Evening star., 1916-12-06

buildings business Of the government q
made 81 sscrstary llczdoo Of th.
Treasury Department in his annual re.
port. port The policy Sf Sf:d,nx. :dntn0r'iIans ~ pS.,
sale groups, known as omnibus build.
ing Bill" he urges should Be abandon.
ed. and that Congress- adopt some othe,
policy whereby buildings shall Be
where they are justified by the needs
of the community, and at reasonable
cost
This recommendation is expected tn
start something in Congress: It 10 gen.
made during the present session to &c,
through another omnibus bill. carving
appropriations Of about $35. 1000. .000
mainly for post Office buildings in small
In fact this omnibus building bill was
introduced in the House by Represent.
ative Frank Clark Of Florida last July
At that time Mr.. Clark stated that he
expected to PVT the .in msssuIe through
effort is made it will roubtless precipi-
tate a spirited tight.
Some Have Lost Taste for Pork.
1t is well known that many members
in both houses of Congress have COM
pletely lost their taste for pork" and
will resist to the last ditch the pas
sage Of the bill in its present form. But
should the advocates OF the measure
succeed in forcing 1t through both
House and Senate. 1t is said that the
Following are extracts from the sec
ton Of the report of Secretary McAdoo
dealing with the subject of public build
ings:
ment would seem to demand that
structures for the transaction Of gov
ernment business should be authorized
only in localities where they are i'm
peratively needed. and that buildings
should not be erected where no public
necessity can be shown. This result
could be accomplished by divorcing the
public buildings question from all local
or political considerations and authoriz-
ing no public buildings until thorough
proposed building or project has been
made by this department and full
report thereon has been submitted to
the Congress. If such reports were fol-
of separate measures to cover each pro-
posed building project, the abuses and
evils of the omnibus bill method would
be eradieated."
Needless Buildings Erected.
"I am convinced that the methods
pursued by the Congress for the past
fifteen years of providing federal
buildings through so-called omnibus
public buildings bills have resulted in
the construction Of many public build
ings in small towns and localities where
they are not needed, and at cost
which is clearly unjustified by any ac-
tual requirements of the communities
in which they are erected. The conclu-
sion is irresistible that authorizations
for public buildings in these small COM
munities are too frequently dictated by
local reasons and without regard to the
best interests Of the government.
I'm the past two decades the Con-
gress has authorized and appropriated
approximately s1so,o00,ooo for public
buildings. and the major part of this
great sum has been expended on costly
structures in small localities, where
neither the government business nor
the convenience of the people justified
their construction, and while the initial
cost of these buildings represents a
large waste Of public funds, this is not
the worst of it. The most serious as
pect is this-the annual operation and
maintenance of these buildings impose