Show FOR THE EAST SIDE An Argument For Converting the Industrial Home INTO A GOVERNMENT BUILDING For Federal OflicialsThe EconomyEligi bility of the Site Usclcssncss of the Home at Present WASHINGTON March 13Spociat telegram tele-gram to THE HCHALD An argument in favor of the Womans home being converted con-verted into a public building for the use of the federal officers in Salt Lake city was handed to Senators and Representatives today The document which is given L below is quite lengthy What impression t it made on members could not be learned as they have not had time t read i THE 1UBLIC HU1LDING ron SALT LAKE The following considerations are respect fully urged to the honorable committee on L public buildings r reasons why the proposed pro-posed government building for Salt Lake 1 city Utah should not cost to exceed the sum of 50000 Your attention is also respectfully re-spectfully drected to the plan contained I herein by which the expenditure of that amount will provide building satisfactory i in all respects ample for tho needs of the city and the sum of 350000 be saved to the government The inhabitants of Salt Lake city are I earnest and united in favor of a public publc building wide as their differences aro on most other subjects Tho great increase in I criminal prosecutions under recent enactments enact-ments of Congress the duties of the Utah commission which has charge of all the 1 elections in the territory and whose headquarters head-quarters are at Salt Lake city the increased in-creased importance of the United States land interests and more than all the recent re-cent decided growth of Salt Lake city have all combined to make a commodious central place of business for tho federal L offices an imperative necessity As it is today the various government offices are situated in not less that six different local tiles in Salt Lake city at a cost to the government gov-ernment of about 3000 per annum in rents alone and that figure will be almost denoted when the leases of the present quarters expire The uniting of all these branches with which the public has so many dealings under one roof and in some locality easy of general access is a consummation consum-mation the desireableness of which cannot be questioned I As happens in every other city for which I a public building is proposedthe question i ofa sit bas commenced to agitate various varous business and property circles in Salt Lake city I is realized on every hand that tho vast volume of business which would flow to tho government headquarters would have the effect to increase values on all adjacent properties and already combinations combina-tions and s syndicates have been formed in Salt Lake city looking to the influencing of tho commission which will have the lo r eating of the site Whole blocks have I been tied up under log options on the chance of the public buildings being located somewhere contiguous Since it i has been decided by a committee of Congress 1 Con-gress to recommend the insertion of 400 000 i the appropriation bill for the purchase 0 pur-chase of a site and erection of the building the agitation speculation and discussions in the circles referred to have increased by t nfold growth An important fact which should not bo lost sightof now that tho amount be used for erecting the building and purchasing the land for its site has been definitely named is that the sum proposed is not adequate ade-quate to carry out both the purposes named Had tie land been acquired sago s-ago before values rose t their present height in Salt Lake city a site mignt have been obtained and sufficient funds left out of 100000 to erect an edifice for the government gov-ernment needs but oven then it would have sufficed only for the time being but with land values anywhere near the business busi-ness center of Salt Lake as they are today the purchase of a suitable site would consume con-sume so largo a part of the appropriation tat it may be doubted whether the residue would be sufficient to erect such a building as would meet the requirements of the government The supervising architect of the treasury department addressed a request quest to tho postmaster of Salt Lake ask ing him to solicitproposals from solcit proposals owners of corners in the central part of the city look jug to the acquirement i a lot 150x200 feet the postmaster in his advertisement limited the location t two blocks east or west of Main street and between South Temple and Fourth South streets an area which embraces the part of the city strictly devoted de-voted to business pursuits Basing an estimate upon the value of foot frontage for corners within the district dis-trict valued as quoted in actual transfers in Salt Lake during the past five months I and it is safe to say any site such a the one named by tho supervising architect would cost from 51000 to 2000 per front foot an expenditure of from 150000 to 200000 for the site alone This objection forms an additional reason for the adop tion of the plan we respectfully submit which is as follows