Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-02
he HQskin Letter 81 , ; R:2z
UNCLE SAM SAVES E N

/ crew of stenographers, clerks and mes
sengers. Three years ago, when it
started. it was given an initial appro-
priation of $4,000 by congress, and it
still has $1,000 to its credit in the
bank.
In three years it has saved the gov
eminent more than half a. million dol
lars in rents by moving bureaus out
| of rented buildings into government
owned Offices. Thus the commission
notes that the veterans bureau per-
sonnet is shrinking daily and it finds
that there is room in the War Risk
building for the entire force Of the
allen property custodian. This Off
cial and his staff have been occupy
ing a six story apartment house at a
! cost to the government of $4,000 a
year rent. The commission arranged
with the bureau to move and credits
itself with saving the country $4,000.
Unless there is a sharp reaction
from the present tendency toward eff
f~iciency and economy there will be no
more elaborate monumental effects in
department buildings. Sixteen foot
ceilings, ~fireplaces, thick walls and
such as are seen about the state wal
anu navy puituiuSs IL Al Soi1s
government edifices, are c%onspicu-
ously absent from recent government
construction.
Time Was No Object
An example of the old style pom
derousness which characterized the
first federal buildings is found in the
granite pillars on the treasury facades.
These huge pillars were quarried in
Maine and shipped to Washington on
sailing vessels. 1t took IS oxen and
eight horses to carry each n of
them to the building. Time was no
obstacle in those days. Seventeen
years were spent in constructing the
state. war and navy building. The
new navy and munitions buildings were
run up in five and a half months.
The state. war and navy building
cost 100000 600 at a time when
labor was cheap. The new buildings
average about S., 000, DOC. They have
Ionic and Doric columns and they are
shiningly white, but they are dis
tinctly businesslike in appearance.
They suggest, rather than initiate,
Athens and old Europe.
1t is probable that the day of the
beautiful, be-coIumned marble post
office is past. Since 1913 there has
been no public buildings bill to pro-
vide at one time several hundred post
office buildings for the country. These
bills had very little to do with econ
omy. 1t was not uncommon for a
town of a few thousand souls, which
was represented by a live congress
man. to win a $4,000 post office.
Each congressman voted for the ap-
preparation bill because it contained
some item in which he was interested
and to disapprove of any clause was
to ditch the whole measure.
Congress was criticized for this sort
of pork legislation. The most success
full post office getters retorted that q
federal building Of beauty and dignity
was an inspiration TO the citizens or a
town, and that from that point of view
II was a worth while investment. The
European war put a stop to such argu-
ment and to the marble front post
offices.
A few post offices are still being
constructed from the provisions of the
1913 bill. but no construction work
for the government is being done in
Washington. Nor is there much pros
pect of any new government buildings
for a year or more. The important
archives building waits only for the
word of congress. Two recent fires in
the treasury have shown that the old
buildings are not inyulnerable. and that
documents of great value stored IN
them are far from safe. But economy
is rampant and it will doubtless be
many months before congress can be
persuaded TO spend money for n build
ing program. even 70 insure the safety
of the national records.