Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-11
UNCLE SAM IS BIGGEST
OWNER OF REAL ESTATE
When Present Plans Are Consun-
mated, Structures and Sites viii
Be Worth at Least
$246, 100000

WASHINGTON, Sept. AS an
owner of improved real estate the red
eral government, by reason of the pup
lie building bill passed at the last ses-
sion of congress, distances all COM
petitors, governmental and otherwise.
Buildings and grounds costing $685.
100000 have been paid for. Structures
| in process of erection, with the sites
will cost $50, 600 mole. Sites to be
acquired and buildings to be con-
structed thereon, under the terms OF
the latest omnibus bill, call for the
expenditure of substantially $33, ,00t
more.
When everything now authorized Is
completed-that is, when the sites au-
| thorized have been acquired and when
! the structures the secretary of the
treasury has been directed to build are
finished-the total investment will be
near a quarter of a billion dollars.
That is about two-thirds of the initial
cost of the navy-the most expensive
of the possessions of Uncle Sam.
Annual Repair Charges
When the building program is COM
pleted there will be an annual charge
for ordinary repairs of about $650,00O.
A yearly allowance will have to be
made for renewal of elevators, boilers
and other parts of the mechanical
equipment amounting to $4,000, and
vaults will be about 100000.
1t is the boast of the supervising
architects office that the annual re-
pair bill shows the cost of the gov
ernment to be smaller than can be
shown for any office building owning
corporation in the world.
These figures relate only to such
structures as are generally termed
public buildings. exclusive of those in
Washington and structures occupied as
army posts forts and naval stations
Nor is any account taken of the struc-
lures acquired by the treaty of Paris
when this country took over the build
ipgs owned by the Spanish govern
ment. They do not figure in the bien-
NAL pork" officially called the omni-
bus public building bill.
At this time the government owns
and occupies 552 structures of that
kind. There are 1856 under construc-
ton and 209 authorized. 129 on sites
to be acquired and eighty on land al
ready owned. The last bill also au-
thorized the acquisition of 1872 sites.
fourteen pieces of land to enlarge sites
already owned and extensions of fifty
buildings.
It is to get work started on these
259 new buildings and extensions that
the supervising architect is hurrying
to get bids.
money tor rne country
The money for them will go where
a government dollar seldom finds it's
Way-into the hands of mechanics in
the rural districts, for many of the
buildings are to be placed in towns
and cities of from 10000 to $4,000.
Were the federal governments real
property subject to taxation as other
property Is taxed. it would have to
contribute about $3,375,O0O a year to
state treasures. For taxing purposes
it's buildings would probably be valued
at $175,000,000.
1t Is notorious that the government
could rent structures suitable for it's
needs at a cost much smaller than the
outlay on the public buildings. No
owner would be satisfied with an in
come from his buildings as small as
the sum which the government would
pay out in rent were it to depend upon
privately owned structures for accom-
mediation.
The only exceptions to that rule are
TO be found in the largest cities. There
the government saves money by being
its own landlord. But every public
building in a small city represents a
loss because the cost of small struc-
ture for care and superintendent is
larger, in proportion, than the big
building in a large city.
But in the last two public building
bills the small cities are the ones that
have been receiving consideration. The
last bill, in particular, ignored the
claims of the large cities, so that the
pie might be distributed among the
congressman from the rural districts.
Each bill, in the framing, has regard
for the number of votes that can be
pQlled for it. That is the way the river
and harbor bill used to be made up.
Chairman Burton of the river and har-
bor committee was the first official to
put a stop to that method. The man
who will do it with regard to the pub
lie building measure has not0y ap, I
peared in congress.