Evening star., 1912-07-20
IN NEED Of reform TAFT IS HANDS OFF
Scathng Denuncation OF the President Not to Direct Cam
!, Architects Office paign for Reelection.
.pnRK BARREL DENOUNCED LEAVES IT UP TO HILLES
Taylor Recently Head White House Callers VINO urge Ad
Of Bureau Severely Criticised Vsory COMMITTEE SO Informed
RADICAL CHANGE SUGGESTED DIFFICULTY OF THIRD PARTY
u... c,.+.. rum.nds Office
Be Made Iet Electors on 6alots New
by YORK ana ELSEWHERE
Scathing Denunciation OF the
!, Architects Office.
PORK BARREL DENOUNCED
James Xnex Taylor, Recently Head
of Bureau, Severely Criticised.
RADICAL CHANGE SUGGESTED
House Committee Recommends Once
he Made q Bureau, Controlled
by Congress.

. Recommending that the Office of super
Ssing architect be transferred from the
Treasury Department and placed directly
in a separate bureau, where Congress
will have control Of It, and making bitter
criticisms against the work of the office
for the past fifteen years, Representative
Cyrus Cline of Indiana, chairman of the
House committee on expenditures on
public buildings. has laid before the
House a report which may result in an
entire change i'm what he calls the pork
barrel methods of scattering millions OF
dollars of the public funds. James Knox
Taylor, until recently supervising archi-
tect. is scathngly denounced for the
faults which the committee reports.
Recommendations are made that the
entire method of bidding on buildings
be changed; it is intimated that COM
piicatcd methods of bidding have been
resorted to in order to keep down COM
petition. and. in fact. scarcely any charge
of bad administration and questionable
liberality has been overlooked by the
committee. OF all the investigation
committee reports filed with the House
so far. this one comes nearest to very
severe denunciation of existing condi-
tions.
The report is introduced by the declara-
ton that the committee merely wants
10 get at the facts, and does not scent
any scandal" II then sets the demo-
cratic sense OF economy a-tirgling by
showing that in the last ten years tne
Treasury has spent money fer 721 pub
lie buildings, and that there are now
before the committee on public build
ings and grounds requests Tor I50 more.
calling for an appropriation of $12,V00,-
600. The committee which makes this
statement is also of the opinion that
the last item will be increased to
hundred millions.
>Classed as Mania.
Before coming down to the faults which
lie hnds with James Knox Taylor and
the business and administration c. the
architects ONCE, Mr.. Cline hints that
the country haas gone mad on the subject
of ereqtlnx p1e1fes buildinsx. His report
!: 'dese34f5p IL SztSab Of public buildings
as 80 sSS(D146se of which the COM
mittee does not care to inquire into"
Further the report says: we are also
aware that some Oi the suggestions
which we shall make may not meet with
q cordial reception
After charging the Senate with extray-
agance In passing public building LAWS
and charging that little villages OF 800
public buildings which have been ex-
travagant In cost and expensive to main
tain. the report hits at the supervising
architects ONCE
has been working for hfteen years, and
yet has overlooked very important fea-
ture OF admin stration. On tbs it says:
IF there is one reform more than an
other that ought to be inaugurated in the
office of the superv sing architect It is
that of standardizing public bu ldings.
The supervising architect has had unoer
his charge for fifteen years corps OF
craftsmen, designers and computers bus-
ly engaged N designing and VT ling SEeci-
ncations Tor nlty-tnoLsand- loliar Lu.iic
buildings under the Absolutely fr.soious
plea tnat location, topography anG la Il
lude gave rise 10 such difficulties IN con-
struction that the plans and specifications
uIuSt Dt rewritten III each and ev. ry case
Duplication Of Work.
"Ths S office for years and wears drass
along. doing the same kind of work over
and over again. Ii does not need a train
"a mechanic a skillfui architect 10
know that very much Of the work done
along this line is positively unnecessary
and entails useless and uncalIed-sor ex-
pense upon the government, botn in time
and money. 1t Is sad that the office is
now standardiz!ng. Ii is making the
carrying on its rolls ninety-two craftsmen
and architects TO supply tbs particular
line Of EOfk in construct ng The public
build ngs provided for N TIE !ast act.
Ii cannot be claimed successfully that a
ffty-thous and do lar tuilding properly de-
signed. specitca Ions 6oiroc,l- drawn. for
town IN one locality IS no; the proper
thing for town similarly situated in an
other locality.
Even If a slight change in the topog-
raphy of the location is necessary, that
condition can easily be met. The ma
terials used need not interfere in the use
OF working model of brick, stone, sand
stCne or granite. The off1ce having been
In existence ought now to be provided
with models TO be constructed with DIFF
ferent materials with correct and per-
feet designs and specifications for any
$4,000 building in any locality. There is
no reason why models ought not to be
available now for the construction Of all
classes OF public buildings. This stand
ardization ought to be carried up to
buildings costing at least 100000 or
$4,000. and that would cover at leas,
30 per cent of al the public buildings to
be constructed. Possibly special designs
for the more expensive buildings might
be necessary.
I'm large cities. where much more room
might be necessary, where several
branches sof the governments business
for instance. where a federal court In
ternai revenue office. civil service COM
mission, customs collections. etc, Nigh:
be located in the same building. special
individual plans might be necessary. II
Standardization was adopted. as 1t could
be. economy I'm designing, drafting and
computers division would be effected and
the work more rapidly advanced
Attacks Board Of Awards.
The committe believes that the board OF
awards has acted in a high-handed man.
ner and specifies as an instance the pos,
office building at Toledo. The report has
several pages of testimony and statements
to prove the assumption that Mr.. Taylor
acted as the board OF award by himself
in the Toledo matter. after other rnen,-
bers Of the board had refused to sign the
award of q contract.
The report says further that Mr.. Tay.
1or signed the Toledo award and that As.
sistant Secretary Winthrop approved IL
and in doing so wholly disregarded the
departmental regula tions which created
the board OF award.
The committee put it's disapprova
plainly on this feature, saying We be