The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-01-07

records Of the nation from the
beginning, and for all future
time, making suitable provision,
not merely giving a site and a
few thousands to draw plans, butt
millions for building large
enough to meet the situation.
The legion is a. virile, wide
awake organization Of young men,
men who know what they want
and why they want it. AS citi-
| zens of this country. as business
men, as soldiers, they want this
provision for the safekeeping of
their records, and they intend to
get it.
1t has been a source Of amaze
ment to the men who compose
the legion to find the criminal
disregard of the safety of our
records. They have never re.
historians and statisticians in
certain bureaus have any idea of
the situation.
CARNEGIE HEAD PROTESTS.
In a memorandum calling atten-
ton to the insecurity of the present
depository, and pointing out the need
for an archives building, DIR. j.
Franklin Jameson. Of the Carnegie
Institution, says:
The most important archives of
the War Department, including in
4 deed nearly all its archives, are
now housed in a~structure far from
being fireproof-one that can
hardly be described as of slow
burning construction. Here are all
the headquarters records and the
papers of all the American Epedi-
tionary Forces in France, those of
the historical section OF the Army
War College, those of the Adjutant
Generals Office for all preceding
wars, as well as of the recent
war, all the muster rolls of
previous wars, and all the per-
sonal service records of~individual
soldiers In this last war.
Furthermore, the papers of the
war time camps and cantonments,
which have been ordered trans
,ferred to Washington, are now
stored in highly infIamable build
ings in many scattered points un-
der no satisfactory care.
RECORDS SCATTERED.
The archives of ,the Treasury
Department are scattered. Those
of the Secretary's office are stored
mainly in the attic of the Treas
ury building, where they are
exposed to extreme heat and
cold, and where they are deterior-
ating rapidly. The fire hazard in
the attic is great and the archives
stored there will be totally de-
stroyed if a fire is once started.
a G 1an o1 n
to within 80 feet of the woodwork.
Other Treasury archives are
stored under the northern lawn of
the Treasury building, in kind
OF cellar around the foundations
OF the fountain, and still others
are in the basement of Polls thea
ter. A storage warehouse on E
street is filled with public rec
ofds, largely from the Treasury
Department.
These records, on wooden
shelves, placed as close together
as possible. are in the worst pos
sible condition. Here again the
fire hazard is great because of
the crowding and of the COM
bustible nature of the contents.
At last accounts there were sew
eral rented buildings, not fire.
1
Treasury. The Land Office and
the Indian Office records, al
though now stored in the new
Interior Department building, are
badly crowded and are liable to
suffer from fire in the same way
| that the records OF the Census
Bureau, stored in a building of
| similar construction, suffered
some months ago.
GREAT DAMAGE FEARED.
I The conditions of storage in the
| Postoffice Department are such
| that a small fire, once started,
would do irreparable damage to
| the most important records of the
| department.
| Finally, the records of the spe-
cial war board are for the most
part housed in temporary wooden
l structures. Those of the War
Trade Board, by far the most
important for the history of in
! ternational relations during the
war, are in temporary building
No. 5. of wooden construction,
where not long ago they narrowly
escaped a destructive fire. Those
of the Food Administration, of
the United States Grain Corpora
ton, and some records of the
Department of Labor are in
wooden buildings at Nineteenth
and d streets, the construction
of which may be judged from the
fact that they have been lined
lately with a metallic mesh to
protect the records from the DEP
relations of rats. The records of
the Federal Trade Board are at
New York avenue and Twentieth
street, in a building not much
] better.