The Washington herald., 1920-11-07
us. STRUCTURE.
NEEDSROTUNDA.
Department of Agriculture
Building Here Presents
Queer Appearance.
eDUE TOLACK OF FUNDS
Appropriation to Finish the
Work Expected When G.
o. P. Gets Power.

The man who makes epigrams
once deposed that architecture Is
frozen music" To which his friend,
viewing a row of houses in the
neo-confectionarys style. replied that
these must be ragtime."
That couldn't apply to the two
sustere wings Of the Department OF
Agriculture on the Mall between
Eleventh and Fourteenth streets.
But they could certainly be typifed
as the structural representation OF
the renowned Lost Chord"
For twelve long years the marble
sided wings have stood yelling for
assistance In the form Of a rotunda
TO connect them and complete the
original design of the building
which was to suppIant the mid
Victorian red brick that houses the
administration offices and stands
some distance north Of the partially
finished project.
Sightseeing Effects.
g Local residents who pass the
architectural derellct daily have be-
come accustomed to the remarkable
spectacle of two limbs of a gov
iernment building. as IL were. with
'Sout body. but newcomers gaze at
them with the awe accorded to the
Singing Memnon of the Egyptian
desert. and cicerones of sightseeing
buses crack mean jokes at them.
Secretary OF Agriculture Meredith,
IL is said. will urgently recommend
IN his annual report to Congress
that sufficient appropriation be
!. made to construct the rotunda- Be-
cause the recommendation comes
from a Democratic source the De-
cember session will probably pass it
By. awaiting the urge Of a Repub-
, lican agricultural chief
Built Year. Ago.
when '-Tama Jim" Wilson was
Secretary back in 1908, he secured
the sum OF t1.soo,oo0 for a new and
monumental department building.
Seeing that the growth OF the Fed
erai institution would demand more
thap a single unit, he approved
plans for the wings, confident tnas
another Congress would grant
money for the rotanda-
But the legislators failed, year
tafter year. to appropriate. The
wings were not completed until 1908
and by that time the department
forces bulked large enough to fill
the wings and overflow into Offices
with fancy rentals; that is. the kind
Uncle Sam with a glad and bucolic
smile generally pays for foor-space
in the. District
Congress, with due regard to the
strength of the farmer vote. showed
NO ntggardly attitude toward appro-
fprfattons for work of the DEPART
ment- but firmly declined to draw on
tthe Treasury for the Eeeded rotunda.
Passed Over in War
IN December, 1917, the Public
Butldings Committee, headed by the
1ste Senator MARITIME, of New Jer-
eey,, recommended that Appropriation
De made for a great Agriculture De-
psrtment group. to include six
major buildings on and near the
present site But 1t was Wartime
and Congress hurriedly perused the
document and pigeonholed IL. II
may be revived after President-eIect
Harding takes Office.
Even to erect the rotunda and
change two architectural freaks into
one stately and commodious build
ing would cost double the amount
necessary when the design was first
conceived; roundIy, s3.500,00O. 1t
would house the secretary, assistant
secretaries, chief clerk, the account
ing division and other units, and
allow the demolition of the star
ing brick building. endeared by as
ISOLATION, but condemned on the
grounds OF art and utility, where
these offices now fight for elbow
room
Rents Much Space.
This completion, however, would
not remedy the present condition of
q department the bureaus and divi-
sions of which are housed all over
the city. The Deparement of Agri-
culture Is paying rental for nearly
q score,of suites and office buildings
i'm the northwest and southwest
7esome almost contiguous to the main
structures and others a mile or more
away. Appropriations of not less
than $4,000. 900 would be necessary
to realize the ideal of those having
tho departments good and efficiency
at heart-the grouping of every
branch under the eye fthe Score
tsry.