Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-01
MORE FUNDS WANTED
Government Printing Office Needs Additional
Appropriation
A Rise in the Price. Of BUILDING Ma
teriaI-Increase I'm the Floor Space
Originally lPsanaed.

Congress has been asked for an additional
appropriation for the new government
printing Office to cover a rise in the prices
OF building material and 10 add to the floor
space originally provided for in the plans
The original estimate for the building
was for s2,O0O.OOO. In his letter to Con-
gress asking that this limit of cost be in
creased, Gen. Wilson,, chief of engineers,
said:
When the original estimate was made
21s cents to IN cents per pound was a fair
price for steel work; today the price is
nearer Il. cents; cast iron has increased in
price nearly 100 per cent; steel pipe, about
40 per cent, plumbing appliances, about 80
per cent: bricks, about 20 per cent; cement.
about 10 per cent; window glass, about 80
per cent: copper. about 40 per cent: lumber
and mill work, from 10 to 30 per cent, while
wages generally have been raised at the
manufacturing establishments where build
ing materials are obtained All this proves
that the nation is passing through an era
of great and almost unprecedented pros
perity.
The result is that the cost of the build
ing in process of erection for the govern
ment printing office will be at least . per
cent greater than it would have been had
the conditions continued that existed at
the opening of the present calendar year.
1T therefore becomes necessary to place
these facts before Congress. and to recon-
mend that the original limit of cost be in
creased from $2O00O00 to s., $4,000 to meet
the corresponding increase in the price OF
materials and the additional work desired
by the department of public printing
OF the above increase in the limit of cost
asked for over one-haif, or $22o.UU, is to
build part of the building on G street to
the full height of the main structure, in
stead of making it but two stories HIGH as
was originally contemplated. OF this
change of the plan, Lieut.; J: S. Sewell,
Corps of Engineers, United States army,
in charge Of the work, says, in his report
to the chief of engineers:
After much discussion and great labor
expended in laying out the available floor
sLace, the public printer and his assist
ants concluded that it would be necessary
to build the south END Of the power house
the same height as the main building.
The change practically amounts to changing
/; building 45 by 100 feet in plan from a
two-story to a seven-story one. 1t will
add about nine per cent to the floor space
and about ten per cent TO the cost as out
lined in the project. This addition to the
project is an absolute necessity, and should
be made but think the approval of Con-
gress should be obtained before proceeding
with it, since it involves an increased cost.
When completed the new government
printing office building will be one of the
most imposing public structures in this
city. 1t fronts 40S feet on G street and 175
feet on North Capitol street, and archi-
tecturally is very handsome. At the pres
all the heavy concrete work has been put
in place.
The building will be seven stories in
height, with a basement and a garnet. The
structure is to be fireproOf. with masonry
mainly of bricks. The interior is to be
finished with glazed and press bricks: all
door and window frames to be OF cast iron.
The floors will be designed fnr a live load
of 300 pounds per square foot, uniformly
distributed, to be thoroughly fireproof in
all their structural features but finished
with about IA inches of hardwood flooring
in all places where the employees are re-
CURED to stand ard work for any length
of time.
The building Is to be heated by steam,
wired for electric light and power and for
interior telepht ne and alarm systems, fur
nished with all needful elevators, stand
pipes, water tanks, and the best type of
sanitary plumbing. Especial attention is
to be paid to provision for safe and speedy
exit in case of fire or panic, and for the
health and comfort of the employees. There
is to be a vault for the storage of stereo-
type plates under the G and North Capitol
streets sidewalks, and the basement of the
main building Is to extend unter the in
terror court and the driveway.