Evening Star Newspaper, December 12, 1936, Page 17

Books—Art—Music BEAUTY AND EFFICIEN o g R By Lucy Salamanca. HAT is past is pro- logue,” wrote William Shakespeare, and the words are inscribed on the pedestal under the figure that flanks the left side of the north portico, facing Pennsylvania avenue, of the National Archives Building. ‘The figure is that of & girl, young and beautiful of countenance, who, lifting her eyes from the empty pages of the open book she holds, gazes with profound contemplation into the future. For all her life is ahead, but ashe can face the future with that uplifted countenance and far-seeing eye because assurance and wisdom have arisen from the ashes of the Ppast. The very essence, I believe, of the spirit that fostered to materialization the National Archives Building in Washington has been’ captured and expressed in this femsle figure by Robert Aitken. For behind the granite ‘walls, the steel chambers of that building, all our recorded past, as a Nation, is there to light the path we shall travel, as a Nation, in the future. Literally millions of records, documents, pamphlets, papers, in every state of preservation, are being added %0 a catalogued list that will present with the years a cross section of our national existence, just as the tireless and unmarked accumulative effort of each single cell or coral makes, in time, a continent to rise from the ©cean. NO COUNTRY in the world today boasts a more beautiful, a more complete, or & more modern institu- tion for the collection, repair, preser- vation or maintenance of Government records than the United States. The National Archives, first occupied in 1935, from the standpoint of archi- tecture, situation, scientific equipment, facilities for the most expert conduct of its business, and personnel, is pre- eminent throughout the world. It has two fundamental objectives: First, to concentrate and preserve in a cen- tral depository the archives of the United States, and, second, to arrange ed on the north by Pennsylvania ave- |nue, on the east by Seventh street, on the south by Constitution avenue and on the west by Ninth street, the | records of this Government were in a very sorry plight. From the days of the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1774 to 1789 the 490 bound | volumes which constituted our first archives and recorded the delibera- | tions of that Congress had no perma- nent abiding place and kept up with the peregrinations of that legislative body, to the great inconvenience of the Government and the damage of the | records. | WITH the subsequent removal of the newly organized Government to Washington, the number of archives increased rapidly, in both volume and value. Many were destroyed in 1800, when fire broke out in the War De- partment, and the next year a fire in the Treasury Department occa- sioned a similar loss. Yet Congress took no immediate action to protect national archives against simiiar dis- aster in the future. It was not until 1810, when Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts asked the House of Representatives to appoint a committee to “inquire into the state of the ancient public records and archives of the United States, with authority to consider whether any, and what provision be necessary for Change in National Policy Toward Production Is Object of Trip. By James E. Chinn. WHEN the “Sugar-Cane Special” rolled out of Union Station on one of Washington’s recent freezing nights and headed for the semi- sive campaign by sugar producers of continental United States to make tion of the best the Pullman Co. had to offer in travel comfort and luxury—were some of the country’s best-known captains of industry, Government officials and members of Congress who were interested in Flor- ida’s potentialities for producing something besides - oranges, grape- fruit, alligators and rattlesnakes. fumiga- | American sugar, made from Ameri- L ; i E : i i E i : i L | & H E i i i i can-grown cane, is what these men went to see at & time when others go South for entirely different pur- Pposes. But why this sudden interest in American-produced sugar? First, let’s scan the roster of some of the men who traveled nearly 3,000 miles in four days to view the sugar- cane plantations in the fertile muck of Florida’s Everglades. Congress was represented by Senators King of Utah, Thomas of Oklahoma, Fra- sler of North Dakota, McCarran of Nevada, Bulow of South Dakota and FEATURES WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1926 @ | & more safe and orderly preservation 101 them,” that national attention was | centered upon the careless and negli- gent manner in which such records were being stored. The committee re- ported on that occasion that it found them “in a state of great disorder and exposure, and in a situation neither safe nor convenient nor honorable to the Nation.” As s