submit That the institution in Salt Lake city known as the Womans Industrial home already owned and controlled by the government gov-ernment be converted into and constitute the federal building for Salt Lake city The reasons urged in support of this planar are ar ITho failure of the institution t accomplish ac-complish the ends sought to be attained ao its creation and It entire uselessness to either the government or the people of Uah 2he saving of a large sum of money to the government 3The immediate solution of a question which otherwise will require long investigation investi-gation and delay to settle Tnt FAIMTKE OF Tnt HOME a an asylum for Mormon women who have renounced polygamy is due t causes which do not need to be enumerated at length here In the annual report of tho Utah commission in whose hands to control con-trol of the home is now vested to the secretary sec-retary of the interior September 2 1SS9 occurs the following significant passage As to the ultimate success of the home the commission express no opinion I is an experiment which time only can solve Whether the deluded women of polygamous polyga-mous marriages will after a while as tho coils of the law slowly circle them about avail themselves of tho munificence which the goermentolers them in the homo remains re-mains to bo seen As yet but few have done so and as it appears by the report of Mrs Jeanctto H Ferry president of the Industrial Christian Home association hereto appended the number seems to be lessening The occupants at this time are three women and six children who are abun dantly cared for and apparently happy From the report of Mrs Ferry above referred to the following extract giving extrct a comparative table of the number of inmates in-mates in the home in 1SSS and 1SS9 is made 0715 Females Males Total 1 lisa October u 4 G 9 November 4 7 ii 1 December 4 7 11 December16S9 16S9 7 1 January 12 4 IG February 12 4 16 March 1 1 15 April C 3 II May g a g Tune C r 9 July g g g August 6 3 9 In the same report Mrs Ferry says The board ot this association do not pro pose to close the doors of this homo song lom so-ng as our government gives them the lodi eans to provide a home True there are disheartened and discouraged members of the association tired of giving time and toil where it is unappreciatedbut most of those who began the woik arc as true toy da to-y and i this effort for good fail it will not be their fault nb The Womans Industrial home had its beginning in March 1SSG at that time tme there had been hundreds of convictions con-victions of polygamy and unlaw ful l cohabitation under the pioso cution which began in 1SS4 In tho four years since 1SS6 the convictions have multiplied mull pled the penitentiary has been crowded with Mormons and hundreds of polygamous polygam-ous women have been set free to avail themselves of the privilege of tho home i they so desired Yet in these four years with ample means at it control Congress having appropriated fJOOOO in August ISaG 50000 in October 1SSS for the build ing 4OuO for furniture and other sums for the annual maintenance of the institu tion the number of inmates in the homo had risen to three women and six children the sole occupants of an immcnce building which cost the government 50000 to erect In Salt Lake the home is almost a thing forgotten thingfor gotten or i remembered called to mind only as the subject of a jest The humanity that prompted the establishment of the home cannot be doubted but that it has demonstrated de-monstrated its impracticability and shown that it would be folly to longer perpetuate it no fairminded person can deny Tie language of the commission and the admission admis-sion of Mrs Ferry that the number of inmates in-mates seems to be decreasing corroborate this view THE QUESTION OF ECONOJIY to the government in converting the indus trial homo into a public building is a most important i one and ono on which there is no chance for controversy The title to tite tho grouod on which the building stands rests in tho government by deed dated January S 1SSO The property has cost the government about 8100 The ground is ample to allow the addition of other buildings A fall estimate of the cost of making such additions remodeling the premises already constructed including erection cf large brick and iron vaults obtained from competent i com-petent authorities puts the amount at 50000 The proposition now is to appropriate priate 400000 I the plan to convert tho Some is adopted a saving of 350000 results re-sults to the government and a building buidin that must otherwise seen lapse into disuse is wisely and properly utilized I TnI SlEEDr SETTLEMENT OF THE SlIIDr SETTLmlXT TII QUESTION is i very desirable both t the government and the public The fact of tie government govern-ment already owning a building on an eligible eli-gible site offers the best of reasons why el need not look elsewhere and a decision to embrace the plan herein proposed viz to convert the home to the uses of tho public service would obviate tho necessity of a