Evening star., 1925-01-22
BUILDINGS NEEDED
URGENTLY HERE BY
U.S., SAYS OFFICIAL
Treasury Undersecretary Ad-
vises Committee D. C. Pro-
gram Comes First.
COMMISSION TO STUDY
REQUIREMENTS URGED
Representative Miller Says Hous-
ing of Federal Departments
Should Be Pushed at Once.

Should Be Pushed at Once.
Establishment of a commission TO
make a study of the public buildings
needs in the District, including a
comprehensive plan for location of
the buildings to bring related ac-
tivities into closer working arrange
ment and to carry out such a COM
prehensive scheme of housing Gov
ernment activities in the National
Capital, whether 1t costs s50,000,0OO
or 500,000,000, was advocated today
by Representative Miller of Illinois
at the opening of hearings on the
public buildings bill.
Several members of the committee
spoke in favor of separating the
public building program of the Ma
tional Capital from the public build
ing programfor the rest of the coun-
try, and such men as Representative
Miller, Brand of Ohio and Reed of
New York indicated that they would
support an effort to write into this
legislation provisions which would
lead to a development of the Mall
as great avenue of Government
workshops.
Melons Letter Read.
Representative Richard n. Elliott OF
Indiana, chairman of the committee,
read a letter from Secretary Mellon
regarding the public buildings bill,
which would authorize an expenditure
of $150,000,00 over period of years.
with discretion in the Secretary of
the Treasury to erect buildings wher-
ever they were most urgently needed.
Chairman Elliott put into the rec
ord statement covering $50 public
buildings bills, the aggregate cost of
which would be s225,S91,051. This
statement. he said, did not include
the $50, 900 recommendation of
President Coolidge to house Federal
activities in Government-ow build
ings in the Capital 1t did include the
14,750,000 asked for the Arlington
Memorial Bridge.
Urgent Projects Listed.
Mr.. Elliott remarked that the last
public buildings bill became a law
on March 4. 1919, but that a large
part of the buildings therein author
the suddenly Increased costs OF con-
struction during the war. He also
put into the record letters OF the
Secretary of the Treasury and the
Postmaster General listing the pub
lie buildings which in their opinion
were most urgently needed.
Garrett B. Winston, Undersecretary
of the Treasury. told the committee
that the first step in the building
program should be the erection of
urgently needed buildings in the
Capital and that then in the order
of thei necessity there should be
built additions to take care of i'm
mediate demands throughout the
country. He cited the fact that the
Department of Agriculture is occu-
pying As buildings, the General Ac-
counting ONCE 81 and the Internal
Revenue 10 buildings to illustrate the
scattering of various services.
He told the committee that all of the
income taxpayers records are stored in
one "fre-trap" building and that if
this structure was burned the Gov
ernment would lose many times the
entire cost of the whole public build
ings program. He also discussed the
need for a national archives build
ing, which would release valuable
Office space in other buildings.
Wants National Survey.
Mr.. Winston advocated that a sur
vey should be made of the entire
country to determine the actual
buildings needs and that then the
program should be arranged for con-
struction of these buildings in the
order of their relative Importance.
1t was emphasized that, though not
specifically in the Elliott bill, approx
mately $4,000, 900 should be spent on
Government buildings in the Capital
and 500, 000, 900 throughout the country.
About S40 600, 900 would be for addi-
tions and extensions already author
lied
Representative Miller told the COM
mittee, 'Tf you are going to have
comprehensive plan of public build
ings in Washington, Congress must
say definitely where these buildings
are to be located" He pointed out
that the Government some years ago
bought the property south of Penn
sylvania avenue between Fourteenth
and Fifteenth streets to the Washing
ton Monument grounds, and has not
used it for public buildings. If this
property does not fit in with the gen
eral scheme of the Mall development,
he urged that it should be sold. Rep
resentative Miller believed that this
land was very desirSS:a for public
buildings. James A Whnmore, su-
pervising architect of the Treasury,
explained to the committee that this
land was originally bought with the
intention of erecting thereon build
ings for the Departments of Justice,
Commerce, Labor and State.
start Advocated Now.
Pointing to a beautiful picture of
the proposed development of the Mall.
Representative Miller said: IF you
mean to do what that picture says
we ought to make a start now. II
you don't mean to do 1t We should
pull that picture down and forget it."
He said that for 25 years he has
been watching what he calls the out
rageous method employed by Congress
in spending money in Washington on
a haphazard arrangement on public
buildings" He said that Congress
should establish a definite plan and
stick to it.
1t was put into the record that the
Government Is now spending approx
mately $25,o00,00 for rented build
ings which would be saved by the
proposed public buildings program.
Undersecretary winston told the
committee that, besides the saving in
rents, there would be enormous saw
ing in administrative costs If the pub
lie buildings could be grouped con-
yeniently In i1lustra ton, he said
that $1,O0O,0O0 a year could be saved
in administration if all of the inter-
nal revenue branches could be grouped
together.