El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-08

One-fOurth seconds TO enter an elcF
tor on the lower landing, and only
-fOurths Of a second to leave the
car on the ground floor 1t requires
more time Tor a passenger 10 4edN Z
the car on his own floor above Ine
ground level. on account or the ire
0uent necessity of crOWding by other
persons. But the average time mas
been calculated and an expert Dul1Q-
ing manager can tell exactly Whal Is
the matter with the elevator service
whether it is the fault Of the operators
or Of the plaut-When he is given the
number of stories in the building. the
number of elevator cars and the num-
COMMITTEES of the National Assoc
citation Of Building Managers recently
appeared before the committee On
public buildings and grounds Of the
national house Of representatives Inc
members We're asked to give the gov
eminent the benefit OF their eNper4-
ence in building management looking
70 DossfbIe reduction of the cost II
operating the government buildings al
over the country
How a Manager saves.
This committee showed numerous
instances of the saving erected Dy
systematic building management a
five story bank and office building N
TeXarkana was being operated al
monthly cost Of S2,l54 Under the Con
troll of an expert manager TINS cost W4s
reduced to S11O0 a month. This OF u
self is sufficient to prove tnaI the
building manager has earned his right
to establish new profession
But greatly to the surprise OF every
body concerned. the building manager
has demonstrated that he is more val
liable as an adviser to the arcnlJeSt
before a building is erected than ne
is as an agent for the owner aIIer II
is finished and occupied
An Omaha Incident
million dollar building was prof.
ected in Omaha. The architect was
70 rala N EXPERT
building manager while the plans were
being drawn AS a result Of the prac-
teal ideas suggested by this expert
who knew exactly what were the Iaul-
of other buildings and who had in
formation concerning many things that
an architect would never know, the
cost Of the building was lowered over
$4,000, a little more than percent
and the gross rental capacity OF the
building was increased from S1bl,0Oo
to S2OS, 900. This was the advantage
OF having a man on the JOB who knew
not only how TO build a building but
how to use it.
It is a popular superstition that 1t
costs more for government agency
city state or natiOnal-tO do GER
tain piece Of work than 1t costs FOR
the same piece Of work TO be done BY
a private concern This superstition
is shattered every day by the pOstOI-
I flee department, by the engineers who
are digging the Panama canal, By the
reclamation and irrigation works and
by a score OF other governmental &C
tiVities. 1t is interesting TO note that
the expert building managers after an
investigation, casual IL is true, ex-
pressed the opinion that the govern
ment costs Of building and operation
Of government buildings could be de-
creased but little, If any The only
saving they could suggest was that the
architects hear advice from building
managers 50 that the buildings might
be designed with more consideration
for the men VINO are TO work In them
Cooperation in the Work.
Much Of the office building work
in cities is done on the cooperative SyS-
tem-that is, certain phases Of the Op-
Grafton are farmed out on contracts
to outside companies Window clean
ing companies wash the windows in
all but the very large buildings that
can afford a separate staff Vacuum
cleaning concerns clean buildings for
q whole city, but in recent years new
buildings usually are provided with in
dividual vacuum cleaning plants Con-
tractors take care Of the directory SER
vice IN buildings and revise the cOrri-
dor directories or tenants once week.
There are clock Winders who make
their living by going from building
to building winding clocks. but these
are being superseded by the electric
clock system by which one master
clock in the basement controls clocks
in all parts of the building
The chief province OF the building
manager is, OF course, TO make the
building paw To do that he must
his tenants lies the greater part OF
his actual work. That is why the mod
ern office in a modern office building
is light instead Of dark, airy instead
Of stuffy. clean instead Of dirty. sani-
tary instead Of insanitary. pleasant
instead Of unpleasant The new profess
sion Of building manager has justified
its existence