Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1924-01-03
UNCLE TED's BEDTIME
AOTHER SENSIBLE PLAN FOR
ORDERLY GOVERNMENT

It was cold, crisp afternoon with
the sun. radiant and sky Of perfect
blue. Not cloud put blemish On
that azure curtain above. Jack and
| Ruth had returned from school, had q
/ luch and then back out Of doors
where they remained the entire after
noon. Jack was busy stacking cord
wood and cleaning up some trash back
of the house, and Ruth had busted
herself sweeping all the walks and
the front and back porches.
Now supper was over, and big
one it was, too. Everyone was quiet
except mother and Uncle Ted who
were discussing the erection of new
garage. Uncle Ted was saying that
! garage of their own would save some
money in rents, and make the car
more convenient to the house when
| they wanted to take ride.
l never could understand why we
do things that way" said Uncle Ted.
''The way we have spent money for
rent and walked two blocks to get
the car every time we wanted it re-
minds me of the way the Government
has been paying rents and permitting
the departments to be scattered all
over the city Of Washington, thus add
ing to the cost and difficulty Of trans
acting business among them"
+ II heard somebody say" said Jack
that President Coolide had a plan to
fix all that"
$50 he has," said Uncle Ted. "and
believe you would be interested in
story about it. In presenting the
Budget for 1923 to Congress he had
this to say, Il also recommend the
enactment Of legislation which will
authorize a reasonable progressive
building program to meet the needs
of the executive departments and es-
Establishments of the Government in
the District of Columbia. All of the
! permanent and temperament build
ms are more or less crowed, with an
overflow which of necessity is housed
in temporary buildings erected dur
ing the period of the late emergency.
A progam authorizing an expenditure
of not exceeding 100000 annually
for a period of years would operate
to gradually relieve the existing ,un-
fortunate situation and in the course
of time give adequate accommodate
ions to the departments and establish
ents."
an the Budget as presented by Mr..
Coolidge almost half million dol
lars is asked for rent of many pri-
vate building in Washington in which
various bureaus now have their of
fees. Alarge part of that sum
would be saved if public buildings
could be provided to accommodate
them all, but Of course some of it
would be represented by interest on
the new investment.
During the war the Government
built ssreat many temporary office
buildings to take care of the war
workers. Most of them were made
only of wood, plaster, and cheap wall
board. They are fire traps, their foun-
dations are rotting. away, and they
are very uncomfortable and ineffici-
ent. Moreover, many of them were
! built in the famous Hail and other
public parks. They should be cleared
away and the land rsetored to its or
| iginal purpose.
"While the saving in rent would
be considerable, the real object OF
President Coolige is to supplant
those crowded temporary structures
with permanent buildings that will
be a credit to the National Capital
and permit ECONOMY in the trans
action of the public business. The
items for beginning their construct
ion is not included in the Budget for
the reason that it must first be auth
orized by law. You know everything
that goes into the Budget must first
have law of Congress to back it up.
So Mr.. Coolidge has only asked Con-
gregs for authority to make the ex-
penditure. If the authority is grant
ed then he will ask for actual apro-
priation.
is another step in getting away from
war conditions and back to an order
ly development of the Government
establishment. Some day all trace
/ of the war will be removed from
Washington, the flimsy office build
ings of that period will be torn down,
and in their places will rise others