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Show I . ILL STARRED !. HOUSING BUREAU ; UNDER BAN J 4 Picturesquely Mismanaged Ad junct of Old War Regime ' . Slated to Disappear. TVAS STRIKING LESSON IN ?. INEFFICIENT MANAGEMENT i Proposed to Replace System With I New Department of Pub- j lie Works. i ;i , 'i . Washington, Feb. 10 The Public " Buildings Committee of tho Semite i has favorably reported n bill propos- ing tho-nbolishment of- the United i 4 StatC3 Housing Corporation and au- P thorizing the Secretary of the Trenail Trena-il ury to dispose of property acquired by it. I , Speaking of this proposition, Rcp-i h rescntative C. F. Reavis, of the House ' i committee investigating expenditures In the War Department had the fol- '( lowing comment to make: "During the ' i war it was thought necessary to or-! 1 gnnizo a Housing Corporation for the ' purpose of furnishing homes for war' f workers. Notwithstanding we had a i supervising architect of the Treasury ty and dozens of architectural expcrts,thc ' Housing Corporation under the pres- I ent plan of the government, instead jr of utilizing the services of those in (,i " the employ of the government, found 1 it necessary to have an architect of their own. Consequently this corpor- i ation employed an architect who had , -attached to his position a largo pcr- i onncl at a cost of a great many thou- J i ands of dollars. This architect de- '! signed the buildings which were ad- 1 mittcdly for temporary purposes and, j were intended as temporary struc.i , tures. j ,j "Nothwistanding their temporary ?j character and flimsy construction tho j. ost of these buildings ran up into J) $1,500 a room. If there had been a ' Department of Public Works which, !had within it all government nrchi- tccts, the Housing Corporation could ', have immediately applied to the do-' 'j pnrtment for this expert service and' j many thousands of dollars would have ' been saved in that one item alone. ' "I want to reiterate that the great , difficulty under present conditions is( j that We have been working for bu- 1 tcbuh nnd departments and no one j working for the government. There I is intense rivalry between the bureaus ? competition between them both for labor and material which operates j 'greatly to the nation's disadvantage. I "The houses that wcro built for the labor at the navy yard were not only J designed by an architect in private I life, but the furniture which went in- I to them was especially designed fur niture, and after the furniture was t installed it was sold for a mere pit tance nnd another character of furniture furn-iture eventually placed in the houses.1 '. The government is now offering the entire establishment for sale, which of course will be sold at a ruinous 1 Tirice, nnd not a single employee of the government has ever occupied any of the buildings. 1 "These arc things that are caus-, j Ing somu of us to advocate a Depart-, ment of Public Works. This crimi- nal waste nnd extravagance would bei , avoided if we had such a department , with a specialized organization to do I all the tcchnicnl work for the govern- I ment, rather than a dozen Beparato I and independent organizations all j competing with each other nnd !i each doing the technical work of a 1 department. A standardization of government contract? and specifica tions nnd the simplification of speci. fications ,for material, machinery, etc., and the elimination of many useless ( grades, types and sizes would result in the saving of hundreds of thou-' thou-' sands of dollars every year." ' .jk i |