The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-02-16
MUST USE GREAT CARE.
Style of Architecture in U. s. Capitol
 of Great Importance.

] From the New York Tribune.
 | In the new era of architectural improve
 ment which dawned in Washington with
 the establishment of that commission
 whose labors have already borne such good fruit, each new proposal for beau- tifying the city is sure of an interested reception. But every such proposal, if it demands public sympathy, also de-
 mands the closest public scrutiny, and the latest in the long list make no exception to the rule. There are two of them and they were put before the house on Tues day by MT. Cannon who. as chairman of the appropriations committee, has charge of the sundry civil appropriation bill. In the first place. he asked for S3S0O.O00 to pay for the erection of an office building near the capitol for the accommodation of members of congress. He pointed out that the design which had been prepared was for a three-story building containing four hundred rooms, this building to be placed somewhere near the capitol and connected with it by a subway. The house listened to his proposal with deep interest appauded 1t with enthusiasm and finally adopted it. There is no req son why congressman should not be en- thusiastic In the circumstances. They are convinced that they need the room. and the alterations recently completed at the White House have doubtless inclined them to take it for granted that the new
 building would be designed byicompetent
 architects, and erected only after the ! n1 af lp ut1aG of site But none of these things should be taken for granted Eternal vigilance is the price of good public buildings. and it hehoovas everybody in this enterprise to make haste slowly. The country at large is interested, and will not tolerate any nasty or i'll advised modification of the architectural conditions at present existing in the immediate vicinity of the capitol.
 That building itself was the subject of a further clause in the bill presented to the house, and the scheme outlined there in with reference to it invites. even more than the other. a few words in favor of caution. It is proposed that congress should complete the central body of the capitol in accordance with the plans made when the wings were built. only g. 500,OOo was asked for this radical enterprise. the house being assured that it could be car ried to completion in two and one-half years. the new office building being fin- shed within the same period, At first blush nothing could seem more admirable But if the capitol as we know it today Is only a torso, as it were, 1t is, at any rate. | about as fine an architectural torso as to complete it, coming in this sudden way, Is not i'll calculated to leave one breath less. Wise men do not transmoerify d famous public building over night. They do this. if at all. only after the most searching investigation and the fullest ventilation of the subject among the best authorities available. If the capitol Is to be touched it should only be by the hands of architects chosen by a commission em- bracing the leading members of the pro- be studied, and the advantages and dis advantages of the proposed addition would have to be jealously weighed Against the proposition in essence it does not appear at present that there Is anything to be said, but everything Is to be said against undue haste in the matter The capitol Is one of our noblest national monuments. Any modification of the fine effect which 1t now brings to the pano- rama of Washington should be sanctioned only, if at all after full discussion.