Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
No report has yet been made to me by the commission thus created. Whatever
action is had looking to a settlement of the indebtedness in accordance
with the act referred to will be duly submitted to the Congress.
I deem it my duty to call to the attention of Congress the condition of the
present building occupied by the Department of Justice. The business of
that Department has increased very greatly since it was established in its
present quarters. The building now occupied by it is neither large enough
nor of suitable arrangement for the proper accommodation of the business of
the Department. The Supervising Architect has pronounced it unsafe and
unsuited for the use to which it is put. The Attorney-General in his report
states that the library of the Department is upon the fourth floor, and
that all the space allotted to it is so crowded with books as to
dangerously overload the structure. The first floor is occupied by the
Court of Claims. The building is of an old and dilapidated appearance,
unsuited to the dignity which should attach to this important Department.
A proper regard for the safety, comfort, and convenience of the officers
and employees would justify the expenditure of a liberal sum of money in
the erection of a new building of commodious proportions and handsome
appearance upon the very advantageous site already secured for that
purpose, including the ground occupied by the present structure and
adjoining vacant lot, comprising in all a frontage of 201 feet on
Pennsylvania avenue and a depth of 136 feet.
In this connection I may likewise refer to the inadequate accommodations
provided for the Supreme Court in the Capitol, and suggest the wisdom of
making provision for the erection of a separate building for the court and
its officers and library upon available ground near the Capitol.
The postal service of the country advances with extraordinary growth.
Within twenty years both the revenues and the expenditures of the
Post-Office Department have multiplied threefold. In the last ten years
they have nearly doubled. Our postal business grows much more rapidly than
our population. It now involves an expenditure of $100,000,000 a year,
numbers 73,000 post-offices, and enrolls 200,000 employees. This remarkable
extension of a service which is an accurate index of the public conditions
presents gratifying evidence of the advancement of education, of the
increase of communication and business activity, and of the improvement of
mail facilities leading to their constantly augmenting use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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