Evening star., 1949-12-14

CeuIeIl1lldl NUlIliIllooAoll D uooAiS w
obtain land in Anacostia Park
now occupied by temporary build
ings housing Government files to-
day pointed up the $1,000, 900, 900
bill the taxpayer is paying for
making and keeping Federal
records all over the country.
The Federal Government is
spending $27,OOO,000 year alone
for housing these records. 70 per
cent of which have no longtime
or permanent retention value to
the Government" in the opinion
of Administrator Jess Larson OF
General Services Administration.
No estimate has been made Of the
bill for storing Government files
in the Washington area, but up
wards of 100000 cubic feet of
inactive files are in the National
Archives Building and other places
here, DR.. Robert H. Bahmer, AS
sistant Archivist of the United
States, said.
John l.. Nagle, Deputy Com
missioner for Real Estate Man
agement of GSA, said there are
about 100000 square feet of
active files in the Washington
Area.
New Unit Studies Solution.
Mr.. Larson wants to do some
thing about this to release needed
Office space, now used for files.
He has set UP an Archives and
Records Service. under DR.. Wayne
Grover, the Archivist of the
United States, to devise ways and
means to whittle down this mass
of unwanted documents. Mr.. Lar
son plans to establish record sec
tions at key points throughout
the Nation to reduce materially
the present cost of records main
tenance and to remove from Office
buildings throughout the coun-
try millions of cubic feet of
records, now housed at sizeable
cost to the Government, he said.
One way to do this. he pointed
out, is to microfllm valuable old
records. This is now being done
by the immigration and Natural
ization Service, Justice Depart
ment and the Bureau of Public
Roads. The Budget Bureau has
under study an expansion of this
program.
In Anacostia Park, where the
Sesquicentennial Commission
wants to tear down temporary
buildings. Wake Hall has 100000
square feet of space, practically
all storage and files of the Public
Housing Administration. GSA Of
ficials said. Guam Hall there has
$4,000 square feet of space. with
Is people, and houses largely
Census Bureau records, although
Justice and the Maritime Com
mission use some of it for files.
In the old Recreation Building
there, $4,000 square feet of space
is used mostly for old records.
In Temporary Building x. near
the National Guard ArrAory,
which the immigration and Nat
uralization Service occupies. the
Sesquicentennial Commission
wants the two wings at the east
ern end for part of the Freedom
Fair. There is $4,000 square feet
of space there. but all of 1t is
Office space.
Administrator Larson said the
Federal Government is just about
holding its own in the solution of
the records problem. for it is ac-
formulating 100000 cubic feet of
new records annually and destroy
ing about the same amount. Mr..
Larson declared the Government
needs birth control of records to
have them stopped at the source"
either that or "a big bonfire" to
get rid Of them.
$29 a Year Per Cabinet.
surveys lndlcate loo many rec
ords are being made and filed"
he said.
The administrator estimated
that the contents Of one filing
cabinet housed in Office space
costs $29 a year. as compared
with cost of $2.15 annually for
housing the same material in a
records center.
If all the Federal Governments
present records were stored in one
area, Mr.. Larson declared, the
area would be as large as six Pen
tagon buildings.
OF the 100000 cubic feet of
records now on hand, Federal
agencies estimate $4,000, 900 cubic
feet can be destroyed. The re-