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Show Of thc$17,GCO,r,00 which Uncle Sam has spoilt for sites, eJ.OOO.OM) was paid for four building lots, as follows: I'lnlutielphia p(,BlolTicf,l,4l,0()0; Boston custom house, Sl.u-jy.OWi; Chicago postollice,$l,&J.(JOOlaml New York custom house, l,O!X!,0uU K.OHEKT CHAVES. Two Hundred and Torty Completed and Seventy-five Yet to Come Elegant Structures. EOME OF THEM MONSTROCITIES, Tho Total Cost When All Are Completed Will Ecack the Mammoth Sam of $100,000,000. Special Correspondence WASHINGTON, Aug. ' Uncle Sam is Jcal estate owner on a pretty large scale. In addition to his property in this oity, valued val-ued at hundreds of millions of dollars, ha Jim a great numberof line buildings in the more important clt ies and towns through- mrnaings, brought on tho era c over ornamentation, orna-mentation, and such ridiculous examples of mixing pnlac with warehouses as those at jVensacola, Fla., lloehestcr, j. X., and Denver, Colo. For an example of the pretentiousness which accompanied this c. the traveler should see the poslolhco at Council Blufts, Ja.. where in this public building, a small structure, not only is the light of day kept out of the rooms, but the whole is made to look precisely like one of the houses which the children make of toy building blocks. There is reason, however, to feel encouragement encour-agement for the future. We are now getting get-ting some really Brand public buildings in tlio'Uniteil States. Our public architects lire learning to strike the mean between bleakucss and exces.si-e ornamentation. They are discovering how easy it is to make a wall artistic in its own lines without, with-out, having to add things to it which have no other use than t heir supposed representations represen-tations of art. They are realizing that character, symmetry, harmony-which combine to muke simplicity-please better and live longer than struggles in complexity complex-ity for the graudeur which Is never quite reached. , Hetter still, our architects are making list, of local color, of neighborhood tradition, tradi-tion, of climate, in fashioning buildings which shall lie something besides mere roofs and walls, which shall fit into their surrounding, which shall mean something. some-thing. To my mind the grandest, of tho large buildings owned by Uncle Sam out- frit! ill IM, mm "h 'it . tfv - -r "71 WW i A 1. Tioy. N. Y. S. San Antonio, Tex. cut the country. If all tho congressmen v. ho want appropriations for public buildings build-ings could have their wishes gratilied, in a few years every town and village would he ' provided for. When Uncle Sam puts up a building for the use of his postal employes, judges ir tax collectors he usually puts up the biwt building in town. Inmost eases structures of much smaller cost would do just, ns well, for all practical purposes, but there is a certain national pride in having t he houses Undo Sam owns a little better ; than other people's houses. There is a general belief that when Uncle paiu spends money for grand buildings, of imposing design nnd enduring materials, lie is doing only that which it is dignified mid proper for him to do. And undoubtedly undoubted-ly public opinion will support congress in its policy of making liberal appropriations for government buildings. In many parts of t he country, where tho army and navy are never seen, the ollico building of stone or marble is the only means the government has of placing a sign manual of its wealth Bud power before the people. "Since a costly and handsome postodice building was erected in the chief town of my district," says a southern congressman, congress-man, "a marked change in the feeling ot my people toward the government has been discovered. They were loyal enough 1. Wilmington, Del. S. Wichita, Kan. 8. JctTcr-son. JctTcr-son. Tex. 4. Ketroit, Mich. 5. Winona, MhA 0. Tort Wayne, bid. side tlie eitv of 'Washington is the new postoflice at, Troy, X. Y. This is partly because be-cause it is, truly Trojan and Trojan without with-out suffering any loss of utility. Every floor of the great tower is to be used for olllce purposes. In designing this building the architect may have had the two Troys tho ancient aud the modernin mind. K ho did, and this bit of sentiment gave him his motif, he is a genius. If he did not have the name of the town ard its suggestiveness in mind an inspiration must have guided him. Another line example of tho use of local tradition or history in a government building build-ing is tho new postodice at Sim Antonio, Tex. It suggests tho Alamo, that famous citadel whoso heroic defense will live in song and story till tho end of time. Hy itself it-self the San Antonio postoflice is art. Considered Con-sidered in connection with tho Alamo, near the ruins of which it stands, it is poetry. At Heading, l'a., and Houston, Tex., we have successful and unsuccessful examples exam-ples of the same sort. Tho Dutch-Colonial structure in tho former town suggests most admirably the settlement, the development, devel-opment, tho character of the place. At Houston, on the contrary, the architect appears to have said to himselft "This is a warm climate. Morocco has a warm cli- i A fev mm if Ills 1 ,A A Ai ! fftfflr frMw lit p It sJtll Mil lp4p im i "ii i - -1 J. Houston, Tex. 2. Reading, Pa. rieforo and nil that, but this Ann building lias brought homo to them a more vivid realization of what the government is than they had had. "The only manifestations 1 of federal power they had ever seen were the operations opera-tions of the poKtofliue and tho work of t he revenuo collectors. The government had seemed to thein something distant, ill do-lined, do-lined, more