The Washington herald., 1911-04-18

Secretary of the Treasury Mac
Neagh and several Representatives
who are deeply interested in prop
erly housing the various depart
ments of the government perceive
in an investigation to determine the
safety and sanitation of the govern
ment office buildings of Washing
ington the forerunner Of a new era
when Uncle Sans half million dol
lar rent roll is to be abolished and
every clerk will be in a building
which the nation owns outright.
WILL APPEAL TO CONGRESS.
The long-deferred economy plan of ex-
pending few million in erecting struc-
| lures into which the government can
gather it's overflow offices in Washington
| is expected TO take root at a meeting of
subcommittee of the House Committee
on Public Buildings and Grounds, which
will be held to-day.
Members of the subcommittee admit
that there will be no direct consideration
of building plan. They assert, however.
that such an idea cannot help but present
itself when It is discovered to what ex-
pense the government will be put in fit
ting its rented buildings, or requiring the
owners to fit them with devices which
will render them absolutely safe to en-
tployes in the case of fire. Agitation for
better rented office buildings, they say. is
bound to turn into a channel leading to
the erection of such buildings by the gov
ernment for its own use.
''Clamor for the safeguarding and Sani-
tary Improvement of quarters occupied by
government employees is not new" said
Secretary MacVeagh yesterday. "A COM
mission to examine and report on the
sanitary arrangement of the public build
ingS was proposed when President Taft's
Cabinet was first organized The project
was abandoned on the appearance of leg
islation which ruled that no further COM
missions could be be created without the
pose recommended by me have been pend
ing in Congress ever since"
Mr.. MncVeagh's Opinion.
subject of the safety of public build
ings regarding fires. and said that few
of those owned by the government could
be considered otherwise than safe for
employees in the event of a confiagra-
ton. Those outside buildings which are
rented, he said, had been made as safe
as possible. In many instances nothing
short of new buildings would render the
employees absolutely free from danger.
Il am inclined to the opinion that the
present agitation will crystalize itself
eventually into a strong movement for
the erection of buildings sufficient to
completely accommodate the Offices of
the government scattered throughout
Washington. / sincerely hope this will
be the case for | regard 1t as the only
undertaking which will result in giving
the government employees safe and
healthy accommodations 1t will be an
economical move also. The govern
ment's rent bill in Washington each year
is sufficient to pay the interest on S30.-
100000. a sum large enough to erect all
the buildings that are needed"
wouId Construct New Buildings.
At the hearing of the Public Buildings
subcommittee this morning, Represen-
tative Cantrer will preside. The other
members of the subcompittee are Rep
resentatives Rodenberg, AshbrOok, Nell |
son. French. and Towner. Invited to
appear before the subcommittee are Su-
pervising Architect Taylor, Fire Chief
Wagner, and Building Inspector Ashford. |
Although his duties do not connect |
him with the government buildings in |
the Distr4 to any extent, Supervising |
Architect Taylor has some salient views |
concerning fire escapes, which he is |
likely to deliver. He does not favor the |
ordinary outside fire escape which ap-
pears on many of the business buildings |
rented by the government in the city, |
but insists that the spiral curve chute |
is the only modern and practical means |
CT leaving a burning building whose |
stairways are cut off. He maintains |
that the old-fashioned fire escape is a |
dangerous. dizzy affair; that It becomes |
smoky and heated, and often forms the |
death trap of those who attempt to use |
it 1t would cost money to re-equip the |
buildings which the government rents. |
Architect Taylor will tell the subcom- |
mittee, IL invited to do so, something |
concerning the economy of constructing |
new buildings for the overflow offices.
THE present government-owped struc-
lures in Washington are mostly fireproof. |
and none of them Is dangerous" says
Mr. Taylor There is ample opportu-
nifty for every person IN them to escape |
by the stairways in the event of fire."
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