Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02
District National Guard


OnaeialS of the Guard found q build
ing to be used for armory purposes
Just q couple Of jumps ahead Of an
order to vacate the Government Hotel
Building on the Union Station Plaza
which has served for training purposes
for the local troops for the past several
years.
Lieut.. Col. r. H. Smith, adjutant
general, last week received a letter
from Mrs Lulah T. Andrews, president
of the United States Housing Corpora
ton, custodian of the Plaza buildings,
informing him that the Guard must
vacate the building prior to June is
next. Mrs. Andrews said that she took
this step because of having received
word from the architect Of the Capitol
that the razing of the buildings would
begin on July l next. Further, no APP
preparations have been made for main
tanning the buildings during the fiscal
year 1881, which begins on July /.
Plans now are being made by the
various organizations quartered in the
old hotel building to move to the struc-
ture formerly occupied by the National
Hotel, at Sixth street and Pennsylvania
avenue, which has been taken over by
the Government to eventually form a
part of the site for the new municipal
center. It was said at the brigade
headquarters that no date has yet
been fixed for the actual moving, but
that 1t Is probable that all of the
units Will be out Of the present build
ing and settled in the newly assigned
structure prior to the beginning of the
annual armory inspections in May. 1t
was pointed out that the inspections
IN ha LAT ~, h.
year than usual, because it was an
t1c1pated that the Guard would have
to move before Spring.
All of the units of the Guard, ex-
cept two, the 260th Coast Artillery and
Company A, 372d Infantry, are quar-
tered in the Government Hotel Build
ing, and will be involved in the trans
fer. The units Quartered there have
been working under the most unsatis-
factory conditions from a training
standpoint for some months or since
one of the two Government Hotel Build
1ngS which 1t occupied was given I'D
on order OF the housing corporation.
Some remodelling is being done in
the building in preparation for the re-
ception OF troops, but this is mostly
in the way Of cutting doorwayS in the
brick partitions between the former
guest rooms, so that each Of the several
units may have a suite of communi-
eating rooms. The new quarters, while
providing room, formerly used as a
dining room, and which can be used
Tor assembly purposes, do not have q
space large enough for the indoor
drilling of troops. A large drill hall
Is one Of the outstanding needs of the
local Guard and had been so for years
As in the past, they will have to take
practically all of their drilling in the
open, and efforts will be made to
obtain permission for them to use, as a
parade ground, some Of the park space
IN the Mall, south of PENNSYLVANIA
avenue. But this can only be used in
good weather. During extremely bad
weather the troops must necessarily
confine their instruction to the class
rooms.
The time that the Guard will be
allowed to remain in its newly assigned
quarters is problematical, dependent
entirely upon when Congress appropri-
ates the money for the erection of the
buildings there which will eventually
mouse all OF the activities Of the NUM-
clpal government. During this period
the omcers viii have to keep up their
EFFORTS TO have Congress make provi-
sion for the construction of a specially
designed building for the local troops,
a movement, which has gone on for
more than quarter Of q century with
out result,
Some hope was expressed that some
oennlte result may come out of the
action of the National Capital Park
ana Planning Commission last week in
appointing special committee to study
the armory matter. This action was
taken following a previous action BY
tnat body, which decided against the
use OF the Washington Auditorium as
an armory. The commission gave no
reasons for its objection to the use of
the auditorium, but 1t Is believed to be
due to the fact that it is close to the
proposed boulevard from the Capitol to
the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Early In the present session Of Con-
greSs, Representative Bowman intro
duced a bill providing for the purchase
oy the Government of the Auditorium
Tor use as an armory for the Guard.
Plans were drawn showing that with
some alterations 1t would provide a
much better Armory than the local
Guard has ever enjoyed in its history.
1t also would have provided the much
needed drill hall. However, there is a
SCrong hope that something may come
out Of the Planning Commissions spe-
cial committee that will satisfy all OF
the Government agencies through which
proposal for q building for the Guard
has to go, including the Public Build
ing Commission, the National Com
mission on Fine Arts, the District of
Columbia Commissioners, the District
OF Columbia committees in either House
and the committee on public buildings
and grounds of the House, to say
nothing of the appropriations commit
tee. When concrete suggestions have
been made heretofore for an Armory
for the local troops, one or more of
these commissions and committees have
found some cause to object, with the
result that the matter has gone on
from year to year, until more than a
quarter of century of time has passed,
and the organization has been going
from one bad project to, another, in
expensive rented buildings, or in build
ings allotted to them which no Govern
ment department could or would use.
Incidentally, it was long ago decided
that the local Guard was a Federal
activity the same as q Government de-
partment or independent bureau, and
as such the Public Buildings Com
mission had the duty Of allocating 1t
q