Evening star., 1922-02-20
New Building Near Capitol
To House Financial Records

bill will be reported to the House Tor
action within a month.
What are the reasons for giving
of the general accounting office are
che financial history of the govern
ment In original documents. They in
clude all vouchers. drafts. checks.
warrants and receipts for collection
from the very foundation of the gov
ernment to date. Their preservation
Is necessary to protect the govern
ment against unwarranted payment
OF claims that may have been ad-
1usted or may be pending for adjust
Tor they are being used daily!
FOR example, all pension work. all
payments of ex-service men-$500.-
100000 a year to ex-service men all
over over the country. and from s15o,o00.-
900 to $170.000.000 a year in pensions
ali Of those warrants and receipts
and checks with Endorsements must
be kept for ready reference when
complaints come in. as they are doing
In large numbers daily. that payment
Of these papers and the ability to find
any one of them promptly when need.
ed IS the governments protection
against double payment.
x i y 4
Representative Andrews, fs altering
this legislation. realizes the value of
those papers and speaks with author
ity on the subject. because he was
for eighteen years auditor for the
Treasury Department. He knows Of
specific instances when disputes have
arisen and large sums of money paid
on customs or internal revenue or
war claims-in some instances from
thirty to forty years old, and even on
transactions sixty or seventy years
old.
To prevent the possible fire
destruction of these priceless papers
necessary. Controller General Nc
Carl estimates that probably three
fourths of them are now stored in
buildings that are admittedly not fire.
proof. and some OF them are "known
to be fre traps
These files are now kept in fifteen
different buildings and the general
accounting Office fs now occupying Of
nces In nine buildings. The economic
| and efficient transaction Of business
under one roof. Mr. McCarl gave the
House committee specific instances
and detailed information as to how
this scattering of the Offices under
him has caused scandalous loss Of
time and woefully delayed important
transactions.
This general auditing Office is now
using 100000 square feet of floor
space. has 1.4o4 employees and is pay
ing $42.500 year for rent OF build
and not adapted for properly han
ding the ,work-in addition to being
scattered from one to three miles
| away from any member or committee
OF Congress who may desire to con-
| suit these papers. Regarding the loss
told the House committee:
with the adjustments of accounts.
we have now six different accounts
sections. If we could have those all
clerks could handle all accounts.
There IL now SO much lost motion
that you cannot accurately measure
the loss. 1t is impossible to estimate
the cost to the government and the
citizens"
Congress recognizes the necessity
Of soon providing-such building, and
that 1t will be real economy as we'll
as safeguarding papers that could not
be replaced, and the loss Of which
by fire, water or other menace would
lay the federal government open to
very serious financial risks. The pro-
posed building. whether on the site
provided in the Andrews bill or on
some other site near the Capitol,
would At in we'll with the general
program for housing all government
activities in government-owned build
ings, systematically located for the
efficient transaction of the govern
ment's business.
Early and favorable action on this
bill is looked for II Congress is not
going to cripple its new federal
budget system and accounting or
auditing system from the start by
dissipating its energies and making
1t impossible to give the prompt
service to Congress itself which was
contemplated when the budget act