Evening star., 1923-07-19
z|HLMAN TO FIGHT
FOR H|GH-PRESSURE
FIRE MAINS IN D. c.
Declares System Should Be
Installed Even if Nation
Pays Entire Cost.
SEES PRESENT MENACE
TO PRICELESS RECORDS
Believes 100000 Cost Cheap In
surance for $4,000, 900 in Fed
eral Buildings.

eral Buildings.
HIS intention to take leading part
in getting Legislation at the incoming
session of Congress to establish
high-pressure water system in the
downtown section of the National
Capital, as an adequate safeguard
against the growing fire menace, was
declared today by Representative
Fred N. Zihlman of Maryland, who
VIII probably be the next chairman
of the House committee on District
legislation.
Determination to fight aggressively
for this legislation is based by Rep
resentative Zihlman not only on the
ground that Congress- having excIu-
siFe jurisdiction over the National
Capital, owes it to the residents here
as sacred duty to afford them ade-
quate protection against the fire
hazard, since they cannot take action
themselves in self-protection, as could
be done in' other communities. He
argues that even if the federal gov
ernment had to bear the entire cost
OF installing the high-pressure sys-
tenn it would be the cheapest kind of
insurance for the millions of dollars
invested in public buildings. 1t is
| only such protection as any good
business man would not hesitate a
second about taking. Representative
Zihlman says.
Buildings Worth $33.OOO,OOO.
while the high-pressure water
service proposed would give adequate
protection throughout the entire
downtown business section he
points out. cit is really imperative for
safeguarding the public buildings
and priceless documents and records.
| This is a point that Congress must
bear especially in mind.
Take the Capitol group alone, re-
| membering that there is a special
triangular loop of the igh-pressure
service planned to take care of these
| buildings, Entirely aside from the
value of contents, which cannot prop
| erly be estimated, the Capitol build
ing is valued at s15,D00.o00. the LII
Senate office building at s4.000,0o0.
the House Office building at s3.5o0,0 900,
the Capital power plant at s1,000,00e.
Besides this the architect of the Capt.
tol has charge of the courthouse. val
ued at s750,000, the Court CT Appeals,
100000. and Columbia Hospital.
s350,0o0. Here alone we have a real
property value of about s33.O00,0oO.
Cost Trivial I'm Comparison.
But when you stop to consider that
Uncle Sans workshop is located in
| lO3 government-ownedb buildings. val
ued at about SS0.000,000. and in sixty
five rented buildings. you get a larger
view of the fire menace that the fed
eral government itself is facing, and
which could be safeguarded against
by this comparatively trivial eXpendi-
ture of s1,500.000.
in all the buildings which come
under the jurisdiction of our own
Public Buildings Commission, which
viii support my statement, there are
| 9,464,75S square feet. The old State,
War and Navy building beside the
White House is valued at $4,000, 900.
| The new Navy and Munitions building
| is valued at more than S7,o00.00C and
/ the Interior building at about $1,000
] 600 There is real property value that
| Congress must give adequate protec-
tion.
Fire WcuId BE Costly.
And we must consider, too. the
| character of some of the buildings,
known to be firetraps. and the in
| f1ammable material in most of the
! temporary buildings which went up
| during the war and which cannot be
torn down because there Is an exist
| ing shortage of office space.
Besides the government owned
| buildings the federal government
maintains offices in sixty-five rented
| buildings for which 1t pays an annual
| rent bill of S671.423. In addition to
the actual loss Of property which
structures. is an equally. important
| consideration that Uncle Sam cannot
afford to have his working force
driven out by fire. which would cause
Record I'm Danger.
Next, we must consider the con-
stant menace from fire to government
records which are priceless not only
| from historical and sentimentally
patriotic considerations but also be-
cause they are basic safeguards
against pressure of unjust claims,
The Treasury building was three times
within the last year the scene of a
| fire, and with vouchers and other i'm
portant records stored there. The
destruction of any large number of
these vouchers on which claims
against the government were paid
would mean an avalanche of claims
| which could not be successfully fought.
In the United States patent Office
which for many years has been known
to be a fire trap, there are the orig
inaI drawings and descriptions on
(which are based hundreds of thou
sands of patents which are the
foundation of our entire industrial
| life. These are only two illustrations
of how 1t is essential for the govern
ment itself to have hfgh-pressure
| service for the protection of It's ire
placeable records.
| Another worthwhile consideration
is that when this high pressure sys-
tenn is installed 1t will mean GER
tain reduction in insurance rates.
Study of this side of the question
J shows that the key rate which is
now 10h cents, would be reduced TO
at least 10 cents. But the need is
| urgent for this protection entirely
aside from any attendant reduction in
| insurance rates.
/ Urges Careful study.
! .It is my firm belief that there
would be no delay in at once au-
| thorizing this project and in making
an initial appropriation of s50o.00o to
i start the work. / feel very sure that
my colleagues in Congress, If they
/ give the study 1t deserves to this pro-
posal. will support 1t eagerly. am
/ convinced thatzth high pressure syg-
CONTINUED on Pasa ,. Column Il