The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-07
CAPITOL IS GOOD
ONLY TO LOOK AT
FOR PRACTICAL PURPOSES, THE
BUILDING IS A FAILURE.
The State Officers Are Hampered by
Poor Arrangements or Lack Of Space,
the Public Is Put to Rare Inconven-
fence and Legislative Orators Cannot
Make Themselves Heard. .a

Less than a~week of actual use of
the magnificent new capitol in st. Paul
has demonstrated that, from a utili
tartan viewpoint, the great marble pile
is a disastrous, costly failure. Every
thing has been sacrificed to esthetic eff
feet. The eye must be pleased even
tho the citizens and state officials suf-
fer keen discomfort.
In such a simple matter as space,
the building does not even meet the
most obvious requirements, which were
apparent from the time the first plans
were drawn. Not only is the building
too small, but, so far as use by the pub
lie is concerned, it could hardly have
been more inconvenient were it stu
diously planned to that end. While
there is no criticism of the size, style
and location of the Legislative halls,
which artA used once in two years, the
state offices-used every working day
or not provided for at all. And the
acoustics of the legislative halls are
wretched.
But as something to rejoice the eye,
the building is gorgeous. Minnesota
has paid millions for this mere spec
Officials Up Against It.
The trouble begins with the first set
of Offices on the main floor of the
building, those of the chief executive.
They are beautiful in every detail, but
extremely unhandy in arrangement.
There is a large reception room into
which the main entrance from the
corridor opens. Opening off one end is
the governors working office and his
private office, while at the opposite
end of the. reception hall, instead of
hot, J.,
as it should, is the office of the COVER
nor,'s private secretary and stenog-
rapher.
Another poorly arranged affair is
the official home of the secre-
tary Of state. The secretary Of
states main office, with his
private office adjoining, is on the
same floor as the governor office, the
same side Of the building, but consid-
office is acceptable, but the main work
ing-room, tho handsomely finished, is
considerably smaller than the one in
the old capitol. And the most
ridiculous feature of the whole thing is
that the secretary's documentary vaults
are located on the opposite side of the
building, in the sub-basement two
stories below, and under the Offices
of the attorney general, which in turn
those of the governor. On the ground
floor, just under the attorney gen
erals apartments and above the
documentary vaults, are the offices
of the documentary clerk and state
printer, two branches of the secre-
tary of states Offices. These latter
officials must take a long walk to
reach the secretary of state, with whom
they must confer many times daily.
4o1 loa hot
the present large Offices in use by
the attorney general were originally
planned for the secretary OF state, but
were changed on request Of the legal
department of the state by the architect
and without permission or consultation
with the capitol commission.
Vaults Hard to Reach.
The documentary vaults of the secre
tary Of state extend out under the
stone approaches to the capitol. They
are absolutely without facilities for re
ceiving or shipping, except by means
of carrying things up or down a Ions
flight of stairs. They are dark anc
damp, and the secretary of state re
fuses to move the documentary records
from the vaults of the old capitol tt
those of the new, for fear they will al
be destroyed by mildew.
Lack Of vault room is already very
annoying to the auditor g and governor =
departments. There are more docu
ments on hand in the auditors depart
ment than can be accommodated IL
the new vaults, with absolutely no pro
vision for the future. In addition, tn
steel cases in the vaults for the &C
commodation of record books, have bee
made too narrow and many of tn
record books have to be showed in q en-
to- and allowed to project out IL Q
lS inches from the cases. A vaul
originally intended for the governo
was given to the secretary Of state, an
as result the governors presen