Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-15
BIG RENTS PAID
BY UNCLE SAM
POOR ECONOMY IN HOUSING
DEPARTMENTS
ANNUAL LOSS OF $273,ooo
II Cost the Government s34t, ,a3e Last
Year for Temporary Quarters
That Are Not Con-
venient

/
Washington Correspondence New York Tribune.
One of the peculiarities of govern
ment fnanciering is to be found In the
annual rental paid for buildings used
by the various executive departments
! in Washington. This sum for the last
fiscal year amounted to S341 1854, and,
as the departments are growing much
faster than public buildings are con-
structed, there is every prospect that
the sum will aggregate considerably
more in the near future.
A part of the above sum is now de-
voted to the rental of residences and
other buildings totally unfit for the use
to which they are put. for the accom-
mediation of the department of agri-
culture, and members of congress point
with JUNCTION to the fact that they have
already appropriated $1,5OO,OOO for the
erection of a new building for this
department. They fail to say,
however, that this amount repre-
sents about one-half that called for
| DY IHe estimates VI Tie StCItldly VI
riculture, and will only permit of the
erection of a building which, by the
time 1t is completed, will prove so in
adequate for this growing department
as to render necessary the rental of as
much private property as is now re-
quired to house it's various bureaus.
CHARTERED in Residences
| The department of justice is quar-
tered entirely in residences rented for
the purpose, and the use of which is
venience and unnecessary expense. The
war department, while occupying it's
share of the state, war and navy build
ing, is also obliged to rent numerous
outside buildings for office purposes, as
is the navy department, which pays
$4,000 a year for the use of a single
building erected for it's use by pri-
vate owner. The census office is in a
building owned by private citizens, and
many other instances might be cited.
OF course the scattering of a single
department through many buildings,
| CANSh SCNSlol SHuulCo away llOlll liS
main offices, delays the transaction of
public business, and adds materially to
the expense of conducting the various
offices, while contributing to a lack OF
discipline and order which would be
largely avoided were all the. offices OF
each department gathered beneath a
single roof. But there is a more potent
reason for abandoning the penny wise
and pound foolish policy which has
thus far dominated congress in its
failure to provide adequate accommoda-
tions for the departments over which it
exercises almost supreme control.
Big Percentage Paid
1t is conservatively estimated that the
sum paid by the government as rents
amounts to not less than 10 per cent
of the whole value of the property.
Assuming this estimate to be correct,
the value of the property rented by the
| government must be about $3,412, ,370
AS is well known, the government can
borrow money to an almost unlimited
| amount at 2 per cent. If, therefore,
this sum were expended properly to
house the executive departments, even
though it should be necessary to issue
bonds to raise the amount, the interest
would amount to only $6S,247, an annual
saving of $27S,O00 apart from the in
creased convenience and efficiency to
| be secured by providing suitable ac-
commodations for the departments.
| of
this view of the situation urge that
while the cost of maintenance of such
| buildings would fall on the government,
the steady increase of land values
would more than offset the contingent
expenses which might be incurred.
In striking contrast with the policy
pursued by congress in it's treatment of
the executive departments are the ap-
preparations recently authorized for Of
flee buildings for members of congress.
| For the purchase of sites and the erec-
tion of buildings for this purpose con-
gress has appropriated S6,S5OOOO, Of
which $3,S50,000 will be devoted to the
| office building for representatives and
$3,0O0,000 to that for senators. The ne
| cessity for erecting such buildings must
be obvious to every visitor who inspects
the subterranean chambers now used
as offices and committee rooms by
members of congress, but 1t is also evil
dent that the new structures are pro-
jecte6 on a generous scale. while every
provision made for executive offices is
designed on an opposite basis.
Little Chance of Relief
1t is freely predicted that no public
building bill will be permitted to be-
come law at the present session of
congress, because of the determination
of the leaders to restrict the expenses
of the government to the receipts, but
it is doubtful, If the public fully appre-
ciated the facts, that there would be
the slightest criticism of a policy
which aimed at the proper housing of
the executive departments, even al
though special issue Of bonds proved
necessary to accomplish the desired