Evening star., 1907-10-30
FOR BUILDING SITES
Government. Needs Property
on Pennsylvania Avenue.
QUICK BUYING ADVOCATED
Representative Burleson Sees Dan
ger in High Prices.
DISCUSSES LAND VALUES
Favors Purchase of Lots From First
to Fifteenth Streets, But
Wants Fair Deal.

Representative Bur son o Texas. one
of the minority members of the House
committee on appropriations, today heart
lily indorsed,~tne proposition to have the
government purchase those squares i'm
mediately south of Pennsylvania avenue
and between 10Th street and the Botanic
Gardens.
The government should own that land"
said Mr.. Burleson to a Star reporter.
and more than that 1t should be acquired
at an early date. There should be
definite plan adopted as soon as possible
to provide sites for the additional public
buildings, which will be appropriated for
N the near future. and the stretch along
the south side of the avenue Is emlnentIy
well fitted for this purpose. l should re-
gret exceedingly to see another govern
ment department building erected in an
other part of the city. pending the final
adoption of a permanent mali plan.
Difficulties in the Way.
There are number Of difficulties in
the way of the requirement of this south
avenue property by the government" Mr..
Burleson continued, but none of them
is insurmountable. The chief one Is the
fact that the owners Of the property will
want more for it than the government Is
willing to pay. or. for that matter than
the land is worth 1t seems that every
time 1t becomes known that the govern
ment Is considering the purchase of pri-
vate property for public use. the value
Of that property proceeds to increase by
leaps and bounds There is no particular
reason for this save that the government
s considered easy mark and that in
most instances the price II pays for prop
erty justifies the title.
so that. while l am in favor of the
requirement by the government of the
squares in question-am enthusiastic on
the subject, in fact-yet | do not propose
to sit idly by and see any inflated values
accepted. | understand that in 1900 the
District assessors made a report to Con
sress on the subject of these squares be-
tween 18th street and the Botanic Garden.
n which the approximate value of the
property, based on the assessment figures,
vas something over $5.0OJ.Ooo. Yet l saw
a statement the other day in newspaper
that the property could probably be pur-
chased for about S15.OCO.OO0.
To Get at True Values.
Now that is simply ridiculous. I Sc
riously uoubt whether 1t would be proper
20 put 1t down fact that this prop
| erty had enhanced one dollar in value
since 1900 and certainly it has not had
| any such remarkable rise as that. When
the government decides to buy the squares
! n question the matter should be carried
| through Systematically and in order and
| the condemnation proceedings conducted
| by a jury OF entirely disinterested per
| sons working under the immediate super
vision of Congress.
Il believe that steps Should be taken
at once looking to the requirement of
this property by the government. | can
not see how or why any one should op
pose the proposition. provided the gov
ernment gets fair deal In the pur-
chase.
Representative Gillespie of Texas told
Star reporter that Whine he had not
given any great amount of thought to
the subject of the purchase of the south
avenue squares. yet he was in favor of
the general plan to improve the mall and
erect government buildings along the
south side of the great thoroughfare and
believed the property should ne purchased
by the government as soon possible.
providing there was no imitation of values.