Evening star., 1914-07-11

Of the same size in any other COM
munity, variance being made only IN
fering costs of material and LABOR. no
so far as it is necessary to cover sho,,1d uiL1
be provided for any branch OF the gov,
ernment service that will not have real
need of accommodation on at least one
day in month. except in the case OF
United States courts and provision
should be made for the courts only
where the court has been in session at
least ten days of the preceding year
building for post office and court
house. having $500 square feet OF foor
space at Tulsa, Okla. cost $3lO.o0o,
while similar building at corpus
Christi. Tex. with 10000 square feet
of floor space cost but $4,000. another
at Lawton, Okla, with 1000 square
feet of floor space, cost $2o7, ,os4.2e. ana
one at Brattleboro, VT, with 5000 square
feet, cost S115.00O.
Suggests Several Glasses.
Il. 900 square feet to be used exclu-
sively or in part for post office pur-
poses hereafter he suggests that such
buildings be divided into classes. the
size of the building to be based upon
200 square feet of space for each of
the estimated number of employees in
the post Office ten years hence, and that
the limit of cost be fixed according to
the following, s,E etandards; star 5de For 4oeo .
27.5oO; 5000 square feet 100000; $500
square feet, $4,000. with $4,000 addi-
tional for each additional 1000 square
feet. and that executive discretion be
amounts allowed. That these buildings
will in cost be in keeping with others
erected in the same communities he
shows by another table setting forth
tGo In 10 val IN
of all buildings, the assessed value of
the largest building, the authorized
maximum of cost of the public build
ing and the maximum cost under the
proposed standards.
Standard plans of several types should
be prepared. says Mr.. Burleson. for each
class of buildings suggested and one of
these type-plans used in the construction
of every public building except such as
must be treated as special projects. He
opposes the authorization of sites in adj
vance of the authorization Of buildings
and states that experience has shown
that property owners invariably demand
eXorbitant rents where sites are thus
authorized. He also believes the Secre-
tary of the Treasury should be given
wider discretion in the selection of sites
and cites evils that have arisen under the
present method, especially in San Fran
CISCO where additional quarters had to
be provided at big expense to meet the
needs of the postal service after the
erection of a new post Office building.
Buildings for Departments.
In his report the Postmaster General
urges that the need of the proposed new
buildings in this city for the Department
of State. Justice and Commerce be given
the early attention Of Congress. and that
appropriations be made also for the work
upon the plans provided for the Interior
Department building. patent office. the
archives building and the building for
the bureau of mines.
Heretofore. he says. public buildings
appropriations have provided separate
specific amounts for each of the projects
authorized and the unused portions of
these amounts have not been available
for other projects. If the plans he pro-
poses are adopted, he says. it will be
specially advantageous to have the ap-
preparations made in the form of lump
sums so that the entire amount appro-