Evening star., 1941-08-01
By HENRY A. Muslin.

The National Capital Park and
Planning Commission is recon-
mending cutting in half the dimen-
sions of the proposed s35, 900, 900
War Department building for Ar
lington County, it was learned to-
dav, as the Commission OF Fine
Arts voice strong opposition to any
building on the projected site on the
ground that the locality has for
years been designated as future =
part of Arlington National Gene
terry.
Objection of the Planning Com :
mission to construction of buildin"
large enough to accommodate 1000 /,
workers was on these grounds:
l. The Federal Government would +,
have to give up suddenly SOM
100000 square feet of rented offlcf
space in the District. with serious
economic dislocations. ,
2. Until they could find homes
south of the Potomac River, 2400e
to $4,000 War Department emploves
would have to be transport ed
through crowded Washington streets
twice daily
3. Arlington and Fairfax Counties.
Va, would be saddled with heavI
population burden which their COM :,
munity facilities could not handle,
readily.
The Fine Arts Commission, In
press memorandum, suggested that
there are other and better solutions
to the problem of locating the pro-
posed War Department Building.
And it added subtly, such a solu-
ton might incidentally result in de-
centralizing the Offices of the Army
Ito prevent that remote POSSIBILITY
of wiping out the whole establish
ment incident to the dropping Of
two or three bombs"
The commission said that II does
mot look with favor upon the propo-
sition to erect buildings of any de-"
scription upon lands which for years
past have been designated as open
area to be unencumbered save with
the graves of the honored dead OF
tn Army and the Navy of the United
States.
Avoid Serious Mistakes.
such a use brings these lands
into the category of a great park
and it is that use which seems to
the Commission of Fine Arts to be
the most appropriate as a fore
ground or background for the cen,
tral composition of the great Capt.
tai City of Washington"
Pointing out that the general pol.
icy of keeping the particular lands
involved open and free of perna-
nent buildings dates back to the
Senate Park Commission plan of
1901 and was included in a develop
ment plan for the National Gene
terry prepared in 1921, the Fine Arts,
Commission asserted that:
The members of this commits
sion are in complete accord with
the efforts of the War Department
to provide adequate space for its
Offices and we do not wish in any,
way to retard the progress in the
direction of the completion of our
program for defense, but we do en-
phasize the fact that serious mis-
takes should if possible be avoided
even in times of emergency and We
believe that We owe it to future
generations of Americans not to de-
stroy the beauty of the greatest
Capital City in the world by hur-
ried, ill-considered schemes for the
physical expansion of governmental
departments"
Report Given Senators.
The recommendation Of the
Planning Commission was con-
tanned in a lengthy report sub
mitted yesterday to a Senate Ap-
preparations Subcommittee conduct
ing hearings on an appropriation
bill containing funds for the pro-
posed War building.
The commission advocated erect
ing building big enough for not
more than 10000 workers, stating
Gee prTTr ZINC Doon A1EI