Evening star., 1944-01-11
THE EVENING STAR WASHINGTON D ASK A-s


building being erected on cost plu.
fixed fee basis. These add up II
$149 ,024 in excess of the April state.
ment, which may be accounted fol
by part of the fees.
Additional equipment, ETC., sinc'
erection of the building accounted
for $4,240,0 and work on tn,
highways represented some $4,000,
000" officials said.
Extra costs included equipping o.
the message center and radio con.
troll, both essential functions of tht
War Department; fitting out of the
huge cafeterias which now feec
$4,000 employees daily; the dis.
pensary and emergency rooms. Alse
included were the ordnance lab.
oratories and an enormous printing
and mimeographing plant.
Other items of cost are in the
estimate. One is traceable to the
time when Secretary of the Nav
Knox and his high command plan
ned to occupy one of the floors
The work of fitting the Offices tc
suit the Navy's needs had to be
undone.
Sewage Plant Extended.
The $4,000 800 item entering into
admitted cost of the project in
cluded the power plant. air-con-
ditioning system, and a large sew
age disposal plant in addition tc
the intricate maze of access roads
which never cross one another
When the Navy building WAS erected
on the outskirts. followed by the
dormitory project for WAVES and
WACS, it was necessary to extend
the sewage plant to meet the needs
of an additional population OF
about $4,000.
Nowhere has money been spent
to better advantage, Penatgon Off
Gals believe, than in tying up the
road network with the long range
plan of highway development to end
the traffic bottlenecks at the Vir-
ginia approaches to the Highway
Lincoln Memorial and Key Bridges
The bulk of these additional funds
came from direct War Department
allotment of S6 900 900 TO the Public
Roads Administration to speed up
the work
AS it now stands the whole Pen
tagon network. with minor changes
was based on road plans dating
back to 1884 The construction of
the building on the site finally
chosen for 1t merely necessitated
the speeding up of this work for
the bus and automobile transporta-
tion needs of new wartime COM
munity.
All Funds Accounted For.
Officials said there has been a
good deal of public misapprehen-
sion on the subject of Pentagon
financing This was due in part to
lack of information and the prac-
tice that has arisen in Federal cir
cles to dip into emergency funds
for this or that expenditure.
AlA tuiIOo COllllCClCQ Will tlle TtIl
tagon project have been accounted
for by congressional authorizations
made directly on behalf of the prof.
ect or taken from funds appro-
priated for eXpediting the produc-
ton of equipment and supplies for
the whole Army. Funds for the
construction of access roads to mill
tary posts and reservations &C
counted for most of the expendi-
lures on the Pentagon road net
work.
No one is likely to dispute the
fact that the Pentagon is a nerve
center of the war effort and a mill.
tary reservation.
Despite what appears to be &
staggering overall cost, the Penta
gon Building is cheap in comparison
with 81 temporary buildings, suct
as those along Constitution avenu.
for which figures are available, Off.
cials said. These shell-like tenn.
poraries, 1t was said, cost more thar
one-half as much per cubic foo
as the massive and permanent Pen.
taeon.