Mr. TAYLOR. Yes. Therefore I say it is wise on the part of the Government, for anything from a million up, including a million, to secure the best talent the country can afford.

Mr. BATHRICK. But you have constructed million-dollar buildings and think they are as good as anybody's?

Mr. TAYLOR. I do.

Mr. BATHRICK. It seems to me it is a very unimportant distinction between a million-dollar building and a two-million-dollar building, on the assumption that when you pass the million-dollar mark you have to have better talent. You have made million-dollar buildings as good as can be made outside?

Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.

Mr. BATHRICK. These men who assisted you in designing these million-dollar buildings have been in your office some time, have they not?

Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.

Mr. BATHRICK. Is there any architectural office in this country where they would have more experience in designing buildings than in your office?

Mr. TAYLOR. None that I know of.

Secretary Carlisle refused to put the law into effect and Secretary Gage, under President McKinley, was the first Secretary of the Treasury to carry it into effect.

The American Institute of Architects fixes its own rates for drafting models and specifications for construction. At the time the law was passed, their rates were 5 per cent of the cost of construction for drawings and specifications. After the institute had properly installed the operation of the law by resolution in its January meeting, 1908, the association raised the rate to 6 per cent. The rate is paid by the Government apparently without any protest, although by special act when Congress sees fit to limit the rate, as it did in the new post office in Washington, to 4 per cent, to cover all architects' fees for plans and specifications, there was no dearth of bidders for the job. Regardless of the parentage of the Tarsney Act or what has been done under it, the committee believes the act ought to be repealed and the Government do its own work, thereby saving enormous fees for services that are inferior in many respects to that done by the Government itself. The late Supervising Architect testified that the San Francisco post office, costing $2,600,000; the Philadelphia Mint, costing $1,800,000; the Atlanta, Ga., post office and courthouse, costing $1,000,000, were as perfect pieces of work from the viewpoint of architecture and construction as was possible to make, and that work was done by the Government itself. So well was the building at San Francisco constructed that it was one of the very few buildings in that city that was not materially affected by the earthquake of 1906. The fees paid to outside architects are enormous.

The following statement shows the location, type of building, name of architect, and the amount paid to outside architects since the Tarsney Act went into effect. We quote from the testimony of James Knox Taylor, former Supervising Architect, before the Committee on Expenditures in the Treasury Department May 31, 1911, pages 7 and 8 of the hearing. The Tarsney Act went into operation in 1897, and the amounts named represent what has been paid out in about 12 years.

Total fees paid outside architects completed work, contracts in force, and contem-
plated work...

2,033, 458. 22

The architect's fees for the Cleveland (Ohio) post office, costing $4,000,000, were practically $150,000. That we may have some understanding of this enormous expenditure we may state, in comparison, the architect's fees paid for that post office equaled nearly the amount paid to maintain the Supervising Architect's Office, that is erecting 10 public buildings per month, for the entire year. In other words, the fees for the Cleveland (Ohio) post office paid for the plans and specifications and superintendence exceeds the salaries of the nine members of the Supreme Court of the United States for one year. It is not conceivable why, if the Government can construct the San Francisco post office, costing $2,600,000, that it would be unable to construct a building like the new post office in Washington, supposed to cost originally $2,187,000. Very recently the Secretary of the Treasury submitted to competition from outside architects proposals for plans and specifications for a post office at Brownsville, Mo., costing $50,000; a post office at Waukegan, Ill., costing $75,000; a post office at Orange, N. J., costing $100,000, for the purpose, it is said, of getting new types of buildings or models for standardizing. When the judges passed upon the drawings and plans submitted for their inspection, the plans and specifications for all three of these

propositions were rejected because they were inferior to the work now done in the Supervising Architect's Office. With the capable work now being done in the Office of the Supervising Architect, in comparison with outside work offered, it is not easy to understand why the Government persists in taking large fees from the Treasury to fee this institution known as the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Taylor testifies, on his own motion, that the Government is able to do, and does do, superior work up to a price of $2,500,000 to any work that it can obtain from foreign bidders.

O

CYRUS CLINE, Chairman.
THOMAS F. KONOP.

FRED L. BLACKMON.
E. R. BATHRICK.
JOHN J. ESCH.

JAMES C. MCLAUGHLIN.

FISH HATCHING AND CULTURE STATIONS.

JULY 19, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. FAISON, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 25832.]

The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the several bills introduced in the House to establish fish hatching and culture stations, having had the same under consideration, submit the following report and recommend that the substitute committee bill (H. R. 25832) do pass.

These 13 fish hatching and culture stations have been submitted to the Bureau of Fisheries and received their hearty approval.

The sum of $25,000, for the purchase of sites, erection of suitable buildings, and proper equipment of these fish hatching and culture stations, is about the amount needed for erecting and properly equipping such stations, as a less amount would not be sufficient for each

station.

The Bureau of Fisheries assures the committee that it can provide and train the necessary expert assistants for these many hatching and culture stations annually.

The committee, realizing that only about this many new stations can be equipped and furnished with trained experts yearly, have attempted to establish these stations throughout the United States in such sections as to supply the greatest number of fish hatched to the largest sections of the United States and those sections of the United States most in need of a greater supply of cheaper food fish (three to five times cheaper than beef).

In view of the high price of meat products and the greater need of larger quantities of such wholesome meat food as fish, the committee in reporting these fish hatching and culture stations feels satisfied that they are responding to the needs of the people of the United States in their demand for such wholesome cheaper food and do recommend the passage of this substitute bill H. R. 25832.