. The drawings for this work will be taken up in July, 1911, and a contract will be in force by January, 1912. As such contract will have six months to run prior to July, 1912, and the work is in a section where continuous construction is possible, the amount estimated for will be required. Drawings for this work are well under way and a contract will be in force by April, 1911. As this work is in a section where continuous construction is possible and the contract for the work will have at least 14 months to run prior to July, 1912, the amount estimated for will be required. Drawings will be taken up in January, 1911, and a contract probably be in force by August, 1910. As this contract will have 10 or 11 months to run prior to July, 1912, the amount estimated for will be required. The working drawings for this building are well under way and a contract will probably be in force by April, 1911. As the contract for this work will have at least 14 months to run prior to July, 1912, the amount estimated for will be required. WINSTON-SALEM, N. C. (CONTINUATION). Total authorization.......... No appropriation. No balance available. Estimated in this bill.... $250,000 40,000 This is for the purchase of additional ground and an extension of an old building. The ground will probably be acquired in the near future. The drawings for the building will be taken up in September, 1911, and a contract be in force by March, 1912, and as continuous construction is possible in this section and such contract will have four months to run prior to July, 1912, the amount estimated for will be required. This building is under contract to be completed February 1, 1911, but the work has been delayed and will be completed June, 1911. As the work will be completed over one year prior to July, 1912, the amount estimated for will be required. No site has yet been secured in this place, so no statement as to when the drawings will be taken up can be given. As a site, however, will be very expensive in this place, the amount estimated for will be required. This building has just been placed under contract to be completed April 1, 1912. As this work will be completed three months prior to July, 1912, the amount estimated for will be required. LIST A, SECTION 1. Sites under section 4 (buildings and sites), public buildings bill, approved June 25, 1910. 15,000 Longview, Tex.. 10,000 Beardstown, Ill.. 13,000 Lorain, Ohio.. 30,000 Bedford, Pa.. 20,000 Macomb, Ill. 14,000 Bellaire, Ohio.... 5,000 Mandan, N. Dak. 11,000 Bennettsville, S. C.. 10,000 McPherson, Kans. Berkeley, Cal.. 10,000 45,000 Medford, Oreg.. 26, 000 Big Rapids, Mich. 14,000 Blackwell, Okla. Middlesboro, Ky. 12,000 10,000 Miles City, Mont. 15, 000 Blue Island, Ill.. Cadillac, Mich. Bozeman, Mont.. Brigham City, Utah.. Bryan, Tex.. Cambridge, Ohio.. 11,000 15,000 Camden, S. C.... Canton, Ill. 21, 000 Canton, Miss.. Carnegie, Pa. 20,000 New Rochelle, N. Y. 25,000 Chanute, Kans. 14,000 Chico, Cal... 10,000 Clarksdale, Miss.. 12,000 Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.. 20, 000 Palatka, Fla.. Collingsville, Ill. 12, 000 Cookeville, Tenn. 20, 000 Piqua, Ohio.. 20,000 Covington, Tenn.. 9,000 Port Jervis, N. Y Dalles, The, Oreg. 16, 000 16,000 Portland, Ind.. 12,000 13,000 Princeton, Ill.. 14,000 12,000 Putnam, Conn.. 13,000 East Pittsburg, Pa. The amounts given in the foregoing list are for sites only under this section and have been estimated according to the rule of the department at 20 per cent of the amount authorized for site and building. LIST A, SECTION 2. Sites under section 5 (sites only), public buildings bill, approved June 25, 1910. Sites under section 5 (sites only), public building bill, approved June 25, 1910—Cont'd. The amounts given in the foregoing list are for sites under this section, and are the exact amounts named in the bill for that purpose. DISBURSEMENTS FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS. (Also pp. 98 and 932.) TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. DEAR MR. TAWNEY: I beg to invite your attention to a practice incident to the erection of public buildings, which should be abandoned. I refer to the disbursement of appropriations for the construction of public buildings by special local agents. The duties of such agents are almost negligible and their responsibilities are limited to handing over to contractors, monthly, checks in payment of vouchers issued and certified by the superintendents of construction for work performed; ordinarily these payments are made in 10 or 12 installments. The bookkeeping is done in the Treasury Department. The superintendents of construction issue these vouchers, under authority from the department, in payment for the value of the work actually in place, less the usual retained 10 per cent. abandonment of the practice would not result in relinquishing any essential safeguard, but would result in an annual saving of approximately $35,000. The Commissions of disbursing agents are paid out of the appropriations under the control of the Supervising Architect for "General expenses of public buildings." In recent years the Government has expended annually on public buildings an average of about $12,000,000. The compensation paid to disbursing agents is threeeighths of 1 per cent, so that the average amount paid in such commissions is approximately $45,000 per annum. The annual disbursement has greatly exceeded the average of $12,000,000 in recent years, and has at times, approached the twenty-million mark; on $20,000,000, the commission was $75,000. I suggest that there be omitted from the appropriation for "General expenses of public buildings" the item for "Commissions to disbursing agents in accordance with law," and that there be enacted legislation to the effect that hereafter no compensation or commissions shall be allowed for the disbursement of any appropriation for the construction, extension, enlargement, remodeling, or repairs of any public building under the control of the Treasury Department, and that the collectors of customs in the several collection districts be required, upon the designation of the Secretary of the Treasury |