EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1888_.
_To the Senate_:
I return without approval Senate bill No. 347, entitled "An act to
provide for the erection of a public building in the city of Youngstown,
Ohio."
By the census of 1880 the population of Youngstown appears to be 15,435.
It is claimed by those urging the erection of a public building there
that its population has nearly doubled since that date. The amount
appropriated in the bill herewith returned is $75,000. There does not
seem to be any governmental purpose to which such a building could be
properly devoted except the accommodation of the post-office.
I have listened to an unusual amount of personal representation in favor
of this bill from parties whose desires I should be glad to meet on this
or any other question; but none of them have insisted that there is any
present governmental need of the proposed new building even for postal
purposes. On the contrary, I am informed that the post-office is at
present well accommodated in quarters held under a lease which does not
expire, I believe, until 1892. A letter addressed to the postmaster at
Youngstown containing certain questions bearing upon the necessity of a
new building failed to elicit a reply. This fact is very unusual and
extraordinary, for the postmaster can almost always be relied upon to
make an exhibit of the great necessity of larger quarters when a new
public building is in prospect.
The fact was communicated to me early in the present session of the
Congress that the aggregate sum of the appropriations contained in bills
for the erection and extension of public buildings which had up to that
time been referred to the House Committee on Public Buildings and
Grounds was about $37,000,000.
Of course this fact would have no particular relevancy if all the
buildings asked for were necessary for the transaction of public
business, as long as we have the money to pay for them; but inasmuch as
a large number of the buildings proposed are unnecessary and their
erection would be wasteful and extravagant, besides furnishing
precedents for further and more extended reckless expenditures of a like
character, it seems to me that applications for new and expensive public
buildings should be carefully scrutinized.
I am satisfied that the appropriation of $75,000 for a building at
Youngstown is at present not justified.