The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-24
WORK ON THE CAPITOL
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Buiiding win Be Erected for Supreme Court and Old Structure VIII De Repafrea Before Next Legislature.

The actual beginning of Capitol i'm
 provements now depends upon the
 wishes of Governor Jelks. As soon as
 he chooses to call together the Capi-
 tol Building Commission. 1t is almost
 certain that a definite order will be
 made for opening the work to competl-
 tive bids.
 It transpired yesterday that the
 Building Commission has already de-
 cided to have a judiciary building
 erected on the south half of Capitol
 Square. which was bought on March
 and conveyed to the State Wednesday.
 This structure will call for the expendi-
 ture of the bulk of $S5,o0o. which is the
 amount now to the credit of the Capitol
 improvement fund since the payment of
 $65.000 for the site.
 It Is understood that the decison to
 erect a separate building to accommo-
 was reached at the special meeting of
 the Commission March 6. It was at
 that meeting that Chief Justice McClel-
 Ian and the Associate Justices of ths
 Supreme Court were present. It Is
 said that already SC many of the de-
 tails of the new building were deter
 mined upon at the meeting that even
 now the architect could draw desirable
 plans for 1t. This being the status of
 the improvements. the next meeting of
 the commission, subject to the call of
 the Governor, Is expected to bring
 about an advertisement for plans and specifications
 When the Judiciary Building is com- pleted 1t will vacate much room in the Capitol which would then be occupied
 by other departments. All the mem
 bers of the Supreme Court, the Clerk, the Librarian and the Secretary, will occupy the new building. This means that ten apartments will be made va- cant in the Capitol. The new structure will be easily completed before the next Lekislaturc assemblies. and after the now crowded departments shall have spread out into the new quarters there will be ample room for commit tee work of the legislators.
 The Commisson, 1t is believed, has not decided upon the exact cost of the Judiciary Building. Supposing that the amo1nt to be expended on it is S60,- 900. there would be left $25.000 to be devoted to repairs of the interior of the Capitol. The members of the Com nilsson. 1t is understood, are of the opinion that this money should not go to beautifying the old building as much as to making safe and solid the inside and create as much room on an econ- omic basis as possible. The plans for this might go so far as to alter the partitions of many of the departments. The assurance of more room Is well comed by no department more than that of History and Archives. The volumes of this department .are now packed woefully into a committee room of the Senate. and many of its files together with the collection of pictures and rel ics are arranged In the Senate cham Der. There are other departments less crowded, but they will be enlarged as soon as the space allows
 Governor still in Eufaula. In letter yesterday to Hon. J. Kirk Jackson. his private secretary, Gov ernor Jelks made 1t known that he will not return to Montgomery from Eufau- Ia under ordinary circumstances before the fore part of next week. It Is pos sible that he will not be back to his desk before the middle of next week. 1t depending upon whether there should be an emergency to call him here sooner
 He writes enthusiastically of his own health. saying that he had made per- ceptible advances in weight and strength. He has called to Eufaula Miss Mamie Offutt, his Recording Sec retary. which is an indication that he is keeping in touch with the affairs of the office.