Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-25
Plan Being Considered by AS
sistant Secretary Wilson.
May USE PENSION OFFICE
Proposed to Place Them in the Big
Court.
WOULD HAVE TO BE PILED W
Adoption of the Suggestion Would
Prevent Inaugural Balls Being
Held in the Usual Place.

If plan which is being considered by
Assistant Secretary Wilson of the In
terror Department finally meets with the
approval of Secretary Garfield the end
of the inaugural balls in the big pension
office court will have come. regardless
of congressional action
Mr.. Wilson is getting data upon .-hirr,
to base report to Mr. Garfield upon the
advisabi.ity of moving the 2S10oO patent
office models from the old Union building
on the north side of G street northwest
between 9th and 9TH streets. to the pen
sion ONCE court. These models, together
with their big glass cases, occupy about
$4,000 square feet of floor space in the
Union building, and as there is but % 900
square feet of space in the pension office
court nearly two-thirds of which is al
ready occupied by important file cases. for
which there is no other room in the build
ing, 1t can readily be seen that very
congested condition would result from
the moving.
or course, in order to locate the mode
cases in the court at all it would be neces-
sary TO pile one on top of another and
as they are extremely bulky and heavy
1t would be entirely impract!cable every
Official admits, to move them for the in
augural ball AS a matter of fact, there
would be no place in the building where
they could be stored, even temporarily.
The file cases of the pension office are in
sections, and at a great deal of expense
and trouble they are moved to the base
ment of the building every four years
No Decision Reached.
I'VE have by no means decided to make
the change said Assistant Secretary
Wilson to a Star reporter this morning.
What We are doing is investigating
the proposition. The reason for the in
vestigation is that We are paying out
every year $4,000 in rent for the three
floors occupied by the models in the
Union building. This Is a pretty big sum
OF money, and we would like to avoid the
expense. OF course, 1t may deve .op that
the plan is not feasible and that 1t will
have to be abandoned"
Officials of the pension office do not
Understand how room can be made for
the models without congesting the court
to such degree that 1t will be very fl
cult to work the files already there They
point to the fact that only about half as
much floor space is contained in the court
as Is occupied by the models at present.
and also to the fact that nearly two
thirds Of the available space 10 used by
the pension office. They say that the re-
moval Of the fountain in the center Of the
court might provide enough room for the
model cases II they are piled up.
The matter has not come officially be-
fore Commissioner Warner OF the pension
office. and he has not expressed an opin-
lon as to the advisability of the change.
For the past few years the patent office
models have been an elephant on the
hands of the Interior Department off,
Gals. They have been stored in the dis
NAL. musty precincts of the Union build
ing for a long time, and are SO far out Of
the way of the average sightseer that
their existence is seldom suspected, and
as a consequence they are not often Wis
Cd