long l investigation ana delay and prevent seemingly scramble to enhance tho in terests of one section of the business community com-munity to the disadvantage of the other Tnt ELIGinlLITr OF THE SITE for the purposes of the government admits admis of no question The present grounds comprise com-prise 213 squaro rods having a west frontage 1 of 105 feet ou Fifth East street and a depth of 330 feet Regarding the present building the Utah commission in its report heretofore referred to says The new building is three stories high with a basement and two wings north and south of equal height which add very much t the symmetry of the building and the beauty of tho architecture It is conveniently con-veniently accessible from business por tion of the city by street cars which run within a few rods of the grounds ros gounds The wings t the building are not yet completed but are well under way the walls being completed tho roof on and the inside work of carpenters plasterers and painters well on towards completion The entrance to the building is by a set of broad steps made of stone through a I large porch into a spacious hallway inside in-side there is a staircase leading up a well lighted stairway to the upper floors wel I The plastering painting frescoing papering etc havo all been doue so far I as completed in the latest and most ap proved styles The first floor has 1 rooms 1 office 2 room 3 sewintr reception room for use of inmates 4 bathroom with two closets 5 sitting room for inmates 0 dining room for matron and other officer ofcers of the institution furnished with a dumbwaiter dumb-waiter connecting with tho kitchen in the basement 7 linen closet for first floor S and 9 bedrooms 10 matrons suite consisting of sitting room bedroom and closet 1 public wash room or lavatory furnished with two washbasins each wit hot and cold water attachments In case of necessity this room is large enough to bo used also as a sleeping room The second floor has 10 bedrooms 1 sow ing room 2 linen closets 1 public washroom wash-room of the same size and furnished as on first floor 1 bathroom and water closets Tho third floor has 10 bedrooms 12 line lnen closets 1 public washroom of the same size and furnished as tho others bathroom bath-room and water closets cosets When the wings now in course of construction con-struction are completed there will be 40 sleeping room which may be increased to 5 by the use of those reoms intended fOr I other purposes and by crowding things Immediately in the rear of the main bull ding is a laundry building or washhouse where all the laundry work of the institt I tion will be done it being supplied with all i the necessary fixtures and appurtenances for that purpose The building is heated by steam throughout The location of the home is on Fifth Fifh East street between First and Second South streets the electric car service runs on First South street within a block of tbo home and will be in operation on Second Q nnth nnnnt nt n from the homo in i a few days u The building can be lighted with either elec tricity or gas as both are adjacent to it I is five blocks from Main street the street principal business thoroughfare of the city but is only distant two and three blocks from the large business sections on First and Second South streets With a free postal delivery there no reason why the office should government olce be located on Main street and as far as the federal courtrooms court-rooms judges chambers tho district at torneys office the United States marshals mar-shals office the grand and petit jury rooms the United States land offices the surveyor generals office the governor and secretarys office and the headquarters of the Utah commission concerned the business of the public would be as well conserved and theintcrests of the govern ment vastly more if the ast so federal build ing were located on Fifth East street tho site of tho homo than i it were placed on the main street of tho city It may bo said in this connection that though Main street divides the city as respects area into two very nearly equal halves that portion on the east side where tho homo is located receives twothirds of the laU matter of tho city twothirds of the express matter hns the greatest assessed valuation of property and being the higher and dryer part of tho city is naturally theresi dence quarter and has been improved to a much greater extent than the western half commending tho foregoing considera tions to your honorable committee we feel no hesitancy in saying that an investigation investiga-tion into the matters herein stated is courted and that wo believe they will bo found to bo facts which can not be contro vented For any further information relative to t the status of the Womans Industrial home wo beg t refer you to the report of the Utah commission to the secretary of the interior 1SS9 and more especially that part of it referring t the Industrial Homo association presented to the Senate a j i December 191SS9 referred to the commit I te on appropriations and ordered printed |