Evening star., 1941-08-12
Speed Without Haste
Urged in Planning
Proposed War Building Site
Condemned us Destructive
And Unnecessary
Prom the Baltimore Evening Sun.

From the Baltimore Evening Sun.
A bill has been passed by the United
States House of Representatives and
now awaits the action of the Senate
which appropriates s35 100000 for new
War Department building in Arlington
County, Va, on the site Of the former
Experimental Farm of the Department
Of Agriculture.
The land, 50 acres in extent, lies be-
tween the National Cemetery and the
Potomac River, and was intended to be
used for an extension of the cemetery.
II the War Departments proposal goes
through there will rise, within stones
throw of the Tomb Of the Unknown Sol
dier a group of permanent office build
ings designed to house 10000 people.
The proposal completely upsets the
planned improvement Of that part OF the
Capital which contains the Washington
Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the
Jefferson Memorial, the Arlington Me-
mortal Bridge and the entrance to the
cemetery. 1t disregards long approved
plan for grouping the War Department
and Navy Department buildings. 1t was
sent to the House without previously
being submitted to the Park and Plan
ming Commission or to the Fine Arts
Commission, both Of which bodies are
strongly opposed to it; the former on
the practical grounds of the trafic prob
lem, sewage disposal and similar fac
tors incident to the proposal, the latter
on purely esthetic grounds.
THE erection of these buildings" says
the Fine Arts Commission in letter to
the Senate committee, at the main en-
trance to the sacred burial place for the
Nations heroes is, in our judgment, a
fragrant disregard Of a policy Of long
standing. Forty thousand persons,
proposed to be accommodated in these
buildings, constitute a population as
large as Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 1t is pro-
posed to place this city at the portals
of the Arlington National Cemetery, thus
resulting in the introduction of thirty
flve acres of ugly. fat roofs into the very
foreground of the most majestic view Of
the National Capital, that obtained from
a point near the tomb of Maj LEnfant,
the architect of this city, or from a
situation in front of the historic Arling-
ton Mansion. And from the majestic
terraces which surround the Lincoln
Memorial the visitor to the most beauti-
full Capital City in the world will look
down upon these same fiat roofs co-
cred with many ugly but necessary vents
and pipes
Speed is, of course, at this time essen
tial, and nowhere more essential than in
the War Department. But there is such
a thing as speed without haste and, in
this instance, haste seems to have played
far too important part. Washington is
a city which is visited by millions OF
people annually from all parts of the
Nation. AS the years pass, it becomes
more and more living symbol of the
Nation 1t is that symbolism which justi-
fies the vast expenditures that have gone
into the Identification Of the city
Through careful planning and the apph-
cation of the best talent, old eyesores
have been removed and in their places
| have appeared majestic buildings and
parks and avenues indicative of what
the Nation is capable in the creation OF
beauty.
From the evidence presented there
appears no doubt that the proposed
buildings would be a grave mistake anc
one which the War Department itseli
would regret in less hurried times. The
| concentration of the War Department Is
essential, but surely this can be accom-
plished without destroying. or ever
marring, the esthetic quality of thu
| Capital City. There must be better
solution and an effort should be made u
| find 1t.