result, an appropriation was voted for the construction, in “the building west of the President’s house,” of a number of fireproof rooms for the deposit of public papers and rec- ords. The country, however, grew far too rapidly for any such provision to remain adequate for long. Moreover, fires were springing up in all quarters of the Government buildings, and many valuable records were thus de- stroyed, as well as by heat, dampness, insects, or frequent removal from place to place. Stamp collectors and auto- graph dealers made {llicit inroads, too, upon Government papers, and many priceless documents were purloined or mutilated. On one occasion 400 tons of official records were sold to & junk dealer by a Government official, who declared he had insufficient space for his office force. “The Sugar Cane Special” about to depart Clewiston, Fla., ’ffnm States Sugar Corp. o o tion of the CY FOUND MOST PERFECT SYSTEM IS CREATED \World’s Greatest Provision for Official Documents, Records and Im ‘ Comes to Washington After Century of Effort—Gives Cross-Section of National Life—Staff of Institution. A Hall of Records for the storage of noncurrent material was recom- mended to Congress in 1877 by Presi- dent Hayes, but that body took no ac- tion. The original idea for a storage warehouse gradually expanded, as time went on and nothing was done, into a project for an archives establish- ment, in which records could be so stored and administered as to be readily available, IN 1913 Congress authorized plans for such & building, but the World War interrupted, and other factors occasioned delays until 1926, when, upon recommendation of President Coolidge, the initial appropriation was made. In 1931 ground was broken for the building, and in 1933 President Hoover lald the corner stone. The l;‘x“}lsdlm was occupied in November, The act “to establish a national archives of the United States Govern- ment, and for other purposes,” which was approved June 19, 1934, likewise created the office of archivist of the United States. The archivist is ap- pointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. President Roosevelt accordingly ap- pointed R. D. W. Connor on October 10, 1934. Under Mr. Connor are the officers and staff of the General Administra- tive Division, the Professional Divisions | and the Administrative Divisions. It is natural enough that one should inquire into what actually constitutes the “archives” of the United States or any nation. They comprise, in a word, the sum total of the documents, papers and other records made or re- ceived in the transaction of public business by any official or agency of the Federal Government. Thus they are not, as is sometimes believed, merely a collection of old documents of historic interest. Some, as a mat- ter of fact, are of unimportance, his- torically, serving only as records of individual transactions not at all his- toric in scope, but necessary in the conduct of official affairs. It can readily be seen that the vol- ume of such archives is enormous. More than three-and-a-half-million cubic feet of them are to be found in the District of Columbia alone, and vast quantities are scattered in Fed- eral offices throughout the country and abroad. p—— isting quots restrictions on continental production removed. (3) The trip was timed so the Government officials and members of Congress would arrive in the Florida sugar-producing areas beginning of the sixth harves to at first hand steps taken in recent years that sugar cane can be raised the Everglades on a open competition with ~free areas. present about 95 per cent cane sugar requirements insular areas and the American sugar the f shogd u N ARCH nt Films power to define the classes of | material to be transferred to the | National Archives Building, to estab- ! lish regulations governing such trans- fer and to advise the archivist “in re- spect to regulations governing the dis- position and use of the archives and records transferred to his custody,” and to approve lists of papers and documents to be destroyed or other- wise disposed of, is vested in what is known as the National Archives Council, a body made up of the sec- retary of each of the executive de- partments of the Government, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Library, the chairman of the House Committee on the Library, the Librarian of Congress, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the archivist of the United States. A corps of deputy examiners is at present busy surveying national rec- ords in the District of Columbia. Fed- eral records outside of Washington are being similarly surveyed as a W. P. A. project, the National Archives co-operating as sponsor. ‘These records are now being received, classified, arranged and filed. Let us take a look at the building where the guests inspected, the modern sugar mill and planta- States import so much sugar when the country itself is in & position to PAGE B—1 IVES SETTING (1) The National Archives Building, Constitution avenue facade. .