The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-02-08

Last week, tn, United States Depart
ment of Justice gathered its many di-
visions together and moved into a brand
new Office building. For the past seven
teen years American justice has been
dispensed from the digpified but made
nuate portals of various dwelling houses
about the capital The attorney general
prepared his cases in the buffers pantry
of an old house on K street, the Bureau
of Investigation occupied bedroom
suite on the second floor, and the
governments criminal records were
kept in the billiard room in the base
ment. Now, for the first time, justice
has been done to justice; the attorney
general can. with proper dignity say,
"Come into my Office and not Come
into my pantry"
The headquarters of the government
have been its least concern. Take a
trip through the departments here and
YOU will hear on every side, 1--WE need
more room or a new tireproof filing
cabinet, or a new typewriter, or a
wheelbarrow- but we haven't enough
money to get it," They will tell YOU
in the Government Printing Office, for
example, that yellow light is not so
hard on the workman's eyes as green
light, but they have not enough money
to install new system of lights. In
the Public Health Service they will tell
you that they are a trifia crowded, and
you can see it for Yourself The service
is housed in private residence once &C.
cupied by President Arthur, and DR..
Rucker, United States Superintendent
of Public Health, fresh air advocates
and sanitation expert, is found IN a
small, anything but light and airy office
that was formerly President Arthur's
bathroom.
Furthur exploration adds to the at
mosphere of genteel poverty which
clings to the headquarters of the gov
eminent. You find clerks in the
Geological Survey working all day by
electric light because the offices are
dark and sometimes even windowless.
The Department of Agriculture has a
few imposing buildings, but numbers
of its bureaus are tucked away in small
brick structures, unsuitable for office
purposes and hard to keep clean. The
United States Bureauof Chemistry, the
creator of pure food standards and the
terror of adulterators and quacks, is
found in a dingy narrow brick building
looking like a dilapidated warehouse;
while sections of the Bureau OF Animal
Industry are found in various buildings.
Almost any public Office building in the
business district, if it be inexpensive
and unpretentious enough, is apt to
house bureau of the Department OF
the Interior.
The majority of visitors who come to
Washington rarely see anything but the
showplaces of the government, such as
the Treasury, the State, War and Navy
Building, the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, the White House and Capitol.
They get an impression OF majestic Cor
inthian pillars and beautiful spacious
yistas seen through the wide windows
of the Treasury or State Department,
while the comfortable Offices of the
members of Congress give an idea that
all the appointments of the government
are dignified and sumptuous. They re-
turn to Millersville or Highville in the
firm belief that all the houses of the
government are like International capitol
or their own local po5toffice.
The fact of the matter is that the
government is tall for its age. Only
1876 years old and stunted by no less
than four wars. it nevertheless had an
almost embarrassing number of
bureaus and boards and commissions,
requiring an enormous annual expen-
diture never entirely permitted. by
Congress. Congressional appropri-
atoms are always at least third less
than what the department calculate
as actual requirements, and those
handed out to the United States Super
intendent of Public Buildings for new
government offices in Washington
are extremely slim. Yet every admin
istration feels that it has not done its
duty until it creates few more boards
or commissions. During the last ad-
ministration we acquired the Federal
Reserve Board and the Farm Loan
Board-both estimable institutions, but
unfortunately requiring office room. AS
these boards grow in size and import
ance, they will doubtless be expelled
from the limited space in the Treas
ury Building and be shifted about in
private residences for years to come.
For Congress is just getting around to
the business of provielng suitable quart
ers for the departments of Interior and
Justice
A glance at old records shows that