Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-25
Western Half of Farmers
Market Cleared for New
Structure.
NORTHEAST SECTION NOW
UNDER CONDEMNATION
Work Will Mark Opening of Elk.
tensive Program for New
Federal Offices.

B streets, for construction work on the
first new structure in the great build.
ing program here, about the last of
February, according to a communica.
ton received by the District COM
missioners from the Treasury Depart.
ment.
Old brick and frame buildings oc.
cupying tht square Immediately north
of the western half of the farmers
market, already owned by the Govern
ment have been entirely .raZed, and
thus half of the site for the huge In
ternal Revenue Bureau Building will
be ready early in March for the first
actual operations.
Plans are being perfected for the
building at the Treasury in the office
of the supervising architect, and ac-
cording to present indications bids will
be advertised in February for two
separate contracts to start work on
the western half of the building. The
two contracts will be for excavation
and for construction of the foundation
of half of the Internal Revenue Build
ing. Work cannot be started on the
entire structure at once, because the
northeast square of the site is still
privately owned, and is to be acquired
by condemnation proceedings, now in
the hands of the Department of JUS
tice. The Internal Revenue Building
when completed will cover the site
bounded by Tenth and Twelfth. B and
c streets. The square under condem-
nation is bounded by Tenth and
Eleventh, b and Little b streets.
Program Being Enlarged
While the Treasury has been push
ing forward with plans for this first
complete new building in the Federal
program, and proceeding with plans
for other jobs, the program itself is
under process of expansion by new leg
islation at the Capitol, and a new
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury,
Carl T. Schuneman, of Minnesota, has
been nominated by President Coolidge.
to take over the reins in the Treasury
Department.
Legislation has been introduced in
Congress which not only would au-
thorize expenditure of $4,000, 900 for
acquisition of the entire triangle
bounded by Pennsyl 'ania avenue and
the Mall, Fifteenth and Sixth streets.
but also for adding about S100.000.0O0
more to the construction of Federal
buildings in the country at large. The
triangle purchase bill, fathered by
Senator Smoot, has already passed the
Senate, and an identical measure in
troduced by Representative Elliott,
chairman of the House committee on
public buildings and grounds. is under
favorable consideration in the House.
1t has not yet come to vote.
The newly selected nominee for the
post of Assistant Secetary of the
Treasury would succeed Judge Nc
KenZie Moss, who several months
ago vacated the Treasury office to
accept a judgeship in the Court OF
Claims here. In the meantime the
public buildings work at the Treasury
has been under the supervision of
Assistant Secretary Charles s. Dewey,
who has been doing it in addition TO
his other duties.
Should Mr.. Schuneman's nomina-
tion be approved by the Senate, and
no objection has as yet appeared to in
dicate anything to the contrary. the
new assistant would come to Wash
ington from his home in st. Paul
shortly and would gradually take
over the public buildings work from
Mr.. Dewey.
Buildings i'm Demand
The problem has been extremely
however. not only on ac-
count of the size of the project, which
will probably rank it as the largest
of it's kind to be undertaken
in a few years by this Government,
but on account of the complexity of
the problem in the field. Many cities
and towns are clamoring for Federal
buildings. Delegations headed by men,
bers of Congress and including repre-
sentatives of chambers of commerce,
business associations. churches and
other organizations are coming in
almost a stream TO the Treasury
offices asking favorable consideration
In the building program. MIR. Dewey
has heard all these pleas. The Treas
ury itself made survey of the build
ing needs in the field. The Post Office
also has completed its
own survey.
Certain projects out of the city al
ready have been specifically author
fxed, and the Congress has, in addi-
tion given authority 10 the Post Office
and the Treasury Departments jointly
to make decisions as to the needs in
the field.
The Washington situstion, while
still in a changeable status, owing to
the new pending legislation. neverthe-
less is shaping up under authority al.
ready delegated by Congress and un-
der a recent decision by the Public
principle Government buildings to be
placed in the entire triangle.
One of the difficult problems facing
the Government in it's Washington
building program is how to house the
persons who will have to be thrown
out of their present buildings in order
to make way for new construction.
For instance, many hundreds of per-
sons are employed in the old tempo
rary building on Fifteenth and B
the site of part of the new
Commerce Building. They belong to
the Internal Revenue Bureau, which
Is to be housed elsewhere in the tri-
angle.
Relief Being Afforded.
Part of the housing plan calls now
for early completion of the western
half of the Internal Revenue Bureau
building in order to take care of many
people in the temporary building in
the way of the Department of Com
merce project.
Another prospect of relief is prom
sed i'm the Public Debt Service of the
Treasury. Three new additional
stories now are being constructed on
-op of the Liberty Loan Annex Build
ng. adjacent to the Bureau of En-
fC,ontip,,ad or, paCa a Column fN