Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-09-20
That is the Main Object of Sec.
rotary Shaw in Selecting
Postoffice Sites
TO SATISFY LARGEST NUMBER
Secretary is interviewed by Washing
ton Newspaper Man and Gives His
Ideas Concerning the Iowa Federal
Building Locations-Evidently Had
Marshalltown in Mind.

Secretary Leslie M. Shaw, of the
treasury, who. as an Iowa man. is deep
|ly interested in anything that pertains
to the Hawkeye state, has given his
views concerning the locations of pub
lie buildings in the state in an inter-
In speaking Mr. Shaw evidently had
the condition in Marshalltown In mind.
The secretary's main object is to please
the greatest number Of people and to
have them satisfied when the building
is finally located. In his interview he
says: '.The Iowa postoffice sites that
have not yet been chosen will probably
not be decided upon for thirty days.
Citizens are to have that long to offer
opinions and suggestions. AT least this
will be the case in towns like Musca-
tine, Marshalltown and Centerville.
where there are lively contests between
different locations. Secretary Shaw
says that selecting government
building sites is one of the hardest jobs
in his business. When a contest is
started 1t is almost interminable. he
said. zone man from certain town will
come here to men and he will says that
fully 80 per cent of the people want a
certain site. Another man from the
same town will come and declare that
about So per cent of the people want
another site And both of them will be
good honest men and each one Will be-
lieve what he says. try to pound 1T
into the agents we send out that they
must look at sites not In the light or
them being fine places for the govern
ment to build but in the light of their
convenience to the residents of the
town. but it is hard to make them all
see it that way.
.All kinds of reasons are offered
why sites should be selected. The farm
ers are said to like this one; but the
farmers now have rural delivery and
do not count as much as they used to.
Well the business men like this one;
but the business men, 80 per cent of
them, have their mail delivered by car.
riers. 1t is the big firms, the whole
have boxes at the Office and send for
their mail there that are most inter
ested In the location matter. We are
going to give these towns that have
contests just thirty days to file all the
stuff they want to and then selection
will be made. In fact in some cases
had almost decided to resort to the pc.
tition plan to decide the matter. For
instance If there were three contesting
sites in the town I would have cham
pion of each one get up petition and
the three of them go over the town to-
gether. They would call on each voter
and state their cases separately ana
then let the man sign which ever petit
ton he wished to. Thus the site would
be selected as the majority willed with
out a doubt
In connection with his interview Mr..
Shaw outlined the new plans that he
had approved, after their adoption by
Assistant Secretary Taylor namely, the
posting Of a notice for thirty days de-
scribing the location Of the site. This
was explained in a recent issue of the
T.-R. and it has been found to have
proved very satisfactory.
This departure from the old method
OF simply selecting sites without con-
sidering the views of the people or
paying special attention to their pro-
tests is of interest not only to Iowa but
to nearly every state in the union, since
in the last congress appropriations
were made for buildings in every state
except Delaware and Idaho. It Is the
opinion OF hetreasury department that
should in the future limit
their influence, SO far as the selection
of public building sites is concerned, to
the town or city in which they live. l.
10 l,a1;avad at the department that this
would give more satisfactiontot the peo-
pie turnout the country. who would
then not feel that their opinions were
or overruled by those Of
their representatives in congress. 1t
Is also believed that the greater free
dom of action thus given to the depart
ment would rebound to the good Of the
public service.
Relief in Six Hours.