Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24
TREASURY CRAMPED Il
FOR OFFICE SPACE V
Purchasing of Arlington Hotel
Property Only Relief 10 Sight
for Department.
VIEW OF i H. M0YLE

the Treasury Department. IN the matter
Of sufficient space to take oArs Of it,
rapidly expanding business" declares
]. H Moyle, assistant secretary Of the
Treasury. in charge Of public buildings
and the office OF the Supervising archi-
tect- The only relief he sees In pros
pect for amelioration Of congsstsd con-
ditions in Washington is the purchase
of the Arlington property.
This proposition IL now pending IN
Congress. The owners Of the property
have made proposition to sell the site
and building for $4.11S.o7l The Treas
ury Department has asked Congrsas
for an appropriation Of y. ~. 900, ieav-
| ing a small balance over the purchase
price for such minor changes - may
be necessary to make the building suit.
able for occupancy.
Congress has been inclined to eriti-
| else or at least to question the pur.
chase price asked The Treasury De-
partment believes it has o bargain. 1t
is estimated that the site Of one and
one-third acres is worth S1,o0o.ooo ana
that the balance of the asking price,
$3,l1s.O12, about representative Of cost
OF construction under contracts en-
gagged in before the advances of ma
terials under war conditions. is better
than could have been hoped for.
| Comparison of value has been made
with the. Gridiron building OF New
s aork; which y, outside Of the site. A.
5000 to construct. The construc-
| tors have estimated at the request OF
Assistant Secretary MoyIe that It would
cost $2.20o,o00 to reconstruct the build
| ing at existing costs Of materials.
Cubic Space Is Great.
The Gridiron building hss s.oo7. ooo
| cubic feet of space. The Arlington
building. when finished. win provfae
7,690,oo0 cubit feet As q coroliAry. II
follows that to build the Arlington
structure sac. At l present prices would rep.
$4,000, regardless OF the value Of the
site. This Is more than . $4,000. 900
saving. at the price offered By the
The Treasury Department >xpset. 70
house in the Arlington property. when
finished, the big estahiiShments OF the
war risk bureau and OF the internal
revenue bureau. These two bureaus
Although war Conditions COZ 1 have have sx-
banded all activities Of the Treasury
Department" says Assistant Secretary
Moyle. "the bureaus OF war risk in
surancs and internal revenue have Ia
require 100000 square feet each, OF
100000 square feet in all
The business Of these bureaus II now
greatly hampered BY INADEQUATE quar-
tiers, the former occupying four build
ings besides the administrative oftces
in the Treasury building and the latter
seven different buildingA
such a separation Of divisions 10 net
only detrimental to even reasonable en-
cheney, but what is even worse is that
these buildings with one exemption. ars
non-hreproof. The records Are invaluahis
and could not be replaced ff dsstroyed.
The Importance OF transferrinG thee
bureaus with their records 70 6reprc0f
quarters can. therefore. not b evsrestl.
mated. E---
'.rhe Arlington building. now being con.
structed by private enterprise, offers IT,
only opportunity to provide aAsauaee
quarters. The construction Of this buijA.
ing was commenced considerable TINA
ago and three subterranean stories wefe
completed early this year. The stssi
frame is up to the fourth story, but
work is now suspended awaiting the out-
come OF legislation authorizing the pur-
chase Subcontracts are in force for
nearly all work required to complete the
main building, which covers about one
acre: and as large amount Of the mate
rails are Manufactured the probabilities
are that the main building can be conf
pleted early this fall An addition to
this building on I street, covering about
one-third Of an acre. IL included in the
oner Tor purchase, and this portion Of
the Dulfolng Is expected to be COmDleto6
early in the spring OF 1919"
Would Not Meet Requirements.
Answering the question as to why not
construct temporary building, A.
| sistant Secretary Moyie said such .
structure would not meet the require.
nents. would take as long to build, ana
being non-hreproof. would not answer
the needs Of the two bureaus that are
to be housed. He finds that Q compaff.
son of costs is in favor OF the Arlington
property as against q temporary stfuc.
! ture
I Operating expenses, IL IL estimated,
would be lower in the temporary struc-
| lure, but against this 10 the fact that
| he life of temporary building would
not be more than four years.
i Under these assumptions" observes
Assistant Secretary Moyle, and count
ing interest at 4 per cent, the govern.
ment will have expended at the end OF
four years $1,92l.2S0 for q temporary
building against only $1,s4S.64o for the
Arlington building, or s272.e40 less for
| the Arlington building"
| Assistant Secretary Moyle also points
out that 1t is not now possible to rent
any further Office space in Washington.
II it were possible. he says, it would
cost not less than twice as much and
probably three times as much a. the
Arlington building. -
PLAN STATUE IN HONOR