Evening star., 1923-05-18
CAPITAL. KEYNOTES
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

each year what is left is the more
and more inaccessible.
X X * x
1t is fortunately as hard to kill
a baby in Washington as a cat of nins
lives. Washingtonians have thrown
their babies off of third-story porches
and seen them land right side up
in nice soft mud puddles and crow
with giee over the fun of it. a day
or two agot<the- plaster from d cell
ing fell right where the baby's crib
might have been standing, but y
folks think babies should not he
treated rough like that, but should
be marked Fragile; handle with
care; this side up
Was it the pessimists or the op-
timists who opposed any government
building activities last year. because
costs were too high? They wanted
to wait until the pressure for private
building had subsided and then have
the government erect public buildings
in dull times to; equalize labor de-
mands. SinceA then building costs
have Increased nearly 20 per cent, but
the government is finding that its
temporary war buildings, In which il
Is housing some of its many bureaus,
proving to be expensive Economics"
They are built without foundations.
and every two or three years they
sag so much that costly upkeep is
necessary. The government is spend
ing millions Of dollars on rentals in
Washington and elsewhere.
President Harding has let it be
known that he does not approve OF
that kind of business management.
and at the next session of Congress
no will recommend systematic pro-
gram of erection of permanent pub
lie buildings. The government has
outgrown present accommodations
and cannot afford to wait for period
of general depression before under
taking to meet the situation. lnval-
uable, public records are jeopardized
by. the lack of freproof archives
building. Millions of dollars might
have, been saved if the building op-
erations bad begun a year or two
ago. but costs are still increasing.
/ - *x kl .f
A case on record wherein the little
fellow wins out is that of the law
passed at the last session of Con-
gress ordering all Washington alleys
to be cleared of residents. 1t was
proclaimed as a frightfully drastic
persecution. which would make
homeless between 10000 and $4,000
alley dwellers, mostly negroes. There {
was no prospect that the evicted ones
could find other homes at reasonable
cost. The evictions would come. too,
just when Washington would be
overcrowded with some 100000
Shriners.
Now, by strictly "construins the
law and surveying the alleys. the
$1,000 supposed victims are reduced
to 81 only. All the rest will be 'as
you were
The whole agitation for the clear
ing out of alley residents dates back
to movement started and pushed BY
the first wife of President Wilson. at
the beginning Of his first term. but
evidently there have been modifca-
tions in the original project. While
the ideal aimed at was to better liv-
ing conditions of the poor. the sup
posed working of the legislation, as
finally passed, would probably have
caused great distress, but for the
willy CONSTRUCTION" put upon it by
the corporation attorneys. Now let
somebody attack the constituting, and
1t will be a matter of long litigation,
during which the present dWellers
may age. prosper and retire to more
aristocratic domiCiles. So. there is
more room for our June guests than
had been feared-not In alleys. but,
in the better homes" uninvaded.
Copyright 1928 by p V. Collins,