.