Evening star., 1925-10-07

partment of Justice and the Public
Buildings Commission and Fine Arts
Commission.
The original plans for the new
building provided for 1874, 900 feet Of
available area. as against less than
$4,000 square feet which the Depart
ment now occupies in four buildings.
1t IL believed that changes will be
made so as to provide considerably
more space In the new building for
normal expansion of the Department
for some years to come.
Right here 1t should be noted that
the Department Of Justice uses 24,75s
square feet of floor space for files,
at least rs per cent OF which could
be removed to a national archives
building for preservation and safe
keeping. thus releasing so much more
valuable Office space.
1t Is no exaggeration to say that at
least 100000 square feet Of floor space
must be provided in the new Depart.
ment of Justice Building. The work
and personnel Of the department has
grown just about 100 per cent since
1t moved into its present quarters less
than nine years ago. 1t then had no.
070 square feet.
Business Has Grown.
The business of the country has
grown tremendously, and the business
OF the courts all over our land has
grown correspondingly. This means
steady increase in the number of.
court employees. With the Department
Of Justice furnishing many supplies.
forms, etc, to all these courts, there
must be adequate space provided for
storage Of such forms and blanks so
that the service from Washington
headquarters to these court officials,
and especially the marshals in every
district, can be somewhere near eff
cient.
At present the Department of JUS
tice. although 1t has spread into four
buildings, has entirely inadequate stor-
age. There are two storerooms, one
devoted to the Department of Justice
and the other to the field work, where
many thousands OF forms are kept. 1t
is essential that these be kept in the
main building. They are not at all
like So-called dead" or unused files,
that could be placed in an archives
building. Even as 1t operates today,
without any thought of expansion in
the future, the storage space should
be twice its size for efficient opera
ton.
Still more is additional room needed
in practically every unit of the de
partment, for officials, attorneys and
the general run of clerical work. a
casual tour Of the building would con
vince any one OF this. Very frequently
the rule rather than the exception
you find two attorneys occupying one
small Office. That's all right for cleri-
cal work, but when one of these at
torneys had pretty well worked up his
case and calls In a stenographer to
dictate brief. he just naturally
knocks the other attorney entirely out
until that job of dictation is done, for
there are very few attorneys who
can work up one case while another
case is being argued out loud in their
office.
Dry Decisions Coming.
Again, II is an assumption that
cannot be doubted that the abolition
Of the legal unit in the prohibition
force will add very materially to the
work Of the Department of Justice.
4 considerable increase iY personnel
is inevitable. Again you have a con
dition that argues for provision OF
adequate space to meet sure de-
mand. Just visit the work space al
located to Mrs. Mabel Walker Willie
brandt, Assistant Attorney General
in charge Of the prohibition enforce
ment work, and you will find 1t very
seriously overcrowded. There Is alb
solutely no chance to squeeze in any
additional people
In emphasizing that the Depart
ment of Justice Is housed In a most
unsatisfactory manner. having long
since outgroWn the main structure
which is badly overcrowded at the
present time, In spite of the fact that
several units have been removed to