Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-29
New State Department
May Result From Fire
BY DREW PEARSON.

President Hoover's lightning shift Of
his Offices from the charred interior Of
the west wing of the White House to
| the State, War and Navy Building
marks the beginning of the day when
that massive and ugly pile of stone is
to become one of the most attractive
and important ediflces in the Capital.
incidentally. it also marks the day
when the State Department, after hav-
ing been shunted around from the side
streets Of Philadelphia to Trenton dur
ing the yellow-fever epidemic, to lower
Broadway, in New York, and to the
Washington Orphanage Asylum, will
have q final abode comparable to the
foreign Offices of Europe.
Even before the White House FIRE,
which forced President Hoover into
Gen. PerShing's Offices In the State, War
and Navy Building, he had planned
eventually to move the War Department
out Of the building and give all of its
space to the State Department and
the executive offices of the White
House.
This plan came to a head in rather
an amusing way. The State and War
Departments for years had been arpu-
Ing back and forth about which Of them
should have additional space In the
building. The Navy, 10 years ago, had
moved to an attractive building near
the Lincoln Memorial, and part of the
War Department had moved to the
Munitions Building beside it.
But the remainder Of the War De-
partment raised strenuous objections
against any further shift and a request
was sent the President that the State
Department be given additional outside
quarters.
Mr.. Hoover, however. replied that It
was essential that the State Depart
ment be near the White House, from
which the foreign relations Of the
United States are steered, and request
ed the War Department to take up the
question Of finding additional quarters
FOR itself. This was taken up even be-
fore the White House fire.
The reconditioned State Department
Building, as envisioned at present. is
to have all the trappings of the foreign
Offices of the Old World, including q
state dining room for the entertain
ment OF visiting sovereigns and presI-
dents.
At present the State Department
must take advantage of the hospitality
OF its Latin American neighbors by
using the Pan-American Union when
ever q diplomatic reception is to be
held.
There is also to be q tunnel under
West Executive avenue connecting the
White House with the State Depart
ment. and the gray stone facade, which
makes the building at present the
ugliest In Washington, is to be removed
In order to make 1t similar to the
attractive Treasury Building on the
other side of the White House.
No better barometer of the growing
interest of the United States In foreign
affairs can be found than the expan-
sion Of the State Department, which
now requires increased housing space
When the State Department was FIRST
organized. 1t occupied q small house in
Philadelphta at No. Is South Sixth
street The two rooms on the ground
moor were given over to clerks and sec
retaries, while the two rooms on the
second floor were occupied by Robert
Livingston, then secretary for foreign
affairs, and his undersecretaries.
Under Thomas Jefferson, who first
assumed the actual title Of Secretary
OF State, the departments entire staff
consisted OF 5 clerks. Today the
State Department has TOO clerks and
onictals In Washington and more than
1000 IN consular and diplomatic posts
abroad.
In those days diplomatic correspond
ence was entered. longhand, in a
ledger called the Book of Foreign Let
ters.' Domestic correspondence was
entered in the American Letter Book"
while the reports of the Secretary of
State to Congress were entered in the
Book of Reports"
In contrast. the State Department
now requires almost one floor to keep
us f1leS and records. Instead of enter
ing correspondence into ledgers, all i'm
portant kilograms are mimeographed
within or 10 minutes after arrival and
are circulated by q messenger system
to all bureaus within the state Depart
ment concerned. a
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