Evening star., 1937-05-10
Washington
Wayside
Tales
Random Observations
Of Interesting Events
and Things.
OUR TIMES.
H. MACARTHUR makes 1t
possible for US to write a
postscript to Mothers day

n. MdCAH HUN makes II
Il possible for US to write a
postscript to Mothers day
4s which indicates that the
greeting card makers look on broken
homes and remarriage with a practical
eye.
1t was while walking through a five
and dime store on F street that the
evidence of their practically smacked
him full in the face
Mothers day cards." read the sign,
two for cents"
He thought 1t ought to be recorded
somewhere that children with mothers
and stepmothers could take care of
both with a nickle from a single (you
know what We mean) father.
We thought so, too.
SAGA.
A ROVER on our contributors list,
w. S. Odlin, insists upon the Way
sides recognition as powerful agency
for the public veal.
For long time it has been Mr..
Odlin's way to dig up items relating
to the awful remissness of the Fed
eral Government in neglecting to do
something about the low visibility of
the clock face on the old Post Offlce
Department Building. Actually, he
organized a little coterie which went
around finding out how much indi-
vldual citizens suffered through the
skullduggery which kept the clock q
sort of useless oaf dangling from the
sky
All that. of course, has ended now.
The clock has a bright, shining, highly
visible face so citizens will know how
fast they have to run, or drive, in order
to get to the office on time.
1t strikes me. however, as more like
the working of destiny than the rant
ing of this citadel of the peoples
rights.
FEUD.
Episode No. 3 in the Battle OF the
Blue Pencil betueen lady COL
u1nist for this paper and a copy
reader:
Copy reader complained that
ColunniSt constantly mispelled
Thoroughbred Alwdys urote it
thoroughbred. She should knoW
better, he scolded. inasmuch as her
column is about horsey AFFAIRS and
she has had long association ,Dith
thoroughbreds.
Columnist promised to reform.
Came her nert dispatch. She had
changed the spelling OF "thorouoh-
bred" all right. 1t uns 'uritten
"troughbred." Most thoroughbreds
are.
BIGGIEs.
THE impression prevails among
many people that the new In
terror Building has more floor space
than any other Government Office
structure. 1t hasn't. The Depart
ment of Commerce Building still leads
the list In floor area with gross Of
1,605,066 square feet, while Mr.. 1ckes'
new home has only 1,05oo00 square
feet. The Commerce Building has a
net floor area, including Offices. labo-
ratories, shops, etc, Of 1902, 800
square feet. while the Interior Build
ing reports net usable space OF 100000
square feet. exclusive Of 2 miles Of
corridors, stairways, machinery and
elevator space.
A deceiving feature OF the Com
merce Building in the matter of space
Is that while the outward appearance
indicates six floors of Office space
the building has seven stories, Of
which the sixth floor has no outside
windows.
The Interior Building has seven
floors. with an eighth setback, and
occupies two full city blocks. 1t cost
some s11,ooo,oOO, while the Commerce
Building cost about sl7,O00,O0O but
the cost of establishing a stable foun-
dation was quite an expense in the
latter structure and also it had to con-
form to the style Of architecture OF
the other buildings in the triangle
group.
+ i
SIT-DOWN.
A LOCAL woman who runs tea
room and feeds her kitchen
force as part of their wages came
up against curious sit-down strike
on the part of the help recently.
The meat on the menu that eve
ming was frankfurters, OF which they
are all very fond. But this evening
they said they wouldn't eat them. A
little research uncovered the fact that
she had planned for three frank
furters apiece The Stairs objection
was not to the frankfurters, but to
the number three.
Why? That she never did find
out. Some connection doubtless with
the three on match"