traditional than real. But the erection of this handsnmo building the linest structure a majority of my constituents constitu-ents havo ever seen makes them think the government is after all something but a mail carrier and a tax gat herer. It has marie thein fool t hey were getting some returns re-turns from their taxpaylng; that government govern-ment has some interest in t hem; that it is their government. In my opinion every ' public building erected In this country, especially es-pecially in t he smaller towns, is worth its cost for this purpose of inculcating- tho rn-upcct rn-upcct and confidence of the pimple, if for nothing else." It, is only on some such grounds as these that the expenditures of the government can in many cases be defended. Nothing but sentiment can excuse tho investment of UaiO.OOO for an ollice of which a postmaster post-master and his three or four assistants are the only occupants, and where good enough qtinrters had been previously rented for V.'H) or ifSOO a year. In a majority of the Siblie building investments now being .do by congress the rentals saved to the jveriimunt amount to no more than ouo- 1. La Prosse, Wis. 2. Kprlnuui-ld, Mass. 3. WIU-iaiiisport, WIU-iaiiisport, l'a. 4. Urooklyn, N. Y. 6. Wilmington, , N. V. 0. Oalvaston, Tux. luU They are in nearly the sumo lnti- ' tudo. Thereforo I will give Houston something Moorish." He did so, anil ought to be hanged for it. When a sight presents no local suggestion nor color the architect would better leave the design to some stone mason than to go olt to Africa for his inspiration. A Moorish postodice in the good town named after that grand old American, Sam Houston, is an abomination. abomi-nation. i Is federal arrhilcture developing a type of government building? I think It is. I And while one cannot admire the idea of ! Mr. Wnnamuker, wbo wsiitelt congress to erect a gov ernment building iu every town, all of theiu alike in design, it is a satisfaction satisfac-tion to know that by t he slow processes of growth and experiment something like a typo baa been reached. Kxainiuatlou of t ho ! plans of scores ot new public buildings i shows the. cornertower in a structure other- j : wiso rather plain to be now ufavorite feat- I ure. The tower has its advantages in that i I iiejirlv u.11 crnvnrnmeut buildings are erected i ou corners; it does not cost much, and gives character and impressiveuess to the whole; it is elastic, and may bo applied to large buildings and small, and it is utilitarian. utili-tarian. It is dignity without much waste of space or material. Good examples of the use of the tower may be found at Galveston, Gal-veston, Wilmington, Del., Brooklyn, N. Y., l.a Crosse, Wis., Springfield. Mass., WUliainrport, Pa., Detroit, Winona, Minn., Wilmington, N. C, Fort Wayne, lud., Wichita, Kan., .lefferson, Tex., and at mauy other places. j Some of the most beautiful buildings owned by the government are simple, inexpensive in-expensive structures in small cities. For i an example take tho postoflice at the ' county town of Owensboro, Ky. Its cost 1 was only 10,000, but it is a littlo gem whose simplicity could with protlt bo imitated in mauy larger buildings. How much ha the government expended in public buildings throughout tho country coun-try t 1 could find no ouo at the treasury department who knew. A computation of my own, however, gives tho following results: l or public buildings S!'.',(W,0OO For Bites tU-n-ior ir,00O,iO Total $lou,000,00u The government now owns "10 completed buildings postoltices, court houses, custom cus-tom houses, mints, sub-t reasuries. About sovemy-live buildings are now under construction. con-struction. Uncle Sam has a dozen buildings build-ings which cost an average of four millions apiece, as follows: N'- York 'custom house ami postoflice. $'.1,000,000 St. Louis custom house aud postotnee.. 6,700,000 nnciimaii custom hoiise aud postoflice 0,100,000? 'iiieaRo cuttlom bouse and postoftice. . . 4,900,tioil Boston postoflice and sub-treasury 4,V0O,UOO I'lilkulelpliia postoflice 4,;J,U00 Now Orleans custom house and post- oiltce 4,50 ',000 Charleston custom uouso 3,etW,0 B:ut Francisco mint 2,i:.t5,0i0 Ualtimore postoflice (.not complete).. .. 1.500,000 lJoston cusLom house I.200.0U) New Yortc Rnu-treasury l.VlW.tXiO j Total ftT.CSOUU V. F. lllII.DlKIt AT OWKSSBOItO, KY. fcalf of 1 per cent, or 1 per cent, of the minis expended. In only a few instances, and these ill the larger cities, is the government govern-ment pelting a fair retitru in way of reut-al'i reut-al'i saved on tho sums invested in public buildings. Hut tho government., happily, is not simply a business concern, always seeking the most practical and profit ablo Investments for its money. It does do much, and can afford to do more, for sculi-roont, sculi-roont, for education, for the inculcation of patriotism and respect for -its own power and dignity. Since for the most part our public buildings build-ings are jduos.tioq.iU rather than utilitarian, utilitar-ian, it is a pity we oannot have more true art in their designing, more good architects archi-tects and fewer politicians in tho treasury ollice, which controls Uncle Sam's extensive exten-sive building operations. Many of tho structures erected at enormous cost by the federiil government ore architectural failures. fail-ures. Some ere abominable. Twelve or fifteen years ago the fashion was to put millions upon millions into mnssiveness, out of which, unfortunately, character was omitted. Such are the government buildings build-ings at Chicago, Cincinnati and other cities. Reaction from this stylo, which literally wasted cubic oci of marble end jgraaite in tiia construction of dull, gloomy |