Evening star., 1925-10-05
PRICELESS FILES
OF U. S. MENACED
BY LACK OF SPACE


BY LACK OF SPACE
Continued from First PageO
which the general accounting office
occupies entirely are: 210 Eleventh
street, 1866 square feet; 2oS Eleventh
street 1,S20 square feet; iii Little
b street, Asp square feet; POI
Twelfth street, 1886 square feet: 211
Twelfth street, 1884 square feet; 213
Twelfth street, 3,120 square feet.
1t occupies the entiIe space in four
rented buildings and part space in a
fifth. For two of these the Treasury
Department pays rent. These are
the Merchants Transfer and Storage
Co. Building. at "20 f street. where
ii has 15,7S5 square feet, and the Cox
Building, 1890 New York avenue,
where it has SOS square feet. 1t
occupies only pat of the former
building. but if it had to pay its pro-
pOrtionate part of the rental cost
il would amount to between $1,000
and SS 900 per annum, in addition to
the 1000 annual rental burden
quoted above.
The other rented buildings are the
Walker ohnSon Building, 1884 New
] Ork avenue. Wnert II mas lVb- -fJO
square feet. for which it pays $4,000
Il year rent; 1900 r street, where it
has $4,000 square feet, for which it
pays 5000 Il year rent. and the
Lemon Building. 1925 New York ave
nue.. where it has 26620 square feet
for which it pays 5000 a year.
SO that we find the general account
ing Office occupies 232 .654 square feet
in Government-owned buildings and
20l,SS6 square feet in rented build
ings. OF this, 1911 square feet in
Government buildings ana l5,432
square feet in rented buildings is oc.
cupied by files that could be moved
into an archives building. if located
nearby, thus vacatinG 92.209 square
feet of floor space.
WaIllerJohnson Building.
In one rented building. the Walker
Johnson, for which $4,000 a year is
paid. the space occupied is far greater
than in any Government owned build
ing-106,456 square feet. as against
l2,432 in the Government-owned Post
Office Building. In another rented
building, 1900 l. street, $4,000 square
feet is occupied. while the largest
space occupied in Government-own
buildings is 72,432 square feet men
toned above and 5O,759 in the Einder
Building
In three rented buildings Il total of
l.lSo persons are employed out of the
2.0002 in the personnel of the General
Accoutins Office.
ENTIRELY aside from the efficiency
that would result in tranSacting Gov
ernment business by providing the
auditing force with an adequate work
shop. and entirely aside from the fact
that hundreds of employees are now
working under intolerahle conditions
of fire hazard, eye strain and other
wise impairing their health. is the
question of preservation of invaluable
records, which may have to be con
=ulted at any time, and which are
often used as evidence in courts.
In temporary building No. 6 at
Eighteenth street and Virginia ave
nue., which literally is falling to pieces
and which recently had to be shored
up because the foundations are cr1Im-
bling to pieces. are stacked all Treas
ury warrants since the British burn
ed the Capitol in 1913. The warrants
for the big loans to foreign govern
ments We're recently pulled out of this
building because of the fire hazard and
placed in large steel vault.
How Files Are Crowded.
w
Government would he thrown wide
open to all sorts of claims and suits
for billions upon billions of dollars,
which Uncle Sam would have extreme
in defending, because he
could not prove payment of the
in question.
IN the old files at 1920 Pennsyl-
vania avenue are Army pay rolls and
vouchers. In the Auditors Building,
az Fourteenth and B streets south
west. are the Revolution and Civil War
pension vouchers.
The veterans compensation. allot
ment and allowance vouchers are
now being moved from the Lemon
Building. having been forced out on
account of lack of space, into Tenn
pora!-v Building No. 6.
An amusing incident happened only
the other day which illustrates how
these files are crowded in. a mes
senger was sent from the executive
Offices to get a certain batch of files. |
lie came back without them and said:
Boss. if YOU must have those papers
YOU must send a smaller man than |
am" An investigation confirmed his
report that the aisles were 50 mar
thin person could get in to
them.
Another great handicap to the Gen
erill Accounting Office resulting from
such crowded conditions and being
forced to occupy part space in many
buildings is that It is inn
possible to keep the files in proper
series together. That entails un-
l,lStncsSlil1e loss Of time by expert
clerks. For example. a veteran may
claim. as many do almost daily, that
he did not receive his checks. The
clerk has to look up a series of files
in possibly three buildings before he
finds all eff the vouchers.
Auditors Building Situation.
This is true also with regard to
the accounts Of disbursing officers of
the Government, Of which there are
now 100.
The Government is paying very
large sum annually for rental OF
modern tireproof vaults i'll the build
i'm" of the Merchants Transfer and
storage co. at $40 l. street. Some
old Treasury warrants are stored
there.
In the old Auditors Building,
and B streets southwest.
are files of all pension vouchers to
soldiers who fought in the ReVolu-
tion. Here is peculiar situation.
When women put in their applica-
tiors TO ioin the ID. \. r. or other
patriotic organizations they are re-
ouired to prove up their claims, ana