Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-09-01
AN EXPANSIVE ARCHIvE
The Governments Plan For a
Hall of Records.
FUTURE NEED PROVIDED FOR.


Ne the Third Nation to Have n
Structure Devoted TO Preservation
of National Documents.
The Hall of Records Of Washington,
which will be used as q repository for
departmental records, will be built on
a plan entirely different from that fol-
lowed in the construction of other gov
eminent buildings In the national capt.
tai, arrangements being made so as to
permit extensions from time to time as
more space is required, says the New
York Times.
There is not a public building in
Washington large enough to contain
the bureaus of the department for
which it was provided, and some of the
departments outgrew their buildings
years ago. This condition has made
necessary the renting of large office
buildings and other structures. The
aggregate paid by the government In
rents would appall the economical tax
payer. An instance is found in the case
of costly new Office building taken for
government purposes. 1t is said that
the lease provides rental which in
five years Will aggregate an amount
equal to the entire cost of the building.
Other rentals paid by the government
are said to be upon a similar basis.
There is no public Improvement
more needed for the welfare of the ma
ton than q Hall of Records" said Mr..
Taylor, the supervising architect of the
treasury, the other day. THE growth
of government business is so rapid and
the accumulation of the files so great
that in consequence all the files are
cramped for room in which to store
papers which by law must be pre-
served. The destruction by fire of any
of the department buildings would
cause irreparable injury, confusion and
delay in the transaction of the public
business. Especially is this true with
reference to the treasury, which Is the
great clearing house of the govern
ment, where all its debts are paid and
evidence of such payments preserved.
Departmental records, overfilling the
originally provided repositories. in sew
eral cases have been stored in other
buildings which the government rents.
THE plans for the Hall of Records
now under consideration provide for
large main building. with extensions.
The main building is to be devoted to
the business of the superintendent of
the records, and there Will be an extern
sion for each of the departments. The
extensions are to be so constructed that
they can be enlarged as increased space
is demanded. The site was selected
with a view of obtaining additional
ground when it shall be required.
THE government has arranged for
the purchase of the entire space bound
ed by Eighteenth, Nineteenth, + and G
streets, so there will be ample ground
for the kind of building proposed. Con-
gress has appropriated $1,000 to be ex
pended in the drawing of the plans,
and at the next session an appropria-
ton for the building probably will be
authorized
THE plan of the government in con-
structing buildings of one and two
stories will not be followed, as the Hall
Of Records will be building of~scv-
eraI stories. 1t has been proposed that
the departments be connected with the
Hall of Records by a pneumatic tube
system similar to that in use between
the Capitol anu the CONGRESSIONAL llbCd-
ry. which has proved successful.
There are only two buildings devot-
ed to the preservation of governmental
records in the world. One is In london
and the other in Paris. An agent of thu
supervising architects bureau will be
directed 20 go to Europe and inspect
those buildings and report on the meth
DDS employed there, with n view to
adopting the most effective methods
for our Hall of Records"
The site of the Hall OF Records is q
block to the west of the war. state and
navy buildings and not far from the
White House and treasury. John Hay.
secretary of state, and Senator VIII
liam NJ Stewart of Nevada are the
largest holders of property in the
square taken by the government. The
property holders at first demanded eX-
brilliant prices for their holdings, but
under the threat of condemnation pro-
ceedings they agreed to sell for two
and one-eighth times the assessed val
uation of the property.