New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-23
The Public Building Pork Barrel

/ Probably Congress cannot he shamed out
Of its purpose to pass another pork bar
rel" public buildings bill To the outsider
the insoence of authorization after au-
thorization carried in public buildings
measure is SO astounding as to be almost
humorous. Congress seems to the rest OF
us to he simply buresquing its own sense
Of trusteeship.
Here is one thing, for instance that the
pork" hunters in Congress are preparing
10 do. They are going to authorize the
erection of a $4,000 public building IN the
village of Hazard, Ky. This village has
537 inhabitants and produces postal re-
ceipts Of S4448 year. The government
now paws $3.50 a year rent for postoffice
accommodations.
Here is another case. Congress is ready
10 authorize the construction of an $4,000
public building in Lewisburg, W. Va,
mountain town back some distance from
the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. The
population is 500, and the rent now paid
bv the government is s540 year.
Horrible examples like this Of CONGRESSES
lack Of any business conscience in CAPT
talizing office rent could be multiplied in
definitely. They impress the general pub
lie inrnensev. But the hopeless feature
of the situation is that Congress is not In
the least affected by such exposures Of its
farcical Indifference to ordinary theories
Of rent communication. The average public
building pork hunter has lost all SEN
sibility. 50 far AS the equalization Of rent
and building percentages is concerned. He
sees public buildings going up year after
year in towns and villages represented in
Congress by men who want to carry back
something to the folks at home. He be-
gins to believe that public buildings are
authorized not with a view TO meeting the
needs Of public service, but with view to
the main chance-to promoting the per-
sonal interests Of pushing Representatives
and Senators. He becomes the victim of
vicious system Of doing business-a sys-
tenn which was characterized with brutal
franIness by a distinguished Southern
Senator when he remarked; "Wen. if
there's going to be any stealing, | want TO
be in on t."
The only way TO cure the evil of public
| building extravaganza is to uproot the
present system of authorization. The au-
thorization should not originate in Con
kress. It should originate in the Treasury
Department The Supervising Architects
Bureau Of the Treasury Department must
design, construct and take charge Of the
operation of Federal buildings, and the
Secretary Of the Treasury should clearly
| be responsible for the initiation Of all rou-
tine government building projects. There
should be. for instance, some fixed relation
| between postal receipts and rent, on the
one hand. and the cost Of postoffice build
/ ings on the other. Congress ought to pass
on a project only after il has been sub
nitted by the Treasury Department, which
can be depended on to apply n rule of rea-
son in new construction which it is hope
less to expect the Congressional pork
/ hunters ever to apply.
The present scheme Of origination and
responsibility is all awry. Congress is at
tempting to discharge an administrative
function and is discharging it recklessly,
wastefully and in a spirit Of petty plum
dering But many members are at heart
ashamed Of themselves for doing what they
DO. They are pork barrellers' more from
necessity than from choice. Wise states
uranship at Washington would relieve them
OF temptation continual yielding to which
has eaten away their sef-respect.
Dbl A liz.