Evening star., 1922-02-28
Need for Archives Building u,
Grows Daily More Apparent

, buildings not adequately protected
from fire and others stored IN rented
quarters, where frequently there Is
/: ton In other ways than in the attics
Of government buildings. It has for
more than q decade been the unani-
nous conviction Of all who have
looked into: the situation that all
possible means for the proper care
and protection of valuable oficial
documents under existing conditions
| are now being utilized. and their
manifest inadeQuacy demonstrates
| the. urgent necessity. for an archives
building.
The additional security against loss
or destruction Of official papers. the
economy in. time and labor resulting
from the greatly improved, facilities
for examining the same, and the con-
| seqpent Increased efficiency in" the
public service would all appear to be
strong arguments in favor Of the
speedy construction of the building;
In addition. it Is pointed out that the
construction and occupancy of the
proposed building would release much
lieve congested conditions in depart
mental buildings.
| Four years ago an estimate was
submitted to Congress for an appro-
priation Of, $4S6.000. for a., site and
$l.6o0,ooo for,a building.
cember 20, 1920, in a speech in the
4, House, gave 1t as his belief that the
much desired building would soon
materialize. and emphasized the i'm
portant place 1t will take in making
the National Capital one of the great
est centers Of education in the world,
especially Its possibilities in research
service.
| An effort was made to have includ-
ed in the Treasury Department ap-
lpropriation bill. recently passed by
Congress. an appropriation Of 100000
for the purchase of a site for the pro-
posed archives building. This was
stricken out on a point Of order, the
| only objection cited being ON the
ground that the government already
owns a number of excellent and very
desirable sites for such q building.
Many members of both House and
Senate spoke with the utmost posi-
tiveness on there being real need
for the building. Senator John Sharp
Williams Of Mississippi, for example,
! said: Undoubtedly the United States
owes It to history and to art and to
Its own administration Of public az
He advocated its location il the cen
ter of one Of the squares between the
Capitol and Union station.
There is a bill. fathered by Rep
resentative Richard N. Elliott of In
diana, pending before the House
grounds. which calls for $2.0o0.OO0 for
for an archives building and it has
been the intention of the committee
to include that authorization in the
next omnibus public buildings bill
Representative Elliott explains that
he has not insisted upon this bill
being passed because he has been ad-
vised by competent authorities that
there is already sufficient authorize
ton for the. appropriations commit
tee to make this appropriation, to be
found in the omnibus public buildings
bill passed March 4, 1913.
$50 far as I~know there Is no rea-
son in the world why the. .appropria-
ttons committee cannot make this
appropriation" Representative Elliott
that theory and is hunting around
for the best available site.-en land
already owned by the government
which he will endeavor to have
designated.
1t develops that the supervising
aTCNlteCl OIL Cne treasury tOtQ lnG
House appropriations committee that
he doubted If there is sufficient au-
!! thority to make the appropriation
There seems to be an honest diff
ference of opinion in Congress on
that point. although the majority
view is that there is sufficient au-
thority. Representative Elliott says:
certainly the question of authority
should be cleared up at once. Let
US have a ruling by a competent au-
thority. II moro authority is needed
= want to know it SO that can press
INV hfl1