Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-01-10
UNCLE SAM AS A RENTOR.
IN Washington Alone This Year He
Gives Up $4,000 to the
Landlords.

penSe account which is as aStOniShin,
as the growth which is responsible fo
1t. 1t is the amount that Uncle San
pays annually for rent.
The Government is like a boy VIII,
outgrows his clothes so fast that hi
trousers are half way to his knees. hi,
sleeves only to his elbows, his necI
towering above his collar. Every de
artment of the National Government
has outgrown the buildings provided
for its housing.
This year the estimates included
1870, 1856 for rent. The figures In
crease from year to year. Before very
long Uncle Sam will be paying a COO
half million dollars annually for rented
buildings in Washington alone. no,
counting the rents which must b;
paid all over the country.
The State Department Is the only
one of the nine great branches of the
administration which seems to have
enough room for its actual work. II
has only single rent item-$72o a
year for stables.
AS practically all the department.
have corresponding item it remains
for some Congressman, looking for
novelty, to propose bill for erecting
4 general stable. The President tried
In vain to have the old White House
stables replaced by new, so Uncle Sam
too, may have to walt.
The Treasury Department has SO
overflOwed the fine old granite build
Ing next to the White House that II
has to rent six other buildings. Its
rent bill is $34,SS6 a year and would
be higher II the Government did no,
own some additional outside quarter.
occupied by Treasury officials.
The War Department. which shares
with the State and the Navy the huge
building beyond the White House
could almost make use OF the entire
structure for its own purposes. 1t Is
driven to the renting OF dozen cut
side places at an annual cost OF SIT,
720.
The Navy Department has the fine
new Mills building across the way
from the Government building. For
this and other outside quarters 1t pays
a OF $24.500 this year.
T.e Department OF the Interior has
to pay the highest rent, amounting to
,$62.550. This is accounted for by the
fact that the Civil Service Commission
has to be housed by this department
So have the Bureau of Education. the
Patent Office. with its thousands oi
models and its millions of documents
the Land Office and several other big
Government enterprises.
The Postofiice Department pays $50,
1886 this year for rent in Washing
ton alone. OF course, its rent roll for
the whole country is a very different
and very much more imposing figure.
The Department of Agriculture pays
$50.14S.96 in Washington rent, though
this figure will be greatly reduced
when its huge white marble building is
completed. The Agricultural Depart
ment has boiled so hard for the past
years that 1t has run over into a doz IN
outside bureaus, each as busy and full
as 1t can hold.
The Department of Commerce and
Labor has no building of Its own. Its
rent bill is $53.499 this year. The
Bureau Of the Census alone occupies
acres OF spsce.
The Department of Justice has to
have buildings for the storage Of rec.
ords and other documents. SO that II
costs the Government $26.400 in rent
Besides these nine departments
Uncle Sam has to pay $16.SoO rent for
the Interstate Commerce Commission
and $4s.S3S.90 for buildings rented for
the administration of District of Co
lumbia affairs. This makes the very
respectable total OF $4,000 for tho
present year.
The Government owns some land
suitable for public buildings. and for
years Congress has been urged by the
departments to put up some Of the
most needed structures. Some OF
these are now in process OF erection
and probably others will follow. But
II the departments are to be adequate
ly housed the Government will need
all the land which 1t is proposed In
the Hepburn bill to acquire
BY the terms Of that bill one side Of
Pennsylvania avenue. between the
Capitol and the White House, would
come Under Government ownership
and there would be some system al
we'll as beauty in the arrangement OF
the mammoth buildings which We will
be compelled sooner or later to erect
The bill is sure of violent opposition
from at least some Washingtonians.
Uncle Sam is an uncommonly good
tenant and his many landlords will not
view with equanimity any prospects OF
losing him.
It is said that the Government does
not get as favorable terms as the pri
vate lessee insists upon. Some In
stances of absolute extortions are re-
ported. When ones hands get into
the money bag 1t Ia hard not to grab
for fistful.
But at the Treasury Department
which pays the bills. It is said that
Uncle Sam isn't quite so easy as rumor
make out and that only one case OF
real extortion has occurred In recent
years. Then the Government simply