Evening star., 1932-02-28

tectS at the beginning OF this year
were working on drawings for 262 ad-
ditional buildings and extensions, to
cost approximately $138,000,000
Now more than 300 Government
buildings and extensions or additions
are under contract. We are letting new
contracts at the rate of more than one
each working day. and within few
months it is probable that there will
be more than 500 Federal building jobs
in progress.
This then, is part of the answer to
the question often asked: What is the
National Government doing to counter
act the business depression" OF
course, no possible program of Govern
ment building for which there is actual
or anticipated need could fully COM
pe1Sate for widespread cessation of
private building construction-many
t,-Cl sands of residences. apartment
houses, Office buildings and warehouses,
in communities big and little. But all
that the Government can do in the
way of building construction is being
done. The result is the employment,
as have already pointed out, Of many
thousands of workingmen. Nearly 200
architectural firms are preparing plans
for Government buildings-in addition
W UIlG VI IlCll III SIONNLAllIC
Offices who are preparing plans and
specifications. In hundreds OF cities
there are men working who would be
idle were it not for the great public
building program of the Government.
As it is, they are quarrying limestone,
granite and marble, making brick and
cement, carving stone, fabricating steel,
working in floor and planning mills and
doing all the other multifariouS and
multitudinouS tasks involved in the
erection of not merely scores but
literally hundreds of buildings.
For the men and their families, and
for the owners of industries which sup
ply materials, there could not be
better time for the Government to
undertake the work-for building
operations generally throughout the
country have been at a point only half
of what is considered normal. For
the Government there could not be a
better time for construction of needed
buildings for public service-because
material prices, and the cost of labor,
too, have receded from the high levels
of few years ago. The result is the
saving of scores of millions of dollars
to taxpayers in securing needed facll1-
ties for Federal activities.
The diversion of funds expended on
public building construction is probably
more far-reaching and of greater value
to labor and industry than any other
form of governmental undertaking.
When one traces the sources of supply
and origin of material used in con-
struction of public buildings, he is sur
prised to learn of the many localities
through the country which are bene-
flied by this class Of public works.
Structural Steel Traced.
BY way of illustration, If one exam
ined the Just completed Department OF
Commerce Building, beginning with the
rs miles of. steel reinforced concrete
piles used in the foundation, one could
trace the structural steel back to the
mines of the Mesabi range In Mime
sofa, then down through the ore
handling docks at Duluth, in frelghterS
on their voyage down the Great Lakes
to the rolling mills of Pennsylvania,
where at different times 585 freight
cars-Which would have made train
four miles long-were used in trans
porting the steel
Cut stone by the carload was quar-
ried in New England and Indiana; tile
from West Virginia. sash and frames
from Ohio; wall cement from Medicine
Lodge Kans.; marble from Missouri
Minnesota, Vermont; travertine from
Colorado and Georgia and Soapstone
from Virginia. The plumbing of the
building calls for miles Of cast iron
steel and brass piping, with 1000 hx-
lures from the potterieS Of New Jersey.
Nearly all the States have contributed
some of their products and some OF
their labor to the building OF this one
I1.,iII{pn nd II
is that the Federal building dollar flies
in every direction and benefits all
classes of the population by its expendi-
ture, no matter where the building it
self may be located.
That the construction is actually
needed is readily apparent to any one
who examines some of the existing
quarters of Government services. Dur
ing the dozen years or more when there
was practically no Government build
ing there was tremendous growth OF
parcel post and other mail business
Restrictive immigration created need
for additional inspection facilities along
the borders. Growth of Federal court
business far outdistanced court house
or Federal building space. And so the
Government had to make hundreds of
leases at boom" time of high rent
ais. for needed space, often i'll adapted
to the requirements of efficiency and
convenient handling Of public business.
Government work had to be done in
dark Easements; Government records Of
public value and usefulness had to be
kept in so-called temporary" buildings
that were little more than wooden
shacks, constantly exposed to fire
hazard
In Washington, Government clerks
doing necessary work were crowded into
plaster and cardboard, makeshift
buildings hastily erected during war
times; and the heat under tar paper
roofs during the Summer was often SO
intense that dozens of employees were
overcome and work had to be suspended
dav after day.
Throughout the country, first-class
mail and parcel post were handled with
delay and difficulty in outgrown quar-
ters or unsuitable, poorly located rented
buildings The Government was pay
ing millions of dollars in rents in hun
dredS of places, and still lacked the
facilities necessary to serve the public
properly.
In this situation President Hoover
took a personal interest Immediately
following his Inauguration. The pro-
gram of public building construction
that was adopted took just as much
notice of the post Office needs OF juno
tion City, Kans., as of New York and
Chicago. The actual requirements of
every State. both now and for years
ahead, were carefully surveyed. And
it is on the basis of such needs that
work Is proceeding.
Pressure of Competition.
In time Of business depression, the
pressure of competition in labor and
materials Is greatest. Experience showed
/ that some contractors, unless re-
/ strained, would make low bids based on
/ an intention to use inferior materials
/ from abroad or entering the country at
lower prices, because Of currency con-
! ditions, than materials produced in the
! United States. Other contractors made
/ bids based on a determination to beat
down the price of labor to the lowest
possible point, regardless of the effect
on living standards of American work