Evening star., 1933-01-01

The new public buildings being
erected here by the Federal Government
will liquidate their first cost and pay
for themselves in 40 years" according
to Karl j Hardy, until recently secre-
tary of the Public Buildings Commis-
sion, writing in the American Civic
Annual, issued yesterday by the Aineri-
can Civic Association.
Already" he says, with the COM
pletion of the Commerce Building and
its occupancy this year and the Agri-
cultural Extensible Building, l6 leases
covering 350,571 square feet of expen-
sive rented space have been discontinued.
saving 1902 55865 for the fiscal year
1888. Considering that the amortiza-
tion life of modern Government
building is at least 40 years, the amount
saved, when all rented space is released,
will amount to about one-fifth of the
total to be expended for public build
ings. A computation made by the
Public Buildings Commission based on
rents paid in privately owned buildings,
the cost of new buildings, the annual
expense of their maintenance, and in
cluding the possible loss of taxes, shows
that the new buildings will liquidate
their first cost and pay for themselves,
If occupied, in 40 years"
Cost of Commerce Space.
Mr. Hardy sets the yearly rental value
of the space in the new Department of
Commerce Building, as an illustration,
at S2,292 $3.50 and he says that the
yearly cost of the space is 81 ,502 TOO,
divided as follows: Amortization (s17,-
500 900, the cost of the building for 40
years.. $437 500; interest on $40, 1000 900
(Which represents the cost of the build
ing and the landD at per cent average
per year, $4l0.000 and maintenance,
$655,200. To these, he adds taxes lost
to the Government on the land, COM
putting at S1.70 per hundred, reaching
the figure of S32, 500: income tax lost
on return of per cent Of S2,29l 660 so,
at $l9,457.54, and taxes lost on build
| ing (S1.70 per hundred on 65 per cent
of construction cost, S193,375, making
total yearly cost of S1.74803 54
| Savings each year over the 40-year
period he places at s543 ,632 ,96, with the
| total savings in 40 years at S21 ,745,-
318.40.
The cost OF upkeep of outworn tenn
| porary buildings Is excessive, he con-
tends, characterizing the public build
/ ings program here "one of true con-
structive economy"
Personnel and files of one depart
ment were divided recently among 4s
buildings, and another department was
scattered through 18 buildings, some
more than mile apart" Mr. Hardy
asserts. This required extra trucking
service to handle supplies and mail, and
additional workers for operation, all in
creasing the cost OF Government. While
it would be difficult to compute with
accuracy the value Of co-ordinating
Federal activities in one or few ada
cent buildings, it Is evident that econ
omies do result from concentration, by
elimination of expensive communication
services and delays, and by more ef-
fective administrative supervision"
Cites Fire Hazard.
A real danger in temporary buildings
1 is the fire hazard. Mr.. Hardy says
adding; Even with prohibitions against
4 smoking and great care to avoid fire
risks, SOB fires have started in the
last eight years, and but for the special
vigilance of the guards and the precau-
tions taken, any one of these might
/ have proved disastrous"
| The Arlington Memorial Bridge is
l now carrying a daily traffic average of
10000 cars to the Mount Vernon Memo
! rial Highway and this will be doubled
when connections are made to Airing
| ton National Cemetery and to the