(2)Ezhibit hall, intended as the future shrine for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. (3) Students’ research room. (4) Lobby entrance to the Archives Building from Constitution avenue. (5) Cleaning books and documents with compressed air. torical documents. | which receives and will permanently house such records. It is rectangular in form, with a 52-foot high Corinthian colonnade on each of its four facades. The main entrance colonnade, on the Constitu- tion avenue side of the building, is accented by a center pediment and a portico eight columns wide and four columns deep. A similar portico, two columns deep, accents the colon- nade above the entrance on the Penn- sylvania avenue side. Materials for the exterior were selected to express the significance and safety of the de- posits, and so permanence has been the paramount consideration. Har- monizing with the Capitol, the White House and the Lincoln Memorial, the building is classic in style. In its interior the monumental pro- portions of the exterior have been maintained and a sense of grandeur and realization of the impressive im- portance of the purpose for which the building was designed is immediate. One enters the exhibition hall through the front portico from Con- stitution avenue. It is semi-circular in shape, with a half-dome ceiling “SUGAR CANE SPECIAL” CARRIES. NEW HOPES FOR FLORIDA “Nation Sweetens Own Cup” Offered as Slogan to Congress Party. or foreign ocountry has any vested right to the continental market under these circumstances? The American employing American labor, should not be penalized by even partial exclusion from the market that es- sentially, rightfully, and according to ;nm historical precedent, belongs to “The American market for Ameri- can producers is the only falr, just, and reasonable basis for considera- tion of any sugar legislation. Florids does not believe in continental re- striction, neither does she believe in processing or excise taxes, or benefit payments on suger.” Peterson also points out that despite the higher wage scale paid those engaged in the Florida sugar industry, in compsrison with the “offshore” areas, the State can produce sugar at a comparable cost. “The last time the “offshore” sugar producing areas had trol of our sugar supply,” he said, e price was five times what it is today.” 8 g E S g 4] (6) Files for valuable his- 75 feet high. It has been designed for the display of documents of espe- cial public interest, and that portion which is, more or less unofficially, called “The Shrine,” is shut off from the main hall by beautifully designed bronze gates. IN THE panels on either side of the central exhibit case, back of these gates, which, it is said, will eventually house the Declaration of Independ- ence and the Constitution of the United States, two mural panels have recently been installed. They are the work of Barry Faulkner, New York artist, and in vibrant colors and ex- actitude of detail they represent “The Declaration of Independence” and “The Constitution.” Jefferson and his committee, Franklin, John Adams, Sherman and Livingston are portrayed in the first mural submitting the Declaration to the presiding officer, John Hancock. In the second mural Madison is shown submitting the Con« stitution to Washington and the Con- vention. The portraiture of the murals has been faithfully based on authentic pictures and busts. ‘The bullding is essentially & dou- ble one, consisting of two huge cubes, one inside and projecting above the other. The inner cube is a gigantic concrete vault, containing 21 levels of stacks and subdivided by fire walls and steel floors into numerous smaller vaults or stack sections. The rest of | the building is devoted to adminis- trative offices, search rooms, a refer- ence library and the exhibition hall. The portion of the building facing Pennsylvania avenue is occupied by seven floors of administrative offices. Included in the section are the public information room, the search rooms, the large cataloguing unit to take care of the segregation, recording and indexing of material, and the small, beautifully designed theater or ‘“pro- Jection room” for showing films that are part of the archives. TH:E sculptural decorations of the building are the work of various sculptors. Adolph Alexander Wein- man executed that on the pediment on the Pennsylvania avenue side, a symbolic group depicting “Destiny,” flanked on either side by “The Arts of Peace” and “The Arts of War,” which are, in turn, flanked by “The Romance of History,” on the right, and “The Song of Achievement,” on the left. The ends are terminated by the “Guardians of the Archives.” Robert Aitken sculptured the two figures on either side of the Pennsyl-