CONGRESS Session, SUBWAY UNDER POST OFFICE, NEW YORK CITY. JULY 22, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. UNDERHILL, from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 7012.] The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to which was referred the bill (S. 7012) to permit the construction of a subway and the maintenance of a railroad under the post-office building at or near Park Place, in the city of New York, having considered the same, beg to report thereon, with the recommendation that the bill do pass. The bill is permissive in character and authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in the name and on behalf of the United States of America, to grant, convey, and release unto the city of New York, upon such terms, conditions, provisos, and limitations, if any, as he shall deem proper, such temporary rights and easements and such permanent and perpetual underground rights, easements, and rights of way in, under, through, and across the property of the United States upon which is located the Federal post office at the corner of the triangle at Park Row and Mail Street. The committee is advised that a large part of the plan of improvement of the New York subway is suspended until the permission authorized by the proposed bill is given, and the importance of the legislation is shown by the following statement from the office of the public service commission for the first district of the State of New York: * * * The mileage of the present lines operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Co. is 73. The mileage of the new lines to be constructed under this plan will be 147. The mileage of the present lines operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. is 104. The mileage of the new lines to be operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. under this plan is 161. The total cost of this rapid-transit development will be approximately $200,000,000. The route through Park Place and under the post office is an integral part of the Seventh Avenue extension of the present subway operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Co. This branch is deemed of great value for the reason that it makes possible the construction and operation of a line down through William Street, thus developing a portion of lower Manhattan heretofore undeveloped. H R-62-2-vol 5—15 The Post Office Department reports that "it is not believed that the construction of the subway or the operation of the railroad thereafter would interfere or be detrimental to the service in the post-office building" at Park Place in New York City, and the Secretary of the Treasury reports on the bill as follows: TREASURY Department, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, United States Senate. SIR: Referring to your request for a report in connection with Senate bill 7012, to permit the construction of a subway and the maintenance of a railroad under the postoffice building at or near Park Place, in the city of New York, I have the honor to inform you that the engineering problems involved in said bill are of such character that it is impossible for the department to determine, without a thorough examination of the drawings and of the building itself, whether an easement for the purpose indicated could be granted; but if the bill is enacted into law in such form that the authority given to the Secretary is permissive, but not mandatory, the department sees no objection thereto. FRANKLIN MACVEAGH, Secretary. Respectfully, The proposed subway, which is required by the bill to "be not less than 35 feet below the present established grade of the surface of the street," will encroach upon the Government land at the corner of the triangle at Mail Street and Park Row, but from a diagram submitted to the committee it appears that the subway will extend but slightly beyond the line of the post-office building. O POST-OFFICE BUILDING, DUBLIN, GA. JULY 22, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. ASHBROOK, from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 17683.] The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 17683) increasing the limit of cost for the postoffice building heretofore authorized at Dublin, Ga., having considered the same, beg to report thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass. The bill provides for increasing the limit of cost of the post-office building at Dublin, Ga., by the sum of $8,000. A contract has been awarded for a building which is now under construction, from which has been omitted items of subdrainage, waterproofing, plumbing marble, and other desirable betterments, and it is estimated that these may be provided for by the increase named in the bill. The committee were informed by the Supervising Architect, Mr. Oscar Wenderoth, that he considered this matter one of great emergency and earnestly recommended that the increase asked in the bill be allowed, as the items omitted were most important, and their omission at this time would probably result in a greater expenditure on the part of the Government at a later date. O PUBLIC BUILDING AT DENVER, COLO. JULY 22, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. BURNETT, from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 3974.] The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to which was referred the bill (S. 3974) to increase the limit of cost of the United States public building at Denver, Colo., having considered the same, beg to report thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass. The site of this building occupies a full block costing $500,000 and situated in the central portion of the city of Denver. The building was estimated to cost $2,000,000, but only $1,600,000 was provided for by Congress. The bill proposes an increase of $400,000. The bill was considered by a subcommittee of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds of the United States Senate, which interviewed the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department and ascertained that the Denver public building could not be finished, except in the most ordinary way, within the limit of cost fixed by law; that to finish the building without increasing the limit of cost would cause the interior work and finish to be so out of harmony with the exterior of the superstructure as to render the interior incongruous, unsightly, and less useful in some respects. The contracting architect stated to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds of the House of Representatives that the increased appropriation was necessitated partly by reason of the fact that the United States court of appeals had been located there since the formal authorization for the building, which necessitated quite an enlargement of the building, and, in addition to that, it became apparent that the building should be considerably enlarged over what was originally contemplated on account of the tremendous increase in the various branches of the Government business being conducted there. |