Evening star., 1921-07-14
ARCH|TECT'SF0
I. FOUND UNDERPA|D
Inquiry Opened in Letting of
Contracts to Nine Archi-
teCtS for Schools.

Realization that the salaries and
force in the office of the municipal
architect of the District are entirely
inadequate was the result of the
hearing today before the House Dis
trict committee investigating the let
ting, of contracts to nine architects in
connection with the school building
program
Representing the opinion of men,
bers of the committee. practicalIv
every one of whom indicated his con-
currence in the view, Chairman Focht
said:
The salaries paid to the municipal
architect and his force of employees
are measly and beggarly."
He tells us the craftsmen get 81 oOO
%l.3Oo and S1,400 a year, which is
less than the pay of a bricklayer,
he, himself. compelled under the law
10 supervise the 100000 school
oulidlng program, gets salary of
$500. 1t is an outrage and a sca
dal on the nation"
10 which Representative Woods of
Virginia added: ''And very poor
economy"
Investigation Ordered.
After heated hearing, on motion
of Representative Hammer of Mort h
Carolina. the committee instructed
the chairman to investigate and
make recommendations of what
should be done within the law, in
Guiding recommendations for ade-
quate Salaries
Representative Sproul of Illinois.
who started the investigation, and
who had been comparing the work
done by the school supervising archi-
tect in Chicago, with d force of more
than twenty men, admitted that that
official received $4,000 a year, while
the municipal architect in the Dis
trict receives only $4,000. Represent
ative Blanton of Texas said: I'VE
all the help he needs at adequate
salary. so that he can carry out this
work under the law" Chairman Focht
added. And commend him for what
he has been doing"
TOday's Witnesses.
The witnesses before the committee
were Maj. Carey Brown. assistant to
the engineer commissioner, and Albert
l.. Harris. the District architect. Both
of these witnesses said that with the
sole purpose of eXpediting the erection
of the nine school buildings so as to
have them completed if possible for
the opening of school a year from next
September. they had recommended to
the District Commissioners the en-
VI oulSlue dTCnttoctS WHOSE
commission is to he 3 per cent of the
cost of the building. not including
mechanical equipment. with the mu-
nicipal architects office retaining the
work of supervising construction.
was explained by Maj. Brown, in
have standard buildings and why diff
fcrent architecture were required for
each building, that six of the build
ings are additions which must con-
form to the original structures. He
explained that one new building north
of Lincoln Park, the only location
available. is corner lot which will
require entirely different construction
than if it was at another location.
Architects Office ClOgged.
Both Maj. Brown and Architect Har-
ris explained why this work could not
be done by the municipal architects
Office They said that office already
was clogged with current work on adj
ditions and repairs and making esti-
mates for other District buildings.
Besides that. out of the s2OOo.OOo
school building program. the munich
pal architects Office has reserved
the two Junior High schools, the Tu-
berculosis School. the Eastern High
School, Gallinger Hospital and other
important building work. which is
being handled exclusively by the
municipal architects office
Representative Hammer of North
Carolina, after absenting himself
from the hearing for a while. made
the announcement on his return that
he had been in conference with Rep
resentative Ben Johnson. formerly
chairman of the District committee
and now a member of the House ap-
preparations committee. which han
died the school building budget. and
had been advised by him that the
action of the District authorities in
letting out contracts to nine archi-
tects was unwarranted in law
Representative Sproul of Illinois
read the law covering this point
which showed that the work was to
he done under the supervision of the
municipal architect. Representativt
Woods of Virginia and others felt
that the spirit of the law was that
the work should be done by the
nnnicinaI architects office.