Evening star., 1931-12-30
COMMERCE ARMY
WILL MOVE TONEW
|. HOME TOMORROW
1000 Workers Will Occupy
s17,500,0o0 Building
by Monday.
TRANSPORTATION JOB
WILL COST $4,000
Largest Ever Undertaken by U. S.
Twenty Days Will Be Re-
quired for Work.

| rOuT LlOuSanQ government WORKERS
tomorrow afternoon will say good-by tc
their desks in various buildings assigned
to the Commerce Department, and the
next time they will use them will be or
Monday under the red-tiled roof of the
departments $17,500,000 new marble
hall and Indiana limestone temple Of
truth, dedicated to enlarging the science
as well as the practice Of business"
Actual moving will start shortly after
midnight New Year morning and SC
gigantic is the task that it will require
20 days before all but one of the bureaus
scheduled to occupy the new building
will be organized and working under
normal conditions.
Officials said it will be the greatest
moving job ever undertaken by the
Government in Washington. Contracts
| call for an expenditure of $4,000, and
the contractors will have to employ a
small army of men to complete the work
| on time.
| Everything to Be Moved.
Everything from printing presses to
! Thomas A. EdiSon's incandeScent elec-
trio light patent will be moved into the
new structure, which occupies eight
acres Of land or three city blocks. Of
| ficials say they expect to have the Cen
SuS Bureau moved into the new building
| by early Spring and when this Is COM
| pleted the building will be formally
dedicated
Because of the large number Of tenn
| porary workers employed by the Census
| Bureau at present, this branch will
not be shifted until It's personnel is
reduced. When the bureau is moved,
| the total population inside of the new
i building will be approximately 5000.
The new building is considered by
experts as one of the largest structures
| in the world, having net floor area
Of / l,092800 square feet. Secretary La
| mont has also described it as "a temple
Of great American faith, the faith that
as business Nation we hold in trust
a high duty to serve the world as well
as to get gain"
Hoover Laid Corner Stone.
The buildings corner stone was laid
June 10, 1929, by President Hoover, who
several months before retired as Secre-
| tary of Commerce to the become the
Nations Chief Executive. To Mr..
Hoover, according to Senator Smoot of
Utah, chairman of the Public Building
Commission, the department owes AN
| incalculable debt of gratitude-for his
organizing genius; his mastery ad-
ministratlve SKILL his creative imagi-
| nation and amazing energy his crystal
clear comprehension of the depart
ment's needs and possibilities, In rela-
ton to our national life. The Depart
| ment OF Commerce as 1t stands today
is in the fullest sense monument TO
him-and in its newer incarnation, it
will continue to he so, increasingly"
The department came into existence
On July l, 1908, with the then Secre-
tary, George B. Cortelyou, occupying an
office in the Willard Building, 513
Fourteenth street, only one block away
! from the new building. 1t was then a
! part of the Department Of Labor and
remained so until 1913, when 1t was
created a separate governmental or
ganization, with its Secretary becoming
| the ninth member OF the Presidents
| cabinet.
Then Debtor Nation.
At that time, according to records,
! the United States was debtor nation,
with its industry mortgaged to Euro
pean investors in the sum of approx
mately $4,000, ,OO0O 600. The radical
change that has taken place in the
business world in the last 18 years
brought about the new building.
! 1t will mark the first time that all
but one of the departments bureaus
will be under one roof-the Bureau OF
| Standards will remain at its present
plant-and into this building will pour
| facts and figures from every State and
every foreign country to be analyzed
and compared and made useful
Sources and markets for raw material
will be investigated and reported and
new outlets found for American manu-
factured goods.
Each bureau-Census, Survey, Fish
cries, Lighthouses, Navigation, Steam
boat Inspection, Foreign and Domestic
Commerce, Aeronautics, Radio, Patents
and Mines-Will here contribute in its
own way and in its particular field to
advance American business.
Transfer Biggest Job.
The largest individual moving task
| will be tnat of transferring records
from the old Patent Office to its new
quarters. More than 1,750,000 patent
files will have to be carted through
the city, including the famous Patent
| No. T." issued to Francis Bailey, the
Oldest record Of the Office, on Janu-
ary 20, 179l.
| Likewise and under careful scrutiny
will be moving of the separate filing
boxes containing the patents Of the
telephone, telegraph, cotton gin, sew
ing machine, reaper, boat-ralsing de-
vice, of Abraham Lincoln, the Edison
electric lamp, patent No. 100000, is
sued in 1911, and patent No. 1900, 900,
issued IN 1924.
Raw materials from II States and
| the District of Columbia have been
used in the construction of the build
ing, which has 80 acres of plastering
on the walls and ceiling of its seven
| floors.
Ten Million Bricks Made Here.
Ten million bricks were manufac-
tured Ia this city for the structure,
which also contains 16,400 tons Of
structural steel, 1000 carloads of In
diana limestone, $50 carloads OF Con-
necticut granite which was milled in
Massachusetts,, 900 tons of Missouri
| marble, 47O tons of Vermont base
marble, $50 tons of Minnesota Mankato
stone 500 tons OF travertine chips from
| Colorado and Georgia, 35 tons of floor
| tile from West Virginia, 800 tons Of
Ohio floor and wall tile, 100000 face
bricks from Pennsylvania, 200, 900 gray
bricks from the same State and $1,000
| tons of North Carolina and West Vir-
ginia terra-cotta.
A total Of 1855 dial telephones have
been installed to be supervised over by
six operators. The building has 3,3l1
rooms and is entrances. Thirty six
bronzed gate elevators will be in opera
ton, which may accommodate 800
persons simultaneously. The cafeteria
has a seating capacity of 2,40O besides
several small dining rooms. The kitch-
en- is electrically equipped
Only the Secretary's suite and the
aquarium are air conditioned. The
latter will be occupied for the present,