Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-04
WOULD SAVE MONEY
Bernard R. Green's Plan of
Capitalization.
WILL ADD EFFICIENCY
PROPOSES ONE LIGHT AND POWER
PLANT FOR THE DEPARTMENTS.
Consolidation of Construction Work on
Public Buildings Suggested, With
Permanent Board Of Architects.
WILL ADD EFFICIENCY
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
Under instructions from the House of Rep
resentatives. Mr.. Bernard r. Green, who
has been engaged on the construction of
public buildings in Washington for quar-
ter of century, who finished the Washing
ton Monument, built the Congressional Lii
brary and Is now in charge of work on the
new National Museum. has prepared a plan
and made estimates for a central station to
be located on the south side of Pennsylva
mia avenue, east of the new municipal
building, to furnish heat light and power
to the White House. the execut We depart
nents and all other government buildings
except those on Capitol HILL Mr.. Green
proposes separate telephone service also,
independent of city exchanges; q permanent
board of architects and engineers, to be
Consulted concerning public improvements
in the District of Columbia; and consol-
idation of construction work under a single
authority with corps of expert assistants
Ihat is, he recommends a bureau of public
buildings, which shall have charge of ali
government work in the District as q meas
ure OF economy and efficiency. In this sbu-
reau would be employed assistants who
have expert knowledge OF every branch of
the building seienceS-Stonework bricklay-
ing iron and steel construction roofing,
clustering, painting, ca binet-rnaking, sani-
tary plumbing, lighting, heating, ventila-
ton and other details These men would
be competent to prepare the specifications
ana Inspect the material and work of differ
ent contractors in an accurate and intelli-
gent manner; which, as everybody knows,
Is not the case at present. Each would
sGperintend his part of the erection of q
government building under the general in
structions of the chief of the bureau.
Economy in System.
One of the largest contractors for gov
eminent jobs was telling me the other day
that % per cent of the cost of public
buildings could be saved IL the work were
systematized and placed under the direc-
ton of experts who knew the merits and
value Of materials, who were able to draw
up specifications in an intelligent manner.
and who We're able to detect defects and
mistakes in workmanship. He declared that
there were only one or two men in the gov
eminent service who knew how to draw
up specifications properly, or who had any
practical knowledge of the difference in ma
terials. AS an example he cited a recent
incident in the construction of the new
buildings at the Naval Academy, where all
the plumbing had to be torn out because
the pipes were not made of a metal that
would resist salt water Fortunately this
blunder was discovered before the work
was accepted and the loss fell on the con-
tractor and not ON the government
Another contractor recently told me that
the specifications for boilers for the
Panama canal were SO loosely drawn and
SO indefinite that the bidders could not de-
termine what was wanted, and that the
bids for the same item ranged all the way
from $500 to SIS, GOO. /
Under the present system an irresponsi
bic iobber is able to furnish the poorest
class of material, and the constructor in
charge in nine cases out of ten, cannot de-
tect the fraud; while, under the indefinite
and ambiguous wording of the specifications
the bid is the lowest and cannot be re-
jected without rendering the government
liable. Every honest contractor who does
government work will tell you that, in al
most every case. the specifications are so
defective that the bidders cannot tell what
is wanted and they have to grope around in
the dark, while the government rarely gets
what 1t wants and actually pays for.