Evening star., 1929-12-04
MELLON SAYS TWO
FEDERAL BUILDINGS
WILL START SOON
Archives and ExtensibIe Prof.
ectS to Be Under ConStruc-
ton in Near Future.
CONDEMNATION ACTION
BRINGS SITES TO U. S.
Move to Enlarge Program for D. c,
and States Outlined in An
nual Report.

Construction of both the Archives
Building and the extensible building
for the Department of Agriculture here
will start before long, Secretary of the
Treasury Mellon today told Congress
In his annual report.
The sites for these two projects are
being acquired by condemnation pro-
ceedings, he said, explaining, 1T is ex-
pected that title will be vested in the
Government within few months, so as
to permit commencement of construc-
ton work within a reasonable time
thereafter"
Under the Governments building
program, Secretary Mellon told Con-
gress that in the District of Columbia
nine projects had been authorized, in
Guiding the purchase of the Economics
Building for the Department of Agri-
culture and the Supreme Court Build
ing site, or a net total of seven build
ing projects"
Five Under Contract.
Five of the building projects, the
Secretary reported, had been placed
under contract, of which two of the
largest are the Department of Com
merce Building (s17 7,5o0,000l and the
Internal Revenue Building Cs10, 0,000,0 ,000) /.
This work, the Secretary said, "is pro-
crossing rapidly, and it is expected that
the buildings will be completed six
months or a year in advance of the
contract time" The Economies Build
ing, he explained, already had been
purchased. leaving the extensible build
ing for the Department of Agriculture
and the Archives Building yet to be
placed under contract. The job of safe
guarding the dome of the New Ma
tional Museum had been completed, the
report said.
While the Secretary did not spe-
cifically present to Congress his hope
that the public building program will
be extended by 500, 100000 in the field
and SIS 1000 900 in the District of CO.
lumbia, he did include in his report
detailed statement on two special meet
ings held by the Treasury Department
in the Chamber of Commerce of the
United States, where members Of Con-
greSs and the entire administration
were presented with the toy city"
model of the proposed triangle develop
ment in this city.
Further Funds Required.
To carry forward this development
further funds would have to be au-
thorized and appropriately IN addition
to the S24S, 900 900 public building pro-
gram, already approved by Congress
For the country at large, outside of
the District of Columbia, Secretary Mel
lon reported that 334 projects had been
authorized, including projects for
sites only, making a net total of 326
been placed under contract he said,
and the drawings are in various stages
of completion on So others, aggregatlng
q total limit of cost of Sc, ,9I6,0O0.
"Of the 189 new cases where sites
and additional land were appropriated
for by the acts of March and May %,
1928, and March 4, 1879, for projects
outside of the District of Columbia (un-
der the 5000, 100000 authorization 7s
cases have been closed" he said, "in-
volving an expenditure of approximately
SASS, 900; in 81 cases proposals have
been accepted for land in amount OF
S2835 900, and selections made in %
cases involving nearly S5,600,000 and
referred to the Department of Justice
for institution of condemnation pro-
ceedingS. From time to time, as the title
is vested in the United States to the SO
pending site cases referred to, the
drawings, ETC., for the buildings to be
placed thereon will be taken up and
contracts for construction let at as early
2 date as possible, with due regard to
the restrictions placed by law upon the
amount that may be expended annually
in carrying the present authorized pub
uc-pullolng program 70 compIetlon.
In Negotiation Stage.
'The remaining 81 site cases are
either in the advertising or negotiation
stage, and definite action in the major
ity of these cases will be taken before
the end of the calendar year. The
amount which will be required to OBJ
tain the necessary land in these cases
will probably exceed $l0,000,000.
Representative Elliott of Indiana
chairman of the House committee on
public buildings and grounds, has in
dicated he intends to ask Congress to
authorize S100,0O0.000 more for the
field and 5,o00,0 900 more for the Dis
trict Of Columbia public building pro-
gram.
To date, Secretary Mellon explained
S1s9, ,226, ,010.59 has been authorized fol
projects outside of the District of Co.
lumbia and S47,96S,741 for projects ir
the District Of Columbia, or total OF
S237.194, ,751.50. Of this amount, $5e,-
142,526.S7 has been obligated.
During the fiscal year 1929 contracts
we're made for 81 buildings and major
extensions to buildings. involving obli-
cations Of approximately s30000,o00
A large volume of work on projects
mot properly